EYA describes plan for townhouse development at Graham Park Plaza

An illustration of the townhouses proposed by EYA for the Graham Park Plaza property.

The EYA real estate development company is planning a 180-unit townhouse community on the western part of the Graham Park Plaza shopping center on Arlington Boulevard. The stores in that area have already closed.

This project replaces a mixed-use apartment and retail project from Federal Realty Investment Trust, the owner of the shopping center. That proposal was approved by the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors in December 2016.

This section of Graham Park Plaza will be demolished.

Federal Realty subsequently downsized its proposal, then sold part of the shopping center to EYA for a townhouse development.

Evan Goldman, EYA’s senior executive vice president for acquisition and development, described the company’s plans at a Mason District Land Use Committee meeting Feb. 25.

The project will include 23 affordable homes, with two or three-bedrooms, priced in the $200,000s.

The rest of the homes will sell for the $500,000s to $700,000s, depending on size and features, such as optional lofts and balconies.

The brick-fronted townhomes will be designed in an array of earth-tone colors and won’t be as colorful as EYA’s townhomes in the Mosaic District.

Related story: Supervisors approve redevelopment of Graham Park Plaza

Each unit would have 2.3 parking spaces, including a garage underneath the house. There would be 60 parking spaces for visitors. All outdoor spaces, including residents’ front yards, would be maintained by the HOA.

The community would have a new grid of streets and a one-acre publicly accessible park with a children’s play space, open space, a stormwater retention system, and a pedestrian promenade accessible to firetrucks when needed.

Some of the new houses will face Route 50 but will be separated from the main road by a service road and a new fence.

Goldman says EYA will carry out all the improvements Federal Realty agreed to do to improve traffic flow into and out of the site, such as improving access via Graham Road and Route 50 and a new access point from Allen Street.

Related story: Townhouses, not mixed-use development, planned for Graham Park Plaza

He acknowledged traffic congestion in the area is a problem and said, “there’s only so much we can do.”

At community meetings held in recent weeks, nearby residents said they like the idea of owner-occupied housing rather than rentals, Goldman says. He also also assured residents that the popular  Celebrity Delly would will remain open. The Giant and some of the other stores in the eastern section of the shopping center would not be affected by the new development.

The proposed project will go before the Planning Commission this summer. Goldman anticipates construction could start 12 months later, with the first houses delivered a year after that.

According to Goldman, EYA sees a lot of potential in the Graham Park Plaza site for attracting middle-class families to housing that is less expensive than developments closer to Metro. “This part of Route 50 hasn’t had a lot of reinvestment,” he says. This project “can start a rejuvenation of the whole area.”