Supervisors approve Skyline redevelopment
The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved a rezoning measure on Feb. 21 to allow the conversion of two vacant office buildings at the Skyline Center to a live/work concept.
Developer Robert Seldin, CEO of Highland Square Holdings, will create 510 flexible units that tenants could use for living, working, or a combination in buildings at 5111 and 5113 Leesburg Pike.
Also on Feb. 21, the Board of Supervisors approved an application to include the Skyline project in the county’s Economic Incentive Program.
That program was adopted in 2020 to provide financial and regulatory incentives to developers to encourage economic growth in certain revitalization areas, including Bailey’s Crossroads, Seven Corners, Annandale, and Lincolnia.
The board agreed to grant the Skyline project a partial real estate tax abatement for the multifamily portion of the property. The county estimates the abatement would be worth about $13.95 million over the next eight years.
The Department of Tax Administration valued the property at $34.8 million in 2022 and estimates it would be worth $192 million after development.
Related story: Planning Commission endorses Skyline live/work project
The Board of Supervisors previously approved Seldin’s plan to convert three other vacant office buildings nearby into 720 live/work units. That project is well underway, with the first tenants expected to move in this spring.
The project approved on Feb. 21 includes 5,000 square feet of ground-floor space that could be used for restaurants, other retail, or amenities for the tenants. The grounds would be upgraded with three new parks that would have pickleball, beach volleyball, artworks, and interactive features. A third of the existing surface parking would be removed to provide green space.
Eight percent of the units would be affordable WDUs (workforce dwelling units). Those units would be reserved, on a tiered basis, for households earning 60 to 80 percent of the area median income.
Related story: Fairfax County supervisors approve incentives to spur economic revitalization
During the Cold War, there was a plan to house surface-to-air missiles on the top floor of one of the buildings. The roof can be opened up to accommodate the missiles but they were never installed.
Only one person spoke during the public hearing. A representative of the Skyline Square Condominium said the community supports the project, noting “it will help re-establish Bailey’s Crossroads as an innovation corridor for Fairfax County.”
Why are my comments not being posted and why does this site continue to purge my name and email,
What is being built on Columbia Pike on the old homeless shelter up to the interim park? This is big news and its been hush hush!
What is going on here, my email and name keep getting purged and my posts not being posted?
There is major construction happening on Columbia Pike where the old homeless shelter was located, why has this been hush-hush? What is being built that has not received any publicity?
It’s the Alta Crossroads apartment building. We’ve written about it several times.
This is great news, finally. Maybe the County will lower our taxes now…..NOT!
The County has planned for years to have a Taj Mahal east bldg (FFC east government services bldg). The county missed out on the fire sale of several bldgs at Skyline over the last 5 years. Don’t pass up this opportunity to have the East FFC offices finally come into fruition
So glad to hear that more empty commercial buildings at Skyline are being repurposed for housing. The buildings at Skyline are located near accessible transportation, shopping and will help ease the current affordable housing shortage. This is a much better solution than doing away with single family zoning to increase density in areas that lack transportation options and aren’t convenient with out cars. Currently there is a glut of empty commercial buildings not only in our area, but throughout the country, and there is an enormous need for affordable housing. So this would appear to be a win win solution. I realize conversions from commercial to residential pose challenges, but surely this the solution to both problems and will generate future income for the county.