Affordable Developer Plans 500-Unit Project On Foreclosed Tysons Site
New plans have emerged to build about 525 units on a piece of land that was foreclosed on last year next to the Tysons Greensboro Metro station.
Fairfax County and affordable housing developer Lincoln Avenue Communities are partnering on the project, which is planned to have some mix of affordability, although the income levels have yet to be determined.
“The county just has such a tremendous shortage of affordable units,” Lincoln Avenue Communities Vice President Nick Bracco told Bisnow.
“We know being in an amenitized location is something people need and want, and affordable housing is something Fairfax County needs more of, and put the two of those together, and we know we have a really good location and a recipe for success here,” he added.
The 1.8-acre parcel at 8350 Leesburg Pike was previously owned and slated for development by an affiliate of NVCommercial, before it was foreclosed on last fall.
In September, its lender, EagleBank, sent it to a foreclosure auction, at which EagleBank took control of the property.
In January, the Fairfax County Redevelopment and Housing Authority paid $13.75M for the site, according to property records.
The property is about a quarter of a mile from The Boro, a huge mixed-use development featuring a Whole Foods, a movie theater, and other retail and restaurants.
The site had been entitled in 2013 for a pair of towers with up to 701K SF of residential or hotel space and retail as part of a six-building rezoning of Tysons Central. LAC plans to work within the entitlement framework that could either include one or two buildings on the site, Bracco said.
He said the company pursued the deal in an off-market transaction. The developer had been aware of marketing efforts after it was foreclosed on and approached EagleBank with the proposal.
“FCRHA and our partner Lincoln Avenue Communities are catalyzing affordable housing for the area’s wide variety of workers on unused land in Tysons,” FCRHA Chair Lenore Stanton said in a statement Wednesday.
“We maximized taxpayer dollars by paying below market value for a great site, and we look forward to welcoming families home to this prime location near the economic opportunities of Tysons, transportation hubs and The Boro.”
LAC has another Fairfax project underway through a partnership with FCRHA: a 275-unit affordable development next to Fairfax County Government Center that it is calling Fairfax Crest. Bracco said the first building in that project is slated to be completed in late summer.
The company is looking at multiple other sites in the region, he said, including at least two in Fairfax and others in Loudoun, Prince William and Spotsylvania counties, as well as suburban Maryland.
“So we're actively looking to do work here,” Bracco said.
LAC is an investor and owner of more than 170 completed and under-development properties totaling more than 30,500 units.
CORRECTION, MARCH 12, 3:25 P.M. ET: A previous version of this story misstated the jurisdiction involved in the project. This story has been updated.
