The Reston Performing Arts Center: Placemaking or Profit Taking

In what now seems like the distant past of the Reston Master Plan Task Force’s work on Phase 1, members of the task force had a head-snapping moment in one meeting about 2012 when Boston Properties’ Pete Otteni committed Boston Properties to building a performing arts center across the street from the Town Center Metrorail station.  People would actually be able to take the Metro to Reston and walk a short distance to a major theater and see a top-tier stage performance—drama, musical, ballet, opera, you name it!  No one expected Boston Properties to step up and make an unsolicited offer to build a major theater for Reston and the region.

The building of a major performance center was an idea the Reston 20/20 Committee offered in in its paper “Planning World-Class Transit-Oriented Development in Reston Town Center: The Community’s Alternative Vision.”   Reston 20/20 said, “We envision the Reston performing and fine arts center sitting directly south of the Metrorail exit, enabling ready theater access. The center would comprise a substantial performance hall--one seating on the order of 800-1,200 people, a second small (possibly “in the round”) theater for experimental and educational purposes. . . Whether integrated with the performing arts facility or not, the fine arts portion of the center would be large enough to house a quality permanent collection as well as host temporary exhibitions of world-class art. It should also house artist studios and art class rooms on the upper level(s). The studios, in particular, should face south and be open to natural light. It would probably be about the physical size of the National Postal Museum (75,000 SF) in Washington, DC. The fine and performing arts center would adjoin a large park-like plaza with trees, shrubs, benches, and possibly a sculpture garden that could include an underground parking garage beneath the park area that would serve commuters and arts center audiences alike. We anticipate such a theater-museum complex would require about 200,000GSF of development.”

And that offer showed up in Boston Properties’ presentations after the Reston Master Plan was approved.  In a series of presentations to the regional business community, Mr. Otteni presented a concept plan for the development of the area just north and west of the Town Center Metro station featuring a large circular theater just feet from the station entrance.   (See below.)  It appeared that Boston Properties was going to follow-through on Mr. Otteni surprise commitment to the Reston Task Force.  

And then, poof, the proposal was gone.  At the April 20^th “Reston . . . Blueprint for the Future” community open house sponsored by Supervisor Hudgins, Boston Properties had a new concept plan rendering with nary a sign of any planned proposed performance center.  When asked about the absence of the performance center, Mr. Otteni said that the area (“RTC III”—gray in the rendering above) was the most valuable land in Town Center and that the County had agreed to build a performance center in Town Center North.  Town Center North is, of course, a mile from the station and Mr. Otteni pointed out it would be served by shuttle buses, just like the Kennedy Center.  

Subsequently, we checked with a representative of Supervisor Hudgins’ office who said she was unaware of plans to build a performing arts center in Town Center North.  We joked that TCN would be quite crowded with all the County facilities proposed to be built there.  I told her that a knowledgeable attorney told me at the open house that there had been some kind of agreement between the County and Boston Properties to build a performing arts center near the Metro station, but that the agreement had expired.  The Hunter Mill representative was unaware that any such agreement had existed.  Nonetheless, she offered to follow up to find out any details.  

So, not only does it appear that a major performing arts center will not be within easy walking distance of the Town Center Metro station, it also means that, if one is built, it will likely be built by/for the County in Town Center North.  And that almost certainly means that it will be managed by the Reston Community Center and funded through added Reston Special Tax District #5 taxes.   To build such a major performance facility would require a huge investment and large operational expense, especially with the many parameters RCC has already laid out as requirements/features of such a performing arts center.  The prospective impact on STD#5 tax rates would be huge.   Of course, as usual, none of this will be publicly disclosed until it is too late for Reston taxpayers to stop if from occurring. 

NOTE:  When or if we obtain additional information on this situation, we will update this post and write new ones. 

Are Fairfax County and Reston "fraying around the edges" or "elite"?

In an April 2 article, Washington Post reporter Antonio Olivo writes:

For decades, Fairfax County has been a national model for suburban living, a place of good governance and elite schools that educate children from some of the country’s richest neighborhoods.

But Virginia’s largest municipality is fraying around the edges.

A population that is growing older, poorer and more diverse is sharpening the need for basic services in what is still the nation’s second-wealthiest county, even as a sluggish local economy maintains a chokehold on the revenue stream.

Since the 2008 recession, local officials have whittled away at programs to the tune of $300 million. They now say that there is no fat left to trim.

