The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved the plans for The Meridian Group's 18.1-acre, 4.2M SF The Boro development in Tysons yesterday, clearing the way for one of the region's biggest projects.

The Meridian Group, which is JV-ing with Kettler on the residential parts of the project—and the retail below the apartments, plans to start construction on the 1.7M SF Phase 1 this summer, building 800 residential units, 223k SF of retail, 400k SF of office space and a one-acre public park. The retail will include a Showplace Icon movie theater and the region's biggest Whole Foods, opening in 2019.

“We’ve had tremendous interest from a number of tenants interested in being a part of this outstanding development," Meridian Group managing director Gary Block says. "It will be one of the area’s top destinations for shopping, dining and entertainment.”

Shalom Baranes Associates will be designing the project, just steps from the Greensboro Metro station on the former SAIC campus. The final project, wrapping up at some point next decade, will have 1,500 residential units, 1.8M SF of office, 316k SF of retail and 250k SF of hotel space.