Hubris, Thy Name is Tysons

So how are things going in "Fairfax County's downtown," the amalgamation of shopping malls, car dealerships and boxy office buildings that will be transformed into a vibrant urban streetscape in which tourists and locals alike will stroll, froyo in hand, as they are serenaded by strolling musicians and panhandlers job creators trying to sell wilting single roses under the moonlight blocked by the giant concrete monorail pilings of the above-ground Metro, which has already won rave reviews for its aesthetic appeal? Let's ask Gerald L. Gordon, president of the Fairfax County Economic Development Authority, shall we?

“Fairfax County is now the downtown. D.C. just became our suburb.”

Good to see they're maintaining a sense of perspective.

The argument goes like this: Fairfax County has far more Fortune 500 companies (nine vs. four), enjoys a much lower unemployment rate (4 percent vs. 8.7 percent), is bookended by two airports and, with Metro arriving, is slated to add dozens of buildings taller than anything in the District. And, the Virginia community is a battleground in the presidential election.

When the Tysons projects that have been submitted for approval are complete, Tysons alone will have 50 million square feet of office space, 35 million square feet of residences and 5.5 million square feet of hotels. By those measures, it will become a major U.S. city.

Some District leaders consider Tysons a threat. The Downtown D.C. Business Improvement District, a group funded by commercial property owners, ranked the arrival of Metro to Tysons as one of its top concerns in its 2011 annual report. Office space in Tysons is available at a huge discount — about $25 a square foot less — compared with the average downtown.

Of course, there's a reason why office space in Tysons is cheaper. Downtown, you can have a fancy "power lunch" in which you can describe the comparative merits of your system to strap bombs to dolphins with lobbyists and lawmakers somewhere fancy, like the Palm or maybe one of the dozens of Potbelly Sandwich Works popping up along M Street without anyone having to get into a car. Tysons recently took a hit in that regard, and its upcoming signature destination leaves a little to be desired in terms of elite cachet. (Although Tysons does have retail options you'd more likely expect to see in a seedy downtown, not next to a cloverleaf intersection.)

Needless to say, D.C. officials aren't losing a lot of sleep over this.

Pedro Ribeiro, spokesman for D.C. Mayor Vincent Gray, scoffed at talk of a rivalry. “We don’t consider Fairfax County to be our competition,” he said. “New York City is our competitor. San Francisco is our competitor. They’re not even in the same league.”

Ribeiro was not even aware that four Silver Line stations were coming to Tysons; he thought there would only be one. (The District has 40.)

AWWWWW HELL NO! Guess he'll be eating his words when he gets off at the Springhill/Greensboro East/Tysons West stop, or whatever it's going to be called, to cash in his Groupon at the Sunglass Hut.

“I think somebody really needs to go look up in a dictionary what the definitions of suburban and urban are,” Ribeiro said. “And then maybe we can have a discussion.”

And as we all know, Reston's own fake downtown Gritty Urban Core has got that definition all wrapped up. All Tysons has in terms of grit and bad-assness is a bunch of suicidal deer. Case closed!

Frankenstormpocalypse Now: Sandy Bears Down on Reston (and the Rest of Virginia, and 12 Other States)

V. v., exciting news! Reston was cited as an example of the wisdom of burying utility lines in a respected national forum discussing the policy implications of severe weather. Okay, it was just a series of comments on a New York Times "news paper" article, but not once did anyone mention a local politician in the least vaguely tangible contexts or suggest that dissenters engorge themselves in all-you-can-eat breadsticks at a local chain eatery, so we were impressed by the level of discourse.

(earlier "coverage" follows)

Okay, here's our CONTINUING STORM TEAM COVERAGE (or at least a link to our Twitter feed, which we might be able to update from our ca. 1996 Motorola flip phone until its battery cuts ou

Tweets by @Restonian

(Scroll down the Twitter feed for older storm-related posts.)


Here we go again! So far, it's just moderate rain and some light wind at Restonian World Headquarters, so we're not sure what the big deal is. What's that, Confidential Twitter Operatives "John" and "Dan"?

PANIC. To comfort ourselves, we're just going to watch this YouTubes video over and over until the power goes out and crashing tree limbs sever our Internet connection to the outside world. STORM TEAM COVERAGE updates later, assuming we still have power and our neighbors don't resort to cannibalism when they realize their electric can opener doesn't work. Apocalicious!

Caddyshackpocalypse Now: The Waiting Game

Hey, golf fans! Time to put on the green jacket and see what's happening in everyone's favorite sport of kings and inappropriate land use. Just because the "quiet company" postponed its meeting with the Fairfax County Board of Zoning Appeals until January doesn't mean that we can all head to the 19th hole for an earth-toned cocktail (we're partial to a Harvey Eggshell White Wallbanger ourselves).

Our BFFs at Rescue Reston have set up a fancy online petition, which they plan to present to the Board of Zoning Appeals. As of this morning, they had 380 signatures, so good on them.

Meanwhile, in a column, Rescue Reston alleges that the someday-to-be Macaroni Grill-razing owners of Reston Spectrum and the lead-blowing Nationals, the Lerner Co., is in cahoots with Northwestern Mutual Life to bring bollardy goodness to the golf course.

Several sources have indicated the golf course developer to be The Lerner Company, owner of the Nationals baseball team. Lerner has not publicly announced its involvement. But how perverse would it be that a premier sports entertainment company in the metro area is complicit in applying leverage to close down one of the premier golf courses and recreational amenities in Northern Virginia to construct medium to high-density housing?

John Lovaas argues that the delay is most likely a stalling tactic:

My suspicion is that they are taking a course of action often used by developers or a friendly supervisor when a proposal has caused considerable upset in the community. The idea is to delay for a few months, trusting that the intensity of the upset will dissipate. With luck, folks in the community will barely notice it when the deed is finally done. This was exactly the course taken recently by Supervisor Hudgins when she delayed a final decision on the proposed 23-story building on Reston Parkway, a project vehemently opposed by Town Center residents and three major community organizations. As in that case, there is a presumption here that the outcome favoring the large-scale development will not be well received in the community.

There is another, perhaps more wishful-thinking line of thought that contends Reston National’s case for a BZA reversal of the zoning official’s ruling is so weak that the corporates decided to delay in order to work further on the case or possibly even to rethink their position….

If they are only delaying in order to dissipate the tremendous community energy created by well-organized Rescue Reston with firm support from an increasingly effective Reston Citizens Association and the Reston Association, showing more independence under new leadership, that is a credit to all three organizations. But, as we saw with the RTC 23-story building proposal, delay can be effective, too.

Meanwhile, the Reston Association has produced a fancy memorandum discussing the potential impact of redevelopment of Reston National, assuming that development would yield 1,110 new units and 2,775 new residents. In a nutshell, the memorandum says that such development would be Bad for wildlife habitat, stormwater management, and demands on RA facilities, including pools and tennis courts.

One Fun Fact: much like Lake Anne is at the mercy of Hidden Creek Golf Course, which has land-use rights to drain water from the lake for irrigation even at the expense of users of the jet-age air conditioning system, Reston National can dip a bendy straw into Lake Audubon whenever it likes:

The water is used by the golf course to fill an irrigation pond. Under a different land use scenario, this right could be exercised to fill aesthetic features such as an ornamental fountain.

We can only imagine what such a "water feature" might look like:



Frankly, we'd be more concerned about swimming in Lake Audubon water.

At Lake Anne, It's Not Easy Being Green

The unseasonably warm weather appears to be taking its toll on Lake Anne. On the plus side, an entrepreneur could try bottling this stuff and selling it as "green tea." As for us, we think we found the perfect location to shoot the opening scene of our soon-to-be-released feature film, The Creature from the Earth-Toned Lagoon.

We're thinking of matting and framing this one and selling it as art. Or, we should probably say, "art."

