Re-thinking Tall Oaks as a Village Center, Terry Maynard, Reston 20/20

Re-thinking Tall Oaks as a Village Center

Terry Maynard, Reston 20/20 Committee

February 23, 2016

As this is being written, Jefferson Apartment Group (JAG) has a redevelopment application proposal before the County’s Department of Planning and Zoning (DPZ) to rebuild Tall Oaks Village Center as a residential cluster.  As shown in the diagram below (Figure 1), it would comprise three types of residential housing:  44 townhouses, 42 “2 over 2” townhomes dwelling units, and two condominium buildings (70 units total) along the Wiehle side of the complex. 

Figure 1:  JAG Layout Proposal for Redevelopment of Tall Oaks Village Center

As shown above, besides these 156 dwelling units, JAG proposes a very small green space about the width of a boulevard median strip and two small retail buildings (less than 4,000 GSF each) to flesh out its redevelopment.    

Otherwise, the so-called village center is crammed with housing and asphalt.  It does not in any sense of the County’s Comprehensive Plan, meet the criteria for a Reston “village center.”

Reston 20/20 believes Tall Oaks can become a vibrant village center through some relatively simple changes that have a major impact on its configuration without losing a single dwelling unit (156 allowed).  That change entails the following:

•  Scrapping the so-called “2 over 2” townhomes (42 dwelling units)
• Not building the row of townhouses closest to the village center entrance (8 units)
• Not building the proposed small amount of retail space (less than 10,000 GSF), less than currently is operating at the shopping center. 

The key to the change is building two more essentially identical condominium buildings at the south and east side of a much larger green space or plaza (or both) in the middle of the village center, including a stage and entry fountain.   An additional first floor of each of these buildings would be retail space surrounding the square that would total roughly 49,000 GSF, enough to make this a viable retail area.   Moreover, the two added condominium buildings would mean a net—and excess—gain of 20 dwelling units that would need to be eliminated in any of several ways (larger condos, cut one floor of condo units if feasible, reduce townhouse construction, or some combination of these).  Parking for this retail would be achieved by adding another level of underground parking to all four buildings, a total of 242 additional parking spots plus at least 50 street-level parking spots (about 290 required) around the plaza/square.  This is depicted below with the altered roadways in black. 

Figure 2:  Alternative Layout Proposal for Tall Oaks Village Center

We are well aware that JAG has insisted that retail at this location is infeasible because of the proximity of retail shopping centers within several miles.  While it has repeated this statement on numerous occasions, it has yet to provide a market study that demonstrates that conclusion.  It simply asserts it.

In fact, there is a direct counterfactual to JAG’s assertion:  The Village Center (ironic!) at the intersection of Columbia Pike and S. George Mason Drive in Arlington.  Here is how Washington Business Journal describes the Arlington Board’s approval of this residential-over-retail development:

The latest, approved by the county board on Saturday, is Village Center. At the intersection of Columbia Pike and S. George Mason Drive, Reston-based Orr Partners will replace the Food Star supermarket and its associated parking lot with 365 market-rate apartments atop 82,000 square feet of ground-floor retail (including a new grocery store, possibly a 24/7 Harris Teeter) and a 600-space, three-level underground parking garage.

The project, located on nearly 3 acres, also includes a half-acre public square, designed by landscape architect Oculus, featuring a garden, public art and a water feature. Orr will widen the sidewalks to six feet, provide space for outdoor dining, and set aside 128 bicycle parking spaces.

“We’re really excited about it,” said Ryan Orr, Orr’s vice president of acquisitions and development. “I think for Columbia Pike, it’s a game changer.”

And the Village Center location sits less than two miles from Pentagon City, Crystal City, Baileys Crossroads, and Virginia Square, and less than four miles from Seven Corners.   Talk about competition!

So while Orr Partners, a Reston firm no less, views its opportunity to create the Village Center as “a game changer,” JAG sees the competition from more distant and less complete shopping centers as overwhelming.    Moreover, Orr is putting 2/3 more retail on less than half the space of the Tall Oaks Village Center, and in a less densely populated neighborhood of predominately older single-family homes and garden apartments.  

 Village Center,

Reston 20/20’s view is that JAG is not interested in meeting the goals and expectations of the Reston Master Plan because it builds housing, and nothing else.  If it can’t meet the expectations of the County Plan for Reston, JAG should not be allowed to redevelop the Tall Oaks Village Center.