Reston Station: Planning for the Last Stop of the New Metro Line, Bora Mici, DCMud, September 6, 2010

The following is the opening line of a puff piece in DCmud--a DC urban real estate blog--about the coming of Comstock's development at the Wiehle Avenue Metro Station, which it calls "Reston Station."

When it comes to development along the new Dulles Corridor Metrorail Silver Line, connecting downtown Washington DC to Tysons Corner and Dulles Airport, developers think big. Reston Station, a transit-oriented, mixed-usedevelopment (sic) soon to be brought into the orbit of Washington DC as the terminus of Phase 1 of the Silver Line, is no exception. . . .

For the rest of the DCMud post, click here.

I've commented on the blog post. I re-post that comment here, since it may not be accepted by DCMud:

Well, as others have said, "Reston Station" is really "Wiehle Avenue Station." It is at the end of the Phase I construction of the "Silver" Metrorail line that will ultimately go to Dulles & beyond (Phase II).

The Comstock development proposal so prominently featured here was violently opposed by all Reston civic groups on many grounds.

--There is absolutely nothing architecturally excellent, even redeeming, about it. It reminds most Restonians of the worst of Crystal City development in its overwhelming mass and cubism.

--Unlike the rest of Reston, it has virtually no usable public open space. It's plaza is about the same size as Reston's Lake Anne Plaza (Washington Plaza)which is about one-tenth as dense, will allow traffic (none at Lake Anne), and will virtually never see sunlight due to the overwhelming buildings around.

--Block I will be a congestion magnet, despite what Comstock's Parker says about it. It will add 5,000-plus parking spaces to an area that receives failing traffic grades even AFTER the marginal improvements Comstock has agreed to install.

. . . and there's more. See the Reston 2020 blog for details at http://reston2020.blogspot.com, a blog on Reston development created by the Reston Citizen's Association's Reston 2020 Committee. See "Comstock" in the index or search the blog.

The County, which negotiated an agreement with Comstock to build the parking for the site by the 2013 arrival of Metro, agreed to this proposal over the objections of virtually all Restonians.

It will be an eyesore for decades allowed by the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors.

Sep 13, 2010 2:36:00 PM