Instead, they are searching for ways to raise taxes, draw new businesses and revitalize worn neighborhoods. Their effort mirrors the struggle of aging suburban communities nationwide, as a turn-of-the century economic boom settles into a sluggish post-recession status quo. . . .

We strongly recommend you read the full article.  

We agree that Fairfax County's economy is sluggish although Reston appears to have slightly higher economic growth than the county as a whole.  We also doubt this situation will change significantly anytime soon and it could last a decade or more, especially if local taxes--inevitably dominated by property taxes--continue to rise.  Fairfax County relies on the federal government for its strength and growth, and there is little sign that there will be growth in either federal government employment or contracting.

The primary reason Reston has grown marginally more than the county has as a whole is based on its location--as in "location, location, location." The arrival of Metrorail, despite its poor operating condition, is a relative strength as is our location near Dulles Airport.  The recent revision of our community plan to encourage huge new growth around Reston's stations offers a solid reason for businesses to locate here--if they have a reason to locate in the Washington area at all. And residents will have a much-expanded option to live in high-rise dwellings if they choose.

That said, new office demand is extremely limited across Northern Virginia with vacancy rate of 18.2% per CBRE data as of yearend-2015 (Reston has a 16.1% office vacancy rate according to the same source), and the recent blooming of near-vacant high-rise residences in the Silver Line station areas and generally stagnant suburban housing market has shown that housing demand is also constrained.  (Zillow reports a 1.2% drop in Fairfax housing prices over the last year as of January 2016.)  In particular, we believe developers in the Silver Line station areas are too taken with their own marketing language about the attractiveness of their Reston and Tysons locations and so they continue to overprice their business and residential opportunities--and their vacancies remain unnecessarily high.  A prime example:  A Reston Town Center spokesperson said, Reston Town Center thinks it is "elite."

For Reston, the last thing we need to be called is "elite."  Bob Simon's vision for Reston was anything but elitist.  It was as egalitarian and diverse--and still economically successful--as any community vision in the country.  And it remains so.  An attempt to make the community--or any significant part of it--into an elitist colony will undermine the community and likely impede its overall growth.  We have a great community founded on great planning principles calling for, among other things, racial diversity, affordability, inclusiveness, and recreational and cultural opportunity.  We shouldn't be imperiling that foundation by trying to become some version of Palo Alto, the snobbiest small city in the US, or even Chicago's Magnificent Mile. 

That is the other side of the growth story:  It seems everyone except the business community has recognized that regional, much less Reston, growth is sluggish.  So while developers go looking for handouts from the County and the County imposes more taxes on homeowners and others, they are acting as if the boom of the last decade is back.  It's not--and it will not be for quite some time even around the Metro stations.  And, at the same time, homeowners are no better off than they are, so shifting the costs of their initiatives (starting with road, school, emergency service, and other public improvements to sustain service levels) to them is both unfair and inequitable.

Reston may not be fraying at the edges, but it needs to focus on its founding vision to continue to be one of the premier planned communities in the world, not some haughty elitist self-delusion.  

Reston 20/20 Report and Letter to Supervisor Hudgins re Deed Requirement for 10 Acres of Open Space in Reston Town Center North

   LTR to Supvr Hudgins Re RTCN Open Space With Attached Paper by Terry Maynard

Reston 20/20 Analysis: The Proposed PDC and PRM Zoning Ordinance Amendment: Tripling Urban Density While Minimizing Community Involvement, September 28, 2015

   The Proposed PDC and PRM Zoning Ordinance Amendment:  Tripling Potential Urban Density While Minimizing Com...

County Issues RFP for Town Center North Phase 1 (Blocks 7 & 8) Conceptual Development Proposal

Fairfax County has issued the first request for proposal (RFP) for the redevelopment of Town Center North.  It specifically covers Blocks 7 & 8, which are and will be public facilities development at the southern end of TCN.  At this time, the County is seeking a conceptual development proposal to identify qualified competitors for a public-private partnership (PPP) to handle the redevelopment.  Experience has shown consistently that PPPs are the least transparent process for the development of public facilities, offering few opportunities for public input on community needs or comments on draft plans. 

Here is how the County describes its process:

 

 Here is the full RFP:

   RFP for Reston Town Center North PPP Phase 1 Redevelopment of Blocks 7 & 8, June 30, 2015, Fairfax Coun...