Large-scale developments on hold

Recovery of the real estate market in Northern Virginia is two to five years away, panelists generally agreed at a conference on “Fairfax County: New Market Realities” Sept. 16. New large development projects, particularly in the counties’ seven revitalization districts—including the one in Annandale–won’t happen without significant public resources.

“The current economic climate has hit development hard,” says Barbara Byron, director of the county’s Office of Community Revitalization and Reinvestment, which organized the conference. “Developers are looking at viable, alternative funding sources.”

“Public/private partnerships are essential. We can’t expect the private sector to do everything,” says Dan McKinnon, chair of the Community Revitalization and Reinvestment Advisory Group.

Krista Di Iaconi, senior vice president of JBG Rosenfield Retail, said retailers would like to get into the revitalization areas but are not looking to be pioneers. It will require a significant amount of public/private partnerships, with public financing for parking and infrastructure, to get them involved. Marie Karl, senior vice president of the Trammell Crow Co., says developers of multifamily residential properties aren’t likely to be interested in areas not served by mass transit.

Several developers have large projects in the planning stages, but won’t move on them until the economy improves. Fairfax County has 14 million square feet of vacant office space. Nearly half the office buildings developed recently have been vacant for over a year.

In 40 years, we’ll see “about 50 pedestrian-friendly urban villages” in Fairfax County, McKinnon predicted. These neighborhoods will have vertical, mixed use developments, with housing, office buildings, retail, and entertainment.