While Dominion Square starts to heat up development prospects west of the Spring Hill Metro station in Tysons, a series of developments are proposed to transform the area to the north and east of the station.
The most attention-getting of the proposed developments is the 600-foot tall skyscraper “Iconic Tower”, part of a redevelopment of the block south of Tyco Road into a complex called The View. Developer Clemente Development Co. announced in August that the tower would be switching to all-office rather than residential. It is set to break ground next year.
But just to the north across Tyco Road, two developments proposed earlier this year could pick up the residential demand dropped by Iconic Tower.
The Audi Tysons Corner and Tesla dealerships along the north side of Tyco Road are proposed by developer Georgelas LLC to be redeveloped as West Spring Hill Station and North Spring Hill Station respectively.
Like The Adaire located on the southern side of Tyco Road, these developments are proposed to become mixed-use developments with office, retail, hotel and residential areas.
The proposed North Spring Hill Station would replace the existing low-rise Tesla dealership with new high-rise buildings.
One tower is planned to be either a residential tower at 300 feet tall with 385 units or a commercial building with 350,000 square feet of office use and a maximum height of 230 feet.
The two other towers are planned residential, with one being 300 feet tall with 400 residential units and the other being 270 feet tall with 270-360 units.
Meanwhile at West Spring Hill Station, a series of towers are planned to mix residential units with a 170,000 square-foot hotel and retail space, replacing the Audi dealership.
The plans for North and West Spring Hill Station were submitted in September and are scheduled to begin a county staff review in late November. The exact construction timeline after that is unclear.
Professor Frank Shafroth, director of the Center for State and Local Leadership at George Mason University, said that crowding around the other Metro stations in Tysons is driving up real estate values and property taxes, which makes outlying areas like Spring Hill Road Metro station more fiscally attractive to developers.
But some changes won’t be as dramatic and the auto dealerships that define the area today won’t completely disappear.
Crown Tysons Properties has an application under review at the Department of Planning and Zoning for 8600 Leesburg Pike, currently a warehouse and automobile storage facility. This is a rezoning and special exception application to allow the building to be converted into a new automobile dealership just south of Koons Tysons Toyota and Koons Collision Repair Center.
The new dealership is proposed to fall under the same ownership as the Koons dealership to the north, although no changes are proposed for that site.
Photo (2) via Google Maps
A new fitness studio is hoping to turn Tysons from a place people work to a place people work out, as well.
F45 Training, an Australian fitness program that specializes in 45-minute workouts, is coming to Tysons. The company announced last Friday that it would be moving into the 2,728 square-foot retail space at 1953 Gallows Road.
According to a press release, F45 Tysons is scheduled to open in early 2019.
The brand is looking to continue expanding across Northern Virginia; F45 already has locations in Alexandria and Arlington, with another on the way. There are also locations — one apiece — in D.C. and suburban Maryland.
Membership prices and plan options vary by studio. At the Pentagon Row studio, a six-month plan costs $199 every four weeks or $179 every four weeks for a twelve-month membership.
According to its Twitter account, F45 Tysons is recruiting for several positions. The location will feature multiple TV screens will display the exercises and heart rate technology for performance tracking.
“We are excited to become a part of the Tysons business community, and are thrilled to help grow the F45 brand alongside our colleagues in the DC region,” said Jeff Harnois, co-owner of F45 Tysons, in a press release. “The D.C. metro region is a huge focus for F45 and we hope to continue our expansion in Northern Virginia. The Gallows Road location will allow us to successfully deliver our functional training programs to a vast range of demographics.”
Where do federal employees get their news — and how can marketers targeting government agencies reach them?
That will be the topic at an event in Tysons next Thursday (Nov. 8), as marketing execs gather to discuss the latest Federal Media and Marketing Study.
The event — which will look at both current and future trends — will run from 8:30-11:30 a.m. in VALO Park Conference Center (7950 Jones Branch Dr.).
For the past ten years, the study has surveyed the media habits of nearly 3,000 respondents in defense and civilian agencies throughout the region. The survey looks at the social, mobile, print and broadcast media that government employees receive their news from to help federal marketers develop their strategies.
Panel discussions are scheduled to examine the confidence among those surveyed about their sources of information, their sources for breaking news, and concerns over data privacy.
Tickets to the breakfast and briefing are $99, with only 12 remaining as of 2 p.m. Friday.
Photo via Marketing Connections, Inc.
A D.C. man was arrested Wednesday morning after an altercation at the Tysons Corner Metro station and a brief police chase.
Fairfax County Police say 31-year-old Jaron Ulmer was getting off a train at the station just before 7 a.m. when he turned around and accused a man of following him. Ulmer then punched the man several times, according to police.
“Ulmer ran away but was arrested after a short foot pursuit by responding police officers,” said an FCPD crime report. “Ulmer was charged with malicious wounding, public intoxication and obstruction of justice.”
A malicious wounding charge suggests the victim’s injuries were serious enough to make the crime a felony, as opposed to a less severe assault charge.
Veronica Youngblood, accused of murdering two children in Tysons, is scheduled to go to trial this Friday (Nov. 2).
Youngblood was arrested in Loudoun County and charged with murder after police entered an apartment in the 1500 block of Lincoln Circle and found two children with gunshot wounds.
One, a five-year-old girl, was pronounced dead at the scene. The other was taken to the hospital where she later died.
While authorities did not release the names of the victims, in accordance with Virginia law, it was widely reported that Youngblood was the mother of the children.
Because the case involved crimes against children, it will be prosecuted in the Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Court, according to an employee in the clerk’s office.
Youngblood will be represented by a public defender. Whether the case is open to the public will be at the discretion of the presiding judge.
Photo courtesy FCPD
The Palladium — could it be called Tyson’s hottest club? — is a new salsa dancing-focused venue that opened this past Saturday (Oct. 27) to add a little variety to Tysons’ budding nightlife scene.
The nightclub boasts 5,000 square feet of dancing space and a second-floor VIP room. The space is also available for private events like weddings, business lunches, dinners or cocktail receptions.
Dining is also available, with menu options including Mexican and Peruvian cuisine.
The Palladium isn’t the first nightclub to occupy 1524 Spring Hill Rd. Iris Lounge occupied the site before it filed for bankruptcy in 2016.
The new club has a series of events lined up for November, including the four below.
- Nov. 2: The first of “The Social” Fridays, a dance party with a live DJ that’s cover free for those who register in advance
- Nov. 3: Sabado con Xavi Hernandez
- Nov. 13: Salsa Palante Tuesdays
- Nov. 16: The Reflex Takes Over Tysons! (80s Night!)
Photo via Facebook
Developers seeking an alternative to the increasingly built-up Greensboro Metro station might be looking one stop north.
Dominion Square, an 18-acre site adjacent to the Spring Hill Metro station, is for sale, as first reported by the Washington Business Journal. The site, which encompasses portions of two existing redevelopment plans, has already been approved for 3.6 million square feet of mixed-use development, according to a press release (below).
Newmark Knight Frank, a real estate advisory firm, has been selected to help market the site.
The land is currently occupied by auto showrooms and sale lots, including Sheehy Infiniti of Tysons, Honda of Tysons Corner, Priority Mazda and Priority Nissan. The dealerships currently have leases that can be terminated to make way for the development when the project is ready to start construction.
More from the press release:
Newmark Knight Frank (NKF) has announced it has been selected as the exclusive advisor for the sale of Dominion Square in Tysons, VA. The 18-acre site is located directly adjacent to the Spring Hill Metro Station, currently the first eastbound stop on the Silver Line.
The site is approved for 3.6 million square feet of mixed-use development, comprises three separate parcels and is unaffiliated with a specific developer. The property includes terminable leases for four existing car dealership sites, offering built-in income and flexibility allowing investors to react strategically to demand.
Dominion Square represents a once-in-a-generation opportunity to shape one of the DC metro area’s premier submarkets. Located at the intersection of the I-495 Beltway and the Dulles Toll Road, Tysons is a major economic and employment hub,” explained Mark Anstine, executive managing director of land services at NKF. “With the ongoing construction of the Silver Line slated to connect Dulles Airport to downtown Washington, DC in 2020, the area boasts a perfect combination of mass transit, new urbanized residential and retail development, drawing significant interest from regional and national companies.”
With approval now in place for more than 2 million square feet of office, 1.1 million square feet of residential, 185,000 square feet of retail and a 205,000-square-foot hotel, Dominion Square is poised to become an urbanized and amenitized scene where employees can live and play where they work. Since Tysons is the 12th largest office market in the United States headquartering numerous companies–including many of the Fortune 500, it boasts one of the country’s most highly-educated and diverse workforces.
Map via Google Maps
A Maryland man was arrested Sunday and charged with trying to rob the CVS Pharmacy on Leesburg Pike (Route 7) in Tysons.
Fairfax County Police say 34-year-old Mark Connor “walked into the CVS, went behind the counter and told an employee he was there to rob him.” The incident happened shortly before 3 p.m.
“Officers arrived and placed Connor under arrest for robbery, false identification to law enforcement and felony possession of narcotics,” FCPD said in a crime report.
Map via Google Maps
While Tysons Galleria is still putting together plans to replace the vacant Isabella Eatery, there are a handful of new stores coming to the mall by the end of the year.
The first is Santa’s Workshop, a yearly pop-up that allows kids to chat with Santa and take photos for holiday cards and keepsakes.
Santa’s Workshop will be open Nov. 16 to Dec. 24, from noon to 8 p.m. Monday through Saturday and until 6 p.m. on Sunday.
Reservations can be made online to skip the line and save $5 on a photo package. A standard $39.99 package comes with six photos of varying sizes, a digital download, and a short video. The $49.99 version has ten photos, digital downloads, and a premium video.
In addition to traditional Santa photos, the Workshop will host “Ugly Sweater” days on Nov. 16 and Dec. 13 and Pet Nights every Monday from 5-8 p.m.
Two other retailers are under construction and expected to open in December, according to a mall employee. Among them:
- Lafayette 148 New York, a high-end women’s clothing store founded in 1996. The Galleria location will be one of only three locations outside of New York.
- Lik Fine Art, a gallery specializing in the landscape photography of Peter Lik.
The blistering pace of development in Tysons has many looking to the future, but sometimes it’s interesting to look back.
Aerial photos from the 1980s, available via Google Earth, help tell the story of the region’s evolution over the past three decades.
Tysons as an urban metropolis is a somewhat modern phenomenon for an area that was largely farmland for 100 years after William Tyson purchased it. In the 1960s, development was jump-started by the construction of the Capital Beltway, Dulles Airport, and the Tysons Corner Shopping Center in 1968.
By the 1980s, when the first satellite photos are available, Tysons was already a developed area. According to data from the U.S. Census, in 1990 the population of Tysons was 9,374. It grew by 35.8 percent to 12,734 in 2000.
The growth slowed a bit between 2000 and 2010, when the population rose by 11.2 percent to 14,159. Since then the pace of residential growth in Tysons has picked back up; the current population of Tysons is 19,627, already a 38.7 percent increase over 2010.
The 1988 image of Tysons, above, shows Tysons Galleria to the north on the eve of opening later that year. The streets surrounding Tysons Galleria were also widened and became more interconnected over the years, allowing for more dense construction to the north and to the east, including several recently opened and planned mixed-use developments. The offices to the west of Tysons Galleria are currently planned for major renovations to keep up with development further west on Leesburg Pike.
One of the most visually striking shifts on Leesburg Pike is the decrease in surface parking lots, which covered much of the office parks east of Leesburg Pike. Several of the lots have been replaced with under-construction developments like The Boro. The shopping centers west of Leesburg Pike have also become more active as well, with new restaurants like Honeygrow and Cava opening this year.
Photos via Google Earth
