A developer is envisioning a new future for the Lake Fairfax Business Center, including the home of the Quad God.

SkateQuest, the ice rink where world figure skating champion and George Mason University student Ilia Malinin trains, is one of several buildings to be preserved as part of a plan to revitalize the Reston office park with apartments, new shops and perhaps an elementary school.

The Lifetime Fitness gym, the Homewood Suites hotel, the Reston Montessori School and the data center building at 1780 Business Center Drive will also not be affected by the updated concept for a “new, pedestrian-friendly community” that developer EYA presented to the public, most recently at a virtual meeting on August 6.

“It’s really important to make it clear to people that these amenities are here to stay,” said Evan Goldman, executive vice president of development and acquisitions at EYA, in an interview with FFXnow last week.

Suburban office parks on the decline

Faced with an office building sitting vacant, one of the business center’s owners asked EYA in 2022 if it could be used as a residential development instead. After learning that other offices in the complex also faced vacancies, EYA proposed amending Fairfax County’s comprehensive plan to allow housing and retail on the 76-acre site south of Lake Fairfax Park.

As part of the SSPA (Site-Specific Plan Amendment) process, the county received 15 proposals for land use changes in Reston this year. Almost all of the proposals aimed to replace office space with residential space.

As the COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the adoption of telecommuting, the entire Washington, DC region has seen a decline in demand for offices, particularly from government agencies and contractors that are central to the region’s economy.

In Fairfax County, which reported a vacancy rate of 17.2% at the end of 2023, older, more suburban properties were particularly hard hit, although Goldman says many companies have moved to newer, more convenient offices within the county rather than leaving the county altogether.

EYA, whose previous projects include townhomes in Merrifield’s Mosaic District and the nearby Reston Midline neighborhood, hopes to transform the Lake Fairfax Business Center into a “residential village” that takes advantage of its proximity to the Wiehle Metro station and serves as a gateway to the 476-acre Lake Fairfax Park.

“It fits really well with what EYA does,” Goldman said. “We like to build … housing that has a really good transition from more dense, central core areas like near the subway to residential neighborhoods or parks or open space. So from a density and placemaking perspective, it’s right for EYA.”

The proposed concept

At recent community meetings, the developer presented two possible development plans – one with and one without the 10-acre elementary school site. In both cases, the concept calls for approximately 900 residential units and 8,000 square feet of retail space.

The housing units will consist of about 500 single-family homes and 400 multifamily units, including about 300 rental apartments and 70 to 100 condos for sale, according to Goldman. The townhomes and apartments will also include affordable housing units (ADUs), but likely not in the condo buildings.

“To offset that, they’re going to have affordable housing and other uses throughout the site,” Goldman said. “That’s pretty common practice in the county that you don’t require affordable housing to be put in condo buildings because of the cost of the condo fee. It’s going to be difficult for the owner of the affordable (unit).”

The county Board of Supervisors in July approved changes to its workforce housing program that officials hope will increase the supply of units for sale.

The homes will get smaller as they get closer to neighboring single-family homes along Dressage Drive, which will remain separated by a tree screen. The multifamily home will have the tallest height at 85 feet, and the townhomes will be 42 feet tall, including a loft and roof deck.

Other planned changes include over 3 acres of new park space, including a one-acre central green space, and additional connections to Lake Fairfax Park’s walking trails. Business Center Drive will be extended to Michael Faraday Court, providing a more direct connection to Sunset Hills Road.

“All streets in the project will have sidewalks and street trees and will be more urban in design. Business Center Drive will have a wider sidewalk as a main pedestrian and bicyclist hub that will take people to the Metro,” Goldman said, noting that cycling infrastructure will be provided but has not yet been incorporated into the concept.

If a site is made available for an elementary school, it would be in the north corner in the current parking lot between Lake Fairfax Park and Lifetime Fitness.

At the suggestion of Walter Alcorn, the district manager of Hunter Mill, EYA began looking for space for a school. The Reston Comprehensive Plan, updated last year, states that Reston needs three more elementary schools to support the area’s planned growth.

“In the past, we were given school sites when farm development was proposed – including Reston in the 1960s-70s,” Alcorn said in an emailed statement. “Now that we are seeing relatively large areas of old office parks being redeveloped into residential areas, it is once again time for developers to step in and support the development of important new public facilities – ideally integrated into these future communities.”

Goldman says the potential school was factored into EYA’s traffic analysis, which estimates the overall development will generate 5,774 trips per week — fewer than the existing offices at their peak. However, the developer will only be responsible for staging the land so that Fairfax County Public Schools can build the facility in the future.

With county staff currently drafting a plan amendment, EYA expects to submit a formal development plan this fall, according to Goldman.

“From then on, we expect further public meetings in the winter and spring of next year and probably some sort of public hearing sometime next year,” he said.