PN Hoffman, Regency Centers, EYA Tapped For 10-Acre West Falls Church Development
Falls Church has selected a team for the long-planned development of a 10-acre site near the West Falls Church Metro station.
The city announced Monday it entered into a pubic private partnership with PN Hoffman, Regency Centers and EYA to develop a portion of the George Mason High School campus.
The development is planned to include roughly 390K SF of Class-A office space, 288 market-rate apartments, 245 condos, 150 to 200 units of senior housing and about 40 affordable apartments. It would also include about 126K SF of retail and 20K SF for a music venue or other civic use.
The buildings would be centered around a 1-acre open space branded as the Little City Commons, which would serve as a gathering place for events. The property sits on Leesburg Pike, near the Route 66 interchange.
The buildings could have heights up to 15 stories following an amendment to the city's comprehensive plan approved earlier this year. The city is planning a community meeting for December and expects the entitlement process to run through May.
The deal was structured as a 99-year ground lease. The development team would give the city five payments from 2019 to 2024 totaling $34.5M for the first phase, and an additional $10M or the appraised value for Phase 2, whichever is higher.
Along with the development, the city plans to build a new high school on the property after voters in November 2017 approved a $120M bond referendum for the school's construction. The school is planned to be built first, and the mixed-use development would begin construction once it is completed in 2021.
The process began in 2013 when Falls Church and Fairfax County reached an agreement to readjust the jurisdictional boundaries to bring the high school campus into Falls Church. Following the passage of last year's referendum, the city issued a request for proposals. It received six responses and chose three teams to submit detailed proposals before ultimately choosing the PN Hoffman, Regency Centers and EYA team.
"Over the past four years, the city held dozens of public meetings to develop a vision for the 10 acre West Falls Church site as a vibrant commercial district that will generate revenue to help us pay for our new high school," Falls Church Mayor David Tarter said in a release. "After a thorough and exhaustive selection process, I am confident that the team of EYA, PN Hoffman and Regency Centers will be an outstanding partner to work with the city over the coming years to achieve that vision."
PN Hoffman has a large portfolio of D.C. multifamily and mixed-use projects, highlighted by The Wharf megaproject on the Southwest Waterfront it co-developed with Madison Marquette. Regency Centers owns several shopping centers in the region, including Clarendon's Market Common. EYA has worked on a large number of townhouse and multifamily developments in the area, and one of the largest projects it is currently committed to is D.C.'s stalled McMillan Reservoir development.
