Supervisors approve office-to-residential conversion in Annandale
The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors on Sept. 29 unanimously approved a rezoning application from Nicholas Development to permit the conversion of an office building in Annandale to multifamily housing.
The board action rezones a six-story building at 7620 Little River Turnpike from C-6 (office) to PDC (planned residential mixed use).
The Wells Fargo Bank will remain on the ground floor, and 39 residential units will be developed on the upper floors.
The existing building’s footprint and shell will remain. According to a staff report, the building is only 8 percent occupied.
Nicholas Development is planning to improve the site with 9,546 square feet of urban park area and 16,768 square feet of standard open space. The urban park will feature “an experience plaza with a fountain, café court, and coffee cart concept.”
The nine-story office building owned by Nicholas at 7630 Little River Turnpike will remain. That building houses the Joongmi Banjum restaurant and GolfPark on the first floor.
The site is currently accessed from three points along Little River Turnpike. Nicholas proposes removing the westernmost entrance and retaining the other two. Some parking spaces would be replaced by an upgraded streetscape and landscaping.
Nicholas is seeking tenants for a two-story “industrial flex” building on the property, which is being repurposed for retail use under a by-right building permit.
The office building conversion approved by the Board of Supervisors is a scaled-down version – or possibly the first phase – of a much larger mixed-use redevelopment project proposed by Nicholas in 2020 that was strongly opposed by nearby residents.
I like it! Yay
Board of Supervisors keeps pushing so much higher density development into Mason. There already is overcrowding in the schools. Only bus public transit. Traffic along that area of Little River already gets super congested during a long red light at Hummer.
BoS should push some of this development to areas with Metro and with schools that aren’t beyond capacity.
This may be good for the owner and developer and perhaps a marginal increase in tax base due to vacancy of the office space. But residential is significantly lower in tax base than commercial.
Yeah..another win for the BoS, another loss for Mason.
Traffic on LRT is awful because transportation money from FFX/VDOT was never requested. So, for more than 25 years Mason District never got its share. The funding always went to the districts that asked. Just look at Braddock right where the district line is. Look at Backlick, again, right where the district line is. Did you know there has never been a traffic study requested for the Backlick/Braddock intersection? The horrid traffic trying to turn left onto outbound Braddock from Backlick hasn’t changed at all since I first experienced it right after 9-11. In this region, districts not requesting funding for road and other infrastructure improvements, DOES NOT save tax payer dollars. It just means that districts that ask for funding are more likely to get it. We can stay stuck in the 1970s (when Braddock was 4-laned … and hasn’t changed in Mason District since then.) Or we can move on and try to upgrade this area to the standard that other districts have. Maybe then, we’ll be able to shop here instead of always driving elsewhere. Do the naysayers realize that, with the exception of the smallest HD around, there is not one, NOT EVEN ONE major retail store in Mason District? Tons of wonderful restaurants and small boutiques but we deserve more. Much more.
Hang on, Mason Ditrict has another Home Depot — one of the largest Home Depot stores in the region at Seven Corners, and 2 Target stores, Barnes & Noble, Best Buy, Bob’s Discount Furniture, Ashley Furniture, Old Navy, Ross, Marshalls, Floor and Decor, Staples, DSW, Regency Furniture, REI, Fortunoff, World Market, Burlington, Home Goods, TJ Maxx, Hobby Lobby, and Total Wine.
Vehemently oppose, without any study to determine traffic, noise abd density impact. The line up of cars on Little River is already increasing, not to mention other infrastructure improvements.
I’m neutral on this building. I mean it’s good to have more efficient use of an almost vacant structure. I agree a traffic impact study should be done, and likely will be done, maybe… I do find it rather humorous that the artist’s rendition of the building makes it look so wonderful, because when you look at google maps there is zero green space around the building as the property line is so close to next door commercial property.
NIMBY’s out in force on this one, as expected.
But thankfully, they are losing more and more. Progress won’t be stopped!
Is it still progress if your life gets worse? Are you progressing to a less happy state?
I’d rather Make Annandale Suburban Again.
It is progress to catapult Annandale from the outdated, largely unsightly sprawl and asphalt 1970s time capsule it has been sadly stuck in until now.
too much-too congested!!!
The wording in the article implies that it could be larger : a scaled down version or possibly the first phase. Is the BOS trying to back door a development already opposed by the community?
They BOS needs to push some of this development into other areas besides the Mason district.
Is this how Mason district supervisor Jimenez represents his constituents by approving every new development proposal?
He represents the developers not us!
No the developer has a future plan over a long long period of time which they will propose in stages and separately. This is its own project
There is reason why Annandale has a notorious reputation as an outdated dump. NIMBYs have stifled modernity and progress here for too long. The balance is tipping. Annandale is finally modernizing and developing into a 21st century neighborhood.
I’m a resident and homeowner, and I fully support bigger, more development!
Do you see something along the lines of Mosaic District for Annandale? I actually hadn’t thought about how badly Annandale needs an update until I read your comments.
The Mosaic District was a fully planned large scale development. Multiple buildings with a qualified traffic management plan. If the BoS were to pursue something like that, that would be great. This is not that. In all the recent history of Mason projects in central Annandale, I guess the redevelopment of the old Kmart/Block might be the closest, but that is not a multi-street multi building multi-modal development.
The BoS approved revitalization is pile crap on top of crap (both political parties). They never approve anything that will bring long term positive growth (just a short term win if any). This is another one of those bandaid (put some new paint on it and call it good). The public low incoming housing with always failing heat and cooling. The county should buy similar property or team up for redevelopment to support fixing some housing issues, to fix some of the retail issues.
No surprises here, another redevelopment project with zero consideration to the schools. The schools are busting at the seems, but let’s just add more trailers.
Holy shit. Can you jam pack Annandale any further. I used to love the area, now I hate going there. It’s crazy congested.
Cool. I love the redevelopment, and the incorporation of a little green space where currently there is none. Should be nice for the future residents.
Does have anyone have any proof the schools that would be directly affected by this (small) development are overcrowded? Per a quick google search, it says AHS is operating under capacity (92%). My kid is in elementary school within that pyramid and his school is definitely not at capacity. In fact they have one less class for most grades than last year.
I am not defending the BOS here at all but can someone for once throw out a source for their claims?
You send your kid to public school?! So much is making sense now.
Finally! Movement on getting rid of dumpy old empty buildings on LRT. Now go to the eastern end of Annandale and get rid of the blight that used to be a garden center. Take all of the rundown empty/near empty office buildings too. Home owners in that area have been fighting a mixed use development there for years, letting $$$$ be spent elsewhere to create new, vibrant hotspots instead of attracting investment here. Mosaic being a perfect example I’m tired of seeing dramatic modernization everywhere except Mason District.
I liked the garden center when it was operational and well-maintained. Now, it’s an eyesore. We should welcome attempts to transform the deteriorating and outdated buildings and unkempt properties into modern, mixed use developments.
Where do they expect to park all these cars? No thought given to that I bet.
Maybe in the existing parking lots where the employees would park if the building was fuller than 8% occupancy?
Residents living there will not park cars, so no problem. They will carpool with whoever is driving through the first floor bank. This will also be great for families: I think I saw something like this — where you get to run people over — on a video game. Is repurposing this office building important to improving Annandale? I mean, when you come off the beltway and see a small complex of office buildings at the very end of town, about 1/2 mile before you get to the downtown shopping area, is that a quality of life issue? It’s already very dangerous and difficult for pedestrians to cross the streets thee (LRT, or Hummer to visit the park) and the access road is also hazardous for getting to the few stores (like McDonalds) there. This will add a lot more vehicles trying to avoid the LRT-Hummer intersection. Is all of this a good idea?
The County wants to play like a big boy but it can’t because of: terrible to non-existent mass transit, high crime, poorly performing schools, congested traffic, undocumented solicitors in our shopping centers, a child-like ineffective district supervisor and no there -there. Fix these issues like Arlington did along the Clarendon corridor and we may have a chance of fitting into the big boy pants.
In the 70s Mason District chose to not pursue. METRO. Skyline towers were built on the premise that a Metro stop would be built there. Has no one ever noticed on that there is a gaping hole in Metrorail service right through Mason District?
Turn it into a field.
There you go! Or a data center with a cut of the profits going to current tax paying residents.
Sorry to say folks, but Annandale has always been pretty much a dump. I’ve lived here (outside beltway) since ’66 and it’s never been a place people come and stroll around. Nope, grab what you need and get out, and quick.
The idea of Annandale looking like the Mosaic District is romantic but not realistic. Mosaic is a single landowner planned development that intentionally tricks people into thinking it’s an organically created neighborhood. Nope! It’s an outdoor mall with subsidized apartments all managed by the developer. Look beyond its 31 acre border…it’s Annandale all over again.
The actual Annandale is and with a few exceptions has been mostly small, privately owned commercially zoned parcels. Most too small for a major business concern to be interested. If you really want some kind of planned community nirvana, you’ll need to get all those private property owners to agree to the same plan or have government confiscation. Something tells me most of you would agree to the latter cause you guys aren’t the property owners.