Foulger-Pratt plans $400M mixed-use project in Reston
POSTED
09.05.18
Add Foulger-Pratt to the long list of developers planning projects near the Wiehle-Reston East Metro station.
The Potomac-based developer submitted plans last month to Fairfax County for a 1.5 million-square-foot mixed-use project that would include up to 907 units, including apartments, condos and townhomes, an assisted living facility, a 308,000-square-foot office building and ground-level retail.
According to a statement of justification, Foulger-Pratt’s Reston Association Drive development would transform an underutilized office park into a transit-oriented community that provides homes for everyone from entry-level buyers to empty-nesters, a new pedestrian-friendly grid of streets and ample open space throughout the property — all just a half mile from the Metro station.
“It’s probably the largest project to date we’ve done in Fairfax,” said Michael Abrams, senior vice president of acquisitions with Foulger-Pratt, adding the total price tag could top out at $400 million.
He said the company is seeking approvals to rezone eight parcels totaling 24 acres along Association Drive, south of the Dulles Toll Road and north of Sunrise Valley Drive. Abrams said Foulger-Pratt is under contract to purchase those eight parcels for an undisclosed price from various trade associations, and will close on the deal after approval by the county Board of Supervisors by spring 2019. Construction would begin thereafter.
The eight separate property owners banded together in 2016 to collectively offer up their lots, retaining Fraser Forbes to market the assemblage.
Abrams said he is bullish on the Reston project because of the company’s “ability to control this much land with access to the Metro” and the improved access that will be realized in five years when the Soapstone Drive overpass over the Toll Road is completed.
The following is a breakdown of the projects planned on each of the parcels:
Block 1: 210-unit, 244,174-square-foot assisted living/independent living facility with a “healing garden” designed to promote relaxation
Blocks 2, 3, and 4: 138 homes including townhomes and two-over-twos, as well as public parks, private amenity space, a central green, a cycle park and a neighborhood park
Block 5: 154-unit condo building over 6,000 square feet of retail or five-story office building
Block 6: 14-story, 308,288-square-foot office building with outdoor plazas and seating
Block 7: 360-unit, seven-story multifamily building with fenced dog park
Block 8: 45 residences including townhomes and two-over-twos, as well as a garden park
Foulger-Pratt will develop the multifamily piece, but it is not expected to build any for-sale product, instead conveying the land to homebuilders and developers — to be selected in the next 90 days — that specialize in condos and townhomes, Abrams said. It has not been decided what entity will build the office.
Abrams said that eventually, tenants of the existing buildings on site, including the National Association of Secondary School Principals and National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, will need to relocate.
With the addition of Foulger-Pratt’s 900 units, and the 2,100 units included in the recently submitted Peter Lawrence Cos./MRP application for Isaac Newton Square, the Wiehle-Reston East Metro area is now the subject of roughly 5,000 potential new homes of varying types either completed, under construction or in the pipeline.