Fairfax County's housing authority has purchased 2 acres of land next to the Innovation Center Metro station in Herndon, with plans to build an affordable housing development.
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The site, which the county bought with federal funds for just under $23M, is part of Allen & Rocks’ 12.5-acre planned development called Innovation Center South. The Fairfax County Redevelopment and Housing Authority announced the off-market acquisition of 3625 and 3627 King Johns Way on Tuesday.
The housing agency said details are forthcoming but that it anticipates the project could include up to 400 units. It did not respond to Bisnow's inquiry into whether all of those units would be affordable. The release did not disclose a development partner but said the project would take several years.
The development news comes amid a broader Fairfax County effort to scale its housing production and stifle cost inflation.
The county has added about twice as many jobs as homes since 2013, and to meet that demand, an estimated 40,000 new homes are needed by 2035, according to an April housing action plan. Meanwhile, rents have climbed by 40% since 2015, the report says, resulting in nearly half of all renters spending more than 30% of their income on housing.
“This initiative will deliver housing affordable to a broad spectrum of people, from those who work at Dulles Airport to those who support the various tech companies in the area,” Jimmy Bierman, who represents the property’s district on the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors, said in the release.
Fairfax property records show the seller was an entity called Nugget A LLC and the sale was executed on Aug. 28, with the purchase price of $22.9M. Two other parcels at the site are still owned by Nugget Office LLC, which shares an address with Tysons-based Allen & Rocks.
Allen & Rocks did not respond to Bisnow’s request for comment.
FCRHA used funding through the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Moving to Work program, with which it’s had a designation since 2013.
In the release, FCRHA Chair Lenore Stanton said being in the program enables the county to “move quickly on a marketplace opportunity to expand affordable housing in the Dulles Corridor.”
FCRHA’s new affordable development site sits within a site that Allen & Rocks, through its development arm, has long planned to turn into a mixed-use district. But the site appears to be largely vacant except for a massive parking garage serving the metro station.
As of at least 2019, the developer was partnering with Penzance on a proposed office portion of the site. It had been marketing that portion of the development with Stream Realty Partners.
Penzance Senior Vice President of Leasing Jeb Boland told Bisnow in an email that it hasn't been involved with the site for around three years. Stream co-Managing Director Jeff Roman said his team, which was listed on the marketing brochures, was not involved with the sale to FCRHA but did not respond to inquiries into whether it was still involved in marketing the site.
Innovation Center South sits adjacent to the Dulles Corporate Center office building on one side and a 400-unit senior living community, Station on Silver, on another.
It’s about a mile across the Dulles Toll Road from the massive Rivana at Innovation Station megaproject, which broke ground in April. Developers have been working for two decades to bring the 103-acre district to fruition. It’s now planned for 6.4M SF of development, including office, residential and a hotel, as well as a performing arts venue, a retail village and two public parks.
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