News and notes from Reston (tm).

Thursday, October 29, 2015

Reston Station: Swankier, Fewer Right Angles... and Taller?

Vowel Free Pool

Please to be enjoying this lovely rendering of the swank rooftop pool atop the vowel-free BLVD apartments at Reston Station (does that mean it's called the PL?) Aside from being able to watch weary Metro commuters trudge across the plaza, there's some other v. v. exciting things going on at "the station," as the kids will never call it, probably.

Reston Station is getting a Founding Farmers -- midscale chain dining, of course, but local and halfway decent midscale dining. It'll go into that empty retail space that someday will be the lobby of a swank midscale chain hotel -- nice enough that you have to pay for WiFi, but not nice enough for spa facilities is our guess. They're also going to take down some of the fences for some kind of urban farmer's market/artisan crafts thingy next spring. It'll be just like Eastern Market, only with less threatening midscale chain dining options nearby.

 Even more exciting, the first of the big parallelograms is finally on its way!
   Parallelogram
It's looking a little less glassy and a little bit more like a parking deck with a glass sheath than in previous renderings, but still v. v. exciting.

While all this is happening, developer Comstock is going back to the county to see if it can make a few of the as-of-yet-unbuilt buildings around Reston Station taller -- and the whole project denser. Give us some good developer jargon-riddled blockquote, Fairfax County:

Comstock Reston Station Holding, LC has filed a Proffer Condition Amendment, Conceptual and Final Development Plan [Tax Map Parcel 17-4((24)) and 17-4(1A))17A] to increase the overall maximum density of Reston Station from 2.5 Floor Area Ration (FAR) to 3.5. The Application is also seeking an increase in the maximum building height of three of the eight buildings (Buildings 6,7 and 8 from 140 feet to 240 feet).
100 feet is a big increase in height -- probably around 10 stories taller, if they were to decide to build to the new maximum height. It's hard to tell on this schematic, but we've circled the buildings they're talking about. None are the ones to be built atop the parking deck. Instead, they're on the periphery of what we think of as the Metro station area:
   Reston Station blocks
If you're going to build a bunch of tall buildings in Reston, this is the place to do it. But with our BFFs at Reston 2020 warning that proposed changes in county zoning ordinances would allow even denser development near Metro stations and the Reston Association expressing concern, it's probably a good idea to keep our eye on such things--even if we're not Hill Valley anymore, the end.

 

3 comments:

  1. "Door's open, gang. C'mon in!" —Fairfax County to developers

    ReplyDelete
  2. I Got 'Dem Planned Community Blues AgainOctober 30, 2015 at 6:55 PM

    Any doubt that the Board of Supervisors and its developer friends are set to rape and pillage Reston (as we once knew it) should be laid to rest now. So sorry to see Reston go this way.

    ReplyDelete
  3. You...you mean...Supervisor For Life Cathy isn't sticking up for us? I'm shocked, I tell you. Shocked.

    ReplyDelete

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