New Residential Property Slated for Reston Town Center's Last Vacant Site

By Dees Stribling, Contributing Editor

Washington, D.C.—The mixed-use Reston Town Center took a step closer to adding a new multifamily residential component with the selection by developer Boston Properties of a construction firm, Lend Lease, to build the property. Work is expected to begin on the as-yet unnamed property, which will occupy the last undeveloped parcel (“Block 16”) in the Town Center footprint, early this year.

Metro Washington, D.C., continues to be one of the best apartment markets among many others that are doing well in other parts of the country. According to Marcus and Millichap’s fourth quarter 2011 report on the market, local employers are hiring at a fast enough pace to spur household formation, and thus demand for apartments, while development has been sluggish. In 2011 alone, 16,000 metro-area apartment units were absorbed, driving down vacancy rates in both suburban Maryland and Virginia.

Boston Properties has completed other projects at Reston Town Center, including Discovery Square, a two-building office complex on 10 acres. The new project will consist a 15-story, 359-unit rental apartment building and a multi-level, 770-space parking garage. Besides the rental units, it will also include about 27,000 square feet of ground-level shell retail space.

Among other things, the new property’s amenities will include a private dining room, conference/business area, clubroom, fitness center and locker rooms. There will be a landscaped courtyard with swimming pool and various smaller roof terraces, and the project will also require site work such as below-grade site utilities and at-grade hardscape to fit in with the existing Reston Town Center streetscape.

Reston Town Center was designed to be a suburban downtown in unincorporated Reston, Va., between Washington, DC and Washington Dulles International Airport. It already features about 50 retail shops, 30 restaurants, a multiplex and a hotel. In a few years, if all goes according to plan, Reston Town Center will have access to a new station on the Washington Metro Silver Line, which is currently under construction.