Flashback Monday: The Military-Industrial Complex, Reston, and Representational Art, All in One Photograph

Sometimes even the most mundane minutiae of daily life can hint at the occult forces that ordinarily hide behind the curtains. In this exciting and clearly unstaged photograph from way back in 1968, we see various middle-aged white men smiling as they hold a framed painting for our perusal. It, of course, is a rendition of our beloved earth-toned community, with a sylvan scene of pristine boaters out for an afternoon jaunt on Lake Anne serving as a highly evocative representation of clean living out in the rapidly-being-tamed suburbs of Virginia. Check it, as the kids today haven't said for decades:

All in all, a lovely, almost pastoral scene, although as part-time semioticians and full-time "web loggers," we'd argue the larger scene around the painting is the one crying out to be "unpacked." Who are these men holding the painting to the camera? Some are representatives of Gulf Reston, the real-estate arm of the oil giant which, at the time of this photo, had full control over Reston after casting Bob Simon aside. The others are from General Electric, who had "commissioned the painting for a calendar," presumably to go alongside equally representative images of happy nuclear power plant workers and missile silo technicians. Behind them is a tableau of maps and plans for Reston -- many of which show much larger buildings than what eventually came to pass. The overall effect is one of a war room, a war room in which members of the Military-Industrial Complex are hungrily carving up the spoils of victory. Pay no attention to the men behind the fancy painting, they seemingly say with their unspoken fixed smiles, and carry on.

Or maybe it's just a cheesy PR shot for a company newsletter. Hard to say.

Reston Spectrum Redevelopment: The Day The Pasta Dies?

At first glance, it looks like another sunny day at Reston's big box nirvana, the Spectrum Center. But that unassuming yellow placard in front of the Macaroni Grill signals big ch-ch-ch-changes a-comin': the long-delayed, recently reactivated plans to level most of the Spectrum and replace it with more than 1,400 residential units, 255 hotel rooms, 172,000 square feet of office space and 245,000 square feet of retail are back on track, with a Fairfax County Planning Commission public hearing scheduled for Nov. 1.

We knew this day would come, but seeing that placard of Sad in front of Reston's signature midscale chain eatery makes it real in a very painful, artery-clogging way. So, it is with a heavy heart that we move the minute hand on the Macaroni Grill Doomsday Clock a minute closer to midnight:

TICK.

We don't know about you, but we feel an emotion-fueled carbohydrate binge coming on. Time to go eat our feelings, the end.

Update: Our favorite correspondent and Reston's Poet Laureate, the Peasant from Less Sought After South Reston, has done it again.

Metro Silver Line: Earning $1.5 Million, The Hard Way

Five companies, including new Reston-based buddies Bechtel, have been selected to submit bids to build Phase 2 of the Metro Silver Line, (someday) extending everyone's favorite E-ticket ride from Wiehle Avenue to Dulles and the particleboard Valhallas beyond. The competitively bid contract will be awarded next May, but never fear, everyone will be a winner!

Even if they don’t win the contract to build the second phase of the Dulles Rail extension, the five firms selected Wednesday to bid on the project could each be eligible for a $1.5 million check from the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority.

“It’s considered to be the standard in industry,” said Eric Carey, contracting officer for the Dulles Corridor Metrorail project. “We need to offer a stipend in order to get competitive bids. Otherwise, we won’t get the response we want or won’t get competitive pricing.”

We couldn't agree more. And in the spirit of competition, respectfully attached is our own carefully crafted proposal for Phase 2:

You're welcome. Airports authority, feel free to just Paypal us the $1.5 million when you get a chance. Thx!

On The YouTubes: We Watch the Reston Association Videos So You Don't Have To

An action shot of our gritty urban core, minus the garbage truck fires, opens this, the October edition of Reston Today. Andy Sigle is as always our dulcet-toned Virgil, guiding us through B-roll footage of recent earth-toned action in our fair community. We learn how seniors can get into a "relatively new movie" at the (vastly improved, no longer frightening) RTC Bowtie Cinemas for free once a month. We learn that 200 kids participated in the 2012 Reston Kids Triathlon, good for them, and finally, we meet the Front Porch Singers, who "bring joy to local residents" through their music (even with banjos involved). And then, 5 minutes and 16 seconds after we began this odyssey, we're out, staring numbly at the "related videos" links and wondering what to do next with our lives.

All these things are very nice, but you'd think that the RA might want to share some news about… some news. It's not like anything's happened in the last month or so, or that the RA is taking a more active role in such things.

Domestic Incident Becomes Second Reston Murder of 2012

Here's some news video of yesterday's domestic incident in South Reston that left Dr. Ruth Hamilton Allen dead, allegedly at the hands of her brother as their 91-year-old mother watched. Unthinkable.

A Bad Turn for Curves, Another Nail in the Coffin For Tall Oaks?

