News and notes from Reston (tm).

Friday, February 8, 2013

Mauvescraper Up, Macaroni Grill Down? Bids Sought for One Project, While Spectrum Bides Its Time With Fancy Plastic Boxes

RTC Night.jpgDevelopers are now seeking bids for construction of the awesome mauvescraper on Reston Parkway approved by Fairfax County last fall, although ground is unlikely to be broken until a tenant is secured for the office building.

The tower RTC Partnership LLC is planning for 1760 Reston Pkwy is years away from development, not to mention delivery, but the beginning steps are in motion. The developer is collecting multiple bids for the project and will soon arrive at the project's development costs. It is also in discussion with potential development partners, Transwestern's Matt Bundy tells GlobeSt.com. "It is almost certain this will not be a spec development. We will wait until a tenant or tenants are secured before moving forward. That will make the financing easier."
Meanwhile, the massive Reston Spectrum development, which was also approved by the county last month, will likely take just as long -- if not longer -- to get rolling.
Lerner Enterprises, the owner of the shopping center that runs from New Dominion to Baron Cameron along Reston Parkway, is offering no timetable for redevelopment. The company says it is excited about the future, but has no immediate plans to begin building.

“Lerner is pleased that the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors recently approved the redevelopment plans for The Spectrum at Reston Town Center," the statement reads. "The longterm vision is to redevelop the current shopping center into a vibrant mixed-use. transit-oriented town center."

"While we are excited about the future, we have no immediate plans to begin and invite the community to continue to enjoy our great mix retailers and restaurants available at The Spectrum.”
Part of that "great mix," of course, is the fancy, soon-to-arrive Container Store, which is replacing the long-lamented Barnes & Noble, currently Reston's only (new) bookseller, when it closes its doors by the end of the month. We'd wondered aloud if Lerner would move forward with smashing up the center, given that the Container Store presumably signed a multi-year lease when they agreed to move into the space, and a "commercial real estate source" confirmed to our BFFs at Patch that most of the Spectrum retailers are somewhere on a continuum of a 10-year-lease.

So, we'll just have to sit in gridlocked traffic on Wiehele await the transformation of Reston into a high-rise, mixed-use nightmare model of urban redevelopment for a few more years. In the meantime, we can continue enjoying our carb-intensive meals on the front porch of the Macaroni Grill, watching Parc Reston go up across the street, and -- wait, what's that?
The free-standing buildings such as The Macaroni Grill or On The Border might be the first areas to be redeveloped because they are single tenants, he said.
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO


9 comments:

  1. I demand a doomsday clock update.

    Oh. How about, "humbly request" a doomsday clock update.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The grill was bought!

      http://investorplace.com/2013/02/ignite-to-buy-romanos-macaroni-grill-for-55-million/

      Yay -- it will survive !! Unless that mauvescrapers surrounding it (or this suddenly howling wind) doom it/

      Delete
    2. Semi not related, but what's up with these gold-plated subsidized housing properties:

      Geez -- I am so ready to quit my horrible job and go live in one of these places! Far nicer than the one my meager income buys me here in Resthome...

      http://www.thomasjeffersoninst.org/files/3/Subsidized%20Luxury%20in%20Fairfax%20County.pdf

      Delete
  2. Also, why does the color of the week never change?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. mattR,

      Try getting the DRB to approve a color change to your home and you'll understand why.

      Delete
    2. Also, to change the color, Restonian would have to get the written approval of his two closest blog neighbors.

      Delete
  3. Rose By Any Other NameFebruary 9, 2013 at 1:48 AM

    The early renderings of the Spectrum development bear a striking resemblance to the existing "downtown" neighborhood in The Woodlands, Texas. I hope that Lerner didn't pay too much for this obvious pilfering. It almost looks as tho someone took a photo from the Woodlands website and traced all the buildings, and rearranged them to look pretty...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You mean the Whitelands, Houston's answer to exurban Ashburn cruft? Not a good sign if that's the future of Reston design and planning.

      Delete
    2. LOL! The scary thing is, I would take The Woodlands over Reston almost any day, but to compare the Woodlands to Ashburn is really unfair. Ashburn is more the like North Dallas-to-Frisco area: it is mostly unplanned,low density sprawl and some really crappy looking housing subdivisions and apartments as far as the eye can see. The major office parks seem to be the only things that can be said to be "planned."

      Delete

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