Inova proposes massive, long-term mixed-use redevelopment
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| The Inova Center for Personalized Health. |
Inova Health Care Services is seeking approval from Fairfax County to consider a comprehensive plan amendment that would facilitate massive redevelopment on the former ExxonMobil campus on Gallows Road in Merrifield.
In 2017, Inova opened a Center for Personalized Health and a Conference Center in existing buildings that had housed ExxonMobil’s corporate headquarters. Inova got a long-term lease on the property after the corporation moved out in 2014.
The nomination for a site-specific comprehensive plan amendment calls for retrofitting the entire 117-acre property to accommodate medical research and other uses and higher density. Inova wants to use the site for healthcare facilities, offices, multifamily housing, retail, restaurants, a hotel, and an internal grid of streets.
Phase 1 would consist of an additional 5 million square feet of development on the western portion of the property with a 1.0 FAR (floor to area ratio). Maximum building heights would be raised from six to 14 stories, and there would be “one iconic tower up to 22 stories.”
The nomination breaks it down as 1,550 multifamily units, 2.8 million square feet of office uses, 100,000 square feet of retail, and 850,000 square feet of institutional uses.
The nomination includes an option for a future Phase 2 with up to 15 million square of development with a 3.0 FAR.
“This is a 20-year build-out,” said Mike Wing, the land use specialist in Providence Supervisor Linda Smyth’s office. “It’s almost like another town center. It would be substantially larger than the Mosaic District.”
The Statement of Justification submitted by Inova Health Care Services says the nomination furthers the work of Inova “to establish a health and wellness destination, where public and private investments in discovery will improve the health and quality of life for all Fairfax County residents and attract new economic development benefitting the county and the commonwealth.”
It also says the project would depend on the future establishment of transit along Gallows Road. The impact on traffic would likely require a comprehensive transportation analysis, Wing said. He also notes that access to the site is problematic. There are only two access points, both on Gallows Road.
The Planning Commission has scheduled a public hearing for June 21 on the Inova proposal. Smyth is expected to begin a community engagement process in early April.
The Personalized Health Center includes the Personalized Health Accelerator, which supports medical-related startups, and the Translational Medicine Institute. The Dwight and Martha Schar Cancer Institute is scheduled to open later this year.
This development should not be allowed, It will destroy one of the few green spaces in the area. And the population density cannot be supported in many ways. Preserve this campus as a verdant patch in an increasingly urban landscape.
I think it is a good idea. It will bring more revenue in the form of taxes to the county but transportation issues and other issues like schools, environment etc. should be thoroughly studied and looked at before granting approval.
As I understand it INOVA has been TAX-EXEMPT since May 1978 with a revenue in 2015 of $33.5 million. See his link https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/541071867
INOVA HEALTH SYSTEM FOUNDATION
↳ FAIRFAX HOSPITAL FOUNDATION
8110 GATEHOUSE RD STE 400W, FALLS CHURCH, VA 22042-1254 | Tax-exempt since May 1978
EIN: 54-1071867
Classification (NTEE)
Single Organization Support (Health — General and Rehabilitative)
Nonprofit Tax Code Designation: 501(c)(3)
Defined as: Organizations for any of the following purposes: religious, educational, charitable, scientific, literary, testing for public safety, fostering national or international amateur sports competition (as long as it doesn’t provide athletic facilities or equipment), or the prevention of cruelty to children or animals.
The expansion includes massive amounts of housing and retail, not just "institutional services," which may or may not be iNOVA. So yes, lots of new taxes. It'll be great for the region.
I agree. At the press conference when they took over the site they specifically said they would keep the forested area. There are vacant office buildings all around that area they could expand to.
This should have read I agree with Terry P… I would rather have the green space.
Great. More development the better. Allow for proper accommodation for transit and schools.
They should not be allowed to develop any more on that property. There's enough development in this area already. There is abundant wildlife that lives there….that's THEIR home, and it should be left as green space. It's ridiculous that every little inch of ground has to be built up to accommodate the over-population of people. Like stated above…there are plenty of already existing vacant buildings they could use. Stop the madness!!!!!!!!!!!!
so where do we put them?
The County needs to build reliable mass transit and then I say let them come. Fairfax does everything ass backwards.
I know, I dont know where to start
This is appalling. An alleged health care provider wants to destroy green space in a buffer zone that is sorely needed especially given the expansion of the beltway. Inova and Beltway Noise levels currently exceed acceptable levels for those of us who are longtime residents. Air quality diminishes and yet the greed that drives whoever is running Inova these days seeks to add more concrete and density to the barely palatable current deluge of exhaust and cement. The stress induced by further population density will also be fed by this maneuver. Perhaps this development will drum up more business at the hospital a few blocks away with increase of cancers, strokes, and heart attacks hastened by the increase in pollutants and destruction of natural surroundings. So if all is being examined is the bottom line and not quality of life, let Inova continue to run rampant.
So many weird things in this comment.
I'm so confused. When this development was initially announced on this blog, and then covered subsequently, everyone was super pumped. What's changed?
I'm generally pro-development but traffic is already an issue in this area as the higher than average number of Emergency vehicles entering the area (expected due to the hospital) regularly snarrels traffic. There are two major road limitations very close to this proposed development. While Gallows is wide at this specific point, just east of the beltway it is still a residential street that struggles to handle existing traffic also Rt 50 from the beltway to Fairfax Circle is also a major bottleneck that would need to be addressed before building a Mosaic district at the former Exxon/Mobil campus. There are better locations near by (land between Halstead and Mosaic, land at Gallows and Lee Highway) for this type of development.
I vote for trees and clean air. Stop this intense development proposal and stop being greedy for more tax money, Board of Supervisors!
You people crack me up. You complain about a lack of mixed-use development and when a big project comes it's "whoa whoa whoa, I didn't really mean it! I don’t want development until there's massive and sweeping traffic improvements, or a 1000 acre state funded bird sanctuary, or why don’t they just steamroll some ethnically diverse neighborhoods and put it there!" This "green-space" is nothing more than 117 acres of abandoned deadfall that is privately owned and I'm not even sure accessible to the public. This is not 2 coyotes and a bunch of sparrows home, it's mine. This is a suburban environment, not a national park. Regarding traffic, I get it, traffic around here sucks. I drive in it every day too. But as someone else pointed out a while back (Jeff?) there's no way there are going to be big improvements until a) the tax base increases and we get the funding to do real stuff (that means development!) and b) more people come and create the actual demand.
All of these people that are complaining about development are sipping on their $8 lattes at mosaic, currently, as they type. Ridiculous. They know not what they say
I'm already irritated beyond measure about Four Seasons Tennis facility closing to more housing. Now we're leveling more green?
If they have to build, how about replacing the tennis facility?
Apples and oranges
I bet the comments on this page would be totally different if everyone learned they would get a $100,000 increase on their property value. As they sip their $8 lattes at Mosaic District and talk about how they are saving the world. Silliness.
It is also about quality of life!
what quality of life are you giving up?
and have to pay MORE TAXES to a county that waste to much money already. POLICE SUV;s REALLy?????
more taxes – like the county needs more money. THey waste enough as it is
How are the police supposed to get around when it snows a lot?
Who can we contact from INOVA who would be willing to come to our Civic Association meeting to discuss this?
Is there a POC at INOVA that would be willing to attend a Civic Association meeting to discuss this?