Confidential Restonian Operative "Joel" shared this shocking photo of what until recently was Curves' outparcel building in the Tall Oaks Stucco Wasteland Shopping Center. "Curves has closed," CRO "Joel" writes. "Perhaps their mission was complete."

The building was formerly home to Reston's first 7-11, a feat which warrants some sort of historical plaque. Although given the fact that Tall Oaks has been unable to sustain either a 7-11 or a Burger King -- two businesses pretty much mathematically incapable of failing -- perhaps it's the shopping center as a whole that should receive a plaque commemorating its role as the Graveyard of Chain Empires.

Meanwhile, how long has it been since we've heard a good rumor about what would replace the succession of international grocery stores as the shopping center's anchor tenant? At this point, it's starting to look more and more like the property owner is just holding on and waiting until it can redevelop the village center real good with some bollardy goodness. Which stinks, as a couple of your Restonian's favorite eateries are pretty much the only things left standing there.

Of course, the village center had its heyday. But mostly we still miss the original curves at Tall Oaks, the end.

Flashback Monday: We Mean No Harm To Your Covenants

Take us to your HOA leader! Not to be confused with a more permanent visitor's center that would be built later, this fancy "sales office and exhibition" apparently fell from the sky, presumably from outer space, landing "on a knoll overlooking Reston's rolling hills" sometime in 1963, prompting the dumbfounded locals to gawk at its jet-age "central core containing mechanical and air-conditioning equipment, storage space, and the first Reston post office."

We're assuming this lovely structure was ultimately demolished and replaced by something with walls that came together at right angles (at least at first), but who knows? Maybe it blasted off in search of other worlds planned communities to populate. Does anyone recall this structure or where in Reston it was situated? Hit us up with the "deets," as the kids today no longer say, in the comments.

Bargain of the Century: Lots in Reston for $10 (!!)

Needless to say, when we saw this headline

we started stabbing at the clicky button on our fancy computer mouse like a Pavlovian rat. Lots in Reston for $10? What with the Metro coming, just wait a few years and we could flip that sucker for a cool, we dunno, $17.50! Or maybe a developer with a Snidley Whiplash mustache and stovepipe hat will mysteriously arrive on our doorstep one day and offer us $20 for it so he can build a very skinny mauvescraper.

Unfortunately, it turns out the lots are in a subdivision in that other doppelganger Reston in Canada, where they're trying to "pump up the population." (We wonder why.) But "eight or nine lots" are "available at the cost of ten dollars," although that's Canadian money, so it's actually more like $10.21 in a currency backed by something other than maple syrup and pelts the full faith of the U.S. of A., the end.

V. v. v. exciting update! A CTV teevee report takes us to our Manitoba doppelganger for the first time! Unfortunately, you'll have to follow this link, as Canadian scientists have yet to discover the fancy concept of "video embeds." (On the bright side, it appears that through their active technological espionage program, they now have color teevee, the end.)

Big News: Teevee Station to Open Bureau in Reston

Very very very exciting news for those of us who enjoy getting their news from the teevee instead of surly, poorly written web logs! Not just content to have an ActionMcNews chopper buzz various stories of interest, one of the local channels is opening a Reston bureau.

Local television affiliate NBC4 Washington is opening two small bureaus in Reston and Landover to expand local news coverage.

Matt Glassman, NBC4 manager of news, press and programming, said each of the bureaus would be staffed initially with at least a bureau chief and a camera operator and should open by January. Glassman said Tracee Wilkins will be the bureau chief in Prince George’s County out of Landover and Julie Carey will be the bureau chief for Northern Virginia out of Reston. “These are folks who will live and work out in those areas,”he said.

The Landover bureau will have some earth-shattering news reports, we're sure ("This just in: the Cap Center remains demolished. Back to you Jim.") But Reston? Forget the rest of Northern Virginia -- there's plenty of good stuff to cover right here. Drowned wallabies and Viking pet funerals, bizarre crimes and plenty o' that sweet weather action that dominates teevee news coverage. It's the stuff local news producers' dreams are made of.

We just hope NBC4 is thinking big. Much like its corporate parent, it could set up a highly visible studio in the middle of Reston Town Center, and we could all show up each morning to wave and hold up signs like idiots:

Can't wait.

Caddyshackpocalypse Now: Did Some Kids' YouTube Video Lead an Insurance Giant to Defer a Zoning Appeal? (Probably Not, But It's a Good Story Anyway)

What's a good golf analogy for the decision by Northwestern Mutual Life, aka the "Quiet Company," to defer its Board of Zoning Appeals hearing involving whether it has the right to transform Reston National Golf Course into bollardy midrise goodness? Much as the doleful eyes of a plucky young caddy might inspire a jaded, fading, and quite possibly intoxicated golf pro to do his best one last time by hitting a birdie, or whatever it's called, maybe some actuarial boffin, presumably wearing one of those visors you see in the movies as he's cranking one of those old-timey counting machines, was clicking around the YouTubes during the 15-minute lunch break he was given by Ebenezer his direct supervisor and came across this heartwarming video produced by some kids who live around the golf course:

And maybe, just maybe, said actuarial's heart grew THREE SIZES THAT DAY.

Or maybe the Quiet Company just wanted more time to prepare their case, now that all the opponents of redevelopment have gotten lawyered up real good. Or maybe they think that people will forget about this and get back to their non-golf-course-redevelopment-focused lives and stop having rallies where hundreds of people show up. But the Rescue Reston folks told our BFFs at Patch that that's not going to happen:

"We will not be moved," said Rescue Reston executive director John Pinkman. "We live here, we are not going anywhere. If anything, this delay helps us get better organized and communicate our message to others who have are just becoming aware of this crisis. Not understanding that, is a major miscalculation and an underestimation of our resolve; as was the tactic of trying to slide this redevelopment through quietly."

Now, we're just filthy "web loggers," not media strategists, but we have two words of advice for Rescue Reston's video team for their next masterwork ahead of the rescheduled January hearing with the BZA: puppy videos. That is all.

Flashback Monday: Lake Anne, Rising From the Primordial Ooze

Contrary to popular legend, Lake Anne Village Center did not rise fully formed from the primordial ooze at the water's edge. Real men, heroic men (and given the time, probably just men) forged it with their hands, using stone and steel and taupe accent trim. Behold these exciting photos from the plaza's "pardon our mess" era:

Please to be enjoying some black-and-white aerial photography of the village center under construction, presumably taken by a U2 pilot on his way to a (slightly) more important mission a bit further south. Someone better add some water to the lake before it gums up the jet-age air conditioning system, though.

Here's the "J" Building under construction. Dyno-mite!

The Heron House, rising to the stars, or at least above the treeline.

And finally, a laborer can be seen hard at work on the Children's Fountain, back when kids were allowed to play in it.

Reston Real Estate: The High-Low Game, Midrise Edition

Hey, fans of Internet web log games and the Multiple Listing Service! Grab your maps of the nearest golf course, superfund site or cemetery prime for redevelopment and get ready to play everyone's favorite game of Reston real estate wheeling and dealing, the High-Low(tm) Game (R)! And as befits our fancy midrise future, both the apex and nadir of homes on the market in our earth-toned community are condos. Enough of our yakkin, it's time to MOVE ON UP!

First up is this fancy condo in Midtown Reston. For just $1.75 million, you can get three parking places and "EVERY IMAGINABLE IMPROVMNT*SURRND SOUND" (the second vowel in each word apparently doesn't convey). Start saying those pennies, because for a mortgage of $6,887, you could get these awesome improvmnts:

When the granite backsplash is taller than the granite counter is deep, you know you're dealing with some awesome surrnds.

On the other end of the spectrum is the opportunity to own a piece of the Reston dream for under $100,000! This lovely home in Thoreau Place is only $99,500. Of course, there's a catch -- it's a 55+ community. And the kitchen is, shall we say, a bit more spartan (and blurry):

Flowers visible through the passthrough? That's just a little something those of us not in the real estate business like to call STAGING FOR THE WIN.

Not a fan of apartment condo living on either end of the price spectrum? Luckily for you, the subtle 8-bedroom cottage just off Personal Injury Lawyers Road we visited earlier this year is still on the market for a cool 3.999 million, the end.

Same Old, Same Old: Crescent Apartments/Lake Anne Redevelopment in Holding Pattern

It wasn't supposed to be this way. When county officials first announced they were seeking bids to redevelop the county-owned Crescent Apartments property near Lake Anne, the plan was to announce a developer by early July, with bollardly goodness and maybe, just maybe, some spillover foot traffic to Lake Anne Village Center soon to follow.

Flash forward to earlier this week, when county officials held a meeting to say… not a whole lot, beyond the fact that construction on something just might begin as soon as 2016. A few Lake Anne residents had what seems like a completely appropriate response:

"I have been to 10 or 12 meetings," said Linda Fuller, owner of Lake Anne Florist and Virginia Wine & Gourmet. "Why are we doing this again? Are we going to sit here at Lake Anne while Reston Station, Fairway, and Parc Reston are redeveloped? How does Lake Anne Village Center take advantage of Reston Station if we have nothing to offer? I have been on the plaza for 38 years. I am not gonna sit here again and listen to something I have heard before."

With that, Fuller left the room. She was soon joined by another neighbor.

"I am wondering why you called this meeting," the woman said. "We have told you 15 times what we want for Lake Anne. This is [expletive]."

Chalk it up to charette PTSD.

What's telling is that there was no mention of the fancy 1,330-unit proposal to redevelop Crescent ostensibly submitted by Hines, the developer of the fancy CityCenterDC project downtown, back in late spring.

Maybe Hines is still interested; apparently "several" developers are. But reading between the lines, it sounds like county planners may be holding out for a broader redevelopment plan that includes other parcels around Lake Anne, including the plaza's current parking lot.

With consolidation, up to 935 units could be developed, said John Payne, Fairfax County's Deputy Director for Real Estate and Development said at the original RFP meeting. If only Crescent is redeveloped, it will be for a maximum of 750 units.

Both of those figures are considerably smaller than the number of units Hines initially proposed for the Crescent property alone. Which may be appropriate, given traffic and other considerations, but may also be a sticking point for developers. A completely integrated mega-proposal that encompasses all of Lake Anne could also be waiting in the wings. But given the fact that we're seeing other redevelopment projects preparing to break ground right now, the delays aren't exactly encouraging.

In case you're keeping score at home, the county now expects to select a proposal sometime next fall. Add the requisite zoning/DRB approval fun, and you get that 2016 start date for any construction. The bright side? Maybe there's still time for us to submit a proposal for a fun floating rollerdrome in the center of the lake.

Caddyshackpocalypse Now: The Rally: The YouTube Clips of the Empty Chair Speech

By all accounts, this weekend's Rescue Reston rally, held right across the street from the at-least-for-now Reston National Golf Course, was a big success. Our BFFs at Patch reported that several hundred people attended, wearing T-shirts in a shade of neon greenish yellow guaranteed to give the folks on the DRB nightmares for weeks. Hunter Mill Supervisor Cathy Hudgins expressed support for preserving the golf course as open space, saying:

"I don't want to minimize that this could be a challenge," she said of fighting the threat from developers. "But [Fairfax County] Zoning has opined correctly, It supports Reston. I respect the process. I see the outcome of this being preservation of the golf course and open space."

Fingers crossed that the "process" actually works. And yes, there was a conversation with an insurance company exec in an empty chair. (More on that later.)

Hey, did you know Rescue Reston has a theme song? Here it is, courtesy of the YouTubes machine:



Sounds familiar. We still think this number is somehow more a propos.

Please to be enjoying more videos from the rally. Here, Hudgins makes the case for protecting open space.



Reston Association board member Richard Chew reaffirms the RA's opposition to redeveloping the golf course and reminds folks that the RA's gotten lawyered up to fight it. He's followed by RCA President Colin Mills.



Here's what you've all been waiting for. Skip ahead to 5:45 for a vaguely familiar conversation with an empty chair:

AWESOME. There's also a joke about a Playboy club at the Vatican, complete with a credible Father Guido Sarducci impression, but we'll let you look for that one yourselves, the end.

At the Ever-Trendy Reston Town Center, Even the Garbage is Smokin' Hot

Confidential Instagram Machine operator "Seebarks" tweeted this shocking cellular phone photo from Reston's Gritty Urban Core this weekend. Apparently our simulacrum of a downtown felt like it needed a little something extra to contribute to its much-vaunted big-city authenticity, and lacking a convenient nearby body of water to set on fire, went for the next best thing. Excelsior!