Supervisors approve Inova expansion on Gallows Road
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| Future development proposed for the Inova Center for Personal Health. |
The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors on Sept. 24 approved a huge expansion of the Inova Center for Personalized Health (ICPH) on a117-acre property between Gallows Road and the beltway.
The ICPH, including the Schar Cancer Center and a conference center, are already occupying some space in the five buildings that had been the ExxonMobil headquarters.
The board’s approval of a comprehensive plan amendment for the site, as part of the Merrifield Suburban Center Study, will allow Inova to add more academic and research facilities on the ICPH campus, as well as add housing, retail, and a hotel, for a total of 3.8 million square feet of new development.
The new development will be concentrated on the western side of the property. The eastern side will include 55 acres of parkland.
Inova plans to reserve about half of the future development for its academic partners, led by the University of Virginia. Inova already has entered into a comprehensive research and medical educational partnership with UVA and George Mason University.
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| An illustration of the planned Inova expansion. |
The partnership will bring together clinicians who will work side by side with researchers from state universities and biomedical technology startups.
One component of this partnership is the Global Genomics and Bioinformatics Research Institute, which will focus on translating research and technology breakthroughs into clinical care to address patient needs.
In the first phase of its expansion, Inova plans to build new academic and research spaces and up to 705 housing units that could be used for assisted living, student housing and workforce housing.
The future development will include up to 120,000 square feet for a short-term stay hotel that could be used by families of cancer patients and researchers.
By 2035, Inova estimates that activity on and related to the campus will generate $1.18 billion in economic impact, including $68 million in local and state tax revenue.
The campus will also house a startup accelerator and investment fund to help biotech companies expand by providing education, capital and access to Inova’s resources. Inova also invests directly in companies and in health and technology venture funds.
The plan amendment approved by the Board of Supervisors also facilities higher-density, mixed-use development at Fairview Park, including a maximum of 840 new housing units.
The board approved follow-on motions recommended by the Planning Commission last week – calling for transportation studies among other things – along with a request to allocate $700,000 to fund them.
It will be a crying shame to lose all of that green space. In mourning already.
I applaud progress and smart development. The area had a woeful shortage of housing and amenities.
This is awesome, I feel so lucky to know the forefront of medical science and research is in my backyard.
I mourn for Mother Nature and her sacred trees we are cutting down to further this so called “development.”
Allegedly, we are so “progressive” yet we eagerly accept more congestion while destroying more of the trees which suck the Global Warming causing carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere.
Were we not just protesting against Global Warming last week? It was just lip service, not real.
This isn’t the Amazon man, it’s a small parcel of trees that abuts the beltway.
Yeah, you're right–no need to worry about what we're losing here when we still have the Amazon to function as the entire planet's vast and hardy lungs….oh, wait….
The very fact that it abuts the beltway underscores the need for the trees and other greenery in the first place.
Sounds like the construction will be on the west side of the parcel, i.e., along Gallows Road, leaving the "parkland" in back along the Beltway. Visually the wooded area along Gallows was a refreshing change from the mixed up and often aging commercial development between the Beltway bridge and I-66
While the development's cutting edge medical facility will be a credit to the county, it is sad to see the trees go.
I don’t mourn them at all, a handful of acres of trees for some bleeding edge cancer research facilities, among other things, seems like a no brainer.
Not all us share your views about the environment, climate change, and development. Moreover, I think this development strikes an appropriate balance between green space and growth/development.