Soaring View Of Tysons Centers on A Downtown
New Coalition Wants Even More Growth
Peter Whoriskey
Washington Post
Friday, April 22, 2005
Tysons Corner, in many ways already the second city of the Washington metropolis, is poised to become much bigger.
The volume of building in Northern Virginia's jumbled suburban hub of offices and malls could grow by half under existing county rules if a proposed Metrorail line is built. Assuming recent growth rates hold, that seems likely to continue the area's rapid ascendance as a commercial hub second only to downtown Washington.
Now a powerful coalition of developers and civic leaders has formed to make the case for allowing Tysons Corner to expand beyond existing limits and become more like a traditional downtown, possibly doubling again its development potential.
If proponents of expansion are successful, the area would be altered not only in size but in character, with its largest developer, West Group, proposing to carve its sprawling holdings up into city blocks modeled after downtown Chicago.
Height limits around Metro stops could allow buildings up to 250 feet, which is lower than in Chicago but higher than in much of downtown Washington, where 160 feet is a typical maximum.
By virtue of Tysons Corner's size and prominence, the incipient debate over the expansion represents what may be the region's most significant test of the "smart growth" movement, which calls for focusing development into urban clusters around transit stops.
"Right now, Tysons Corner is the world's most successful office park," said William D. Lecos, president of the Fairfax County Chamber of Commerce. "What we want is a downtown."
The effort is already being challenged by some neighborhood groups, who fear that more building will exacerbate congestion on Northern Virginia's roads.
"What's going to happen to the surrounding communities when 10,000 new condominiums are built there?" asked Susan Turner, president of the McLean Citizens Association, who emphasized that the group's board had not taken a position. "Our roads are already absolutely jampacked."
She is skeptical that building near Metro stops would lessen traffic troubles, arguing that Metro's Orange Line in Northern Virginia, one of its most crowded, may not be able to accommodate more riders.
"Smart growth assumes that you have a high-functioning, high-capacity Metro system," she said. "We have an overloaded line that will only be overtaxed by the new development."
But the push to expand Tysons Corner has political momentum, with developers and civic leaders considering new roads and a grid pattern of streets intended to ease bottlenecks.
On Tuesday night, three members of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors and a new Tysons committee, a citizens group, met to coordinate a study to determine how much more development can fit once the proposed Metro line reaches the crossroads that 50 years ago was largely pasture. The effort was initiated after a rush of 21 developer applications in the area.
And today, the Fairfax County Chamber of Commerce is convening a meeting of business and civic leaders at George Mason University to discuss what Tysons might become.
"We support more density in Tysons Corner and more homes in Tysons Corner, because that is the only way we can create a walkable, transit-friendly community," said Stewart Schwartz, executive director of the Coalition for Smarter Growth, a consortium of environmental groups.
Many developers, businesses and civic leaders consider Tysons Corner the cornerstone of the Northern Virginia economy and that, as such, its fate should be carefully considered. "It is the goose that lays the golden eggs," Kenneth A. Lawrence, a Fairfax planning board member, said at Tuesday's meeting.
Once touted as a prototypical suburban office market with cheap rents, empty roads and easy parking, Tysons has become more costly and its roads more congested.
It faces competition from Arlington, which offers a more urban setting with convenient Metrorail access, and Loudoun County, which offers suburban advantages.
Tysons Corner could be "out-citied" by Arlington and "out-countried" by Loudoun, warned Robert E. Lang, director of the Metropolitan Institute at Virginia Tech.
West Group executive Tom Fleury agreed. "If we don't plan Tysons Corner as a city, the epicenter [of development] will move westward."
Lang advocates building more densely despite the opposing political forces.
Even if the slate of developer-proposed expansions wins approval, however, Tysons Corner seems unlikely to be changed into a traditional American downtown.
Although the proposals would together permit millions of square feet of additional construction, that is largely because Tysons Corner, at about 1,700 acres, is larger than many traditional downtowns.
Moreover, even the most aggressive of the building proposals calls for a density far below that permitted in downtown Washington or even the Ballston area of Arlington. The "floor-area ratio" -- basically a measure of how much building can be erected on a given piece of land -- is roughly 10 in Washington and 6 in Ballston; the proposals at Tysons Corner range from 3 to 5.
For those who believe in creating what they call Northern Virginia's "downtown" at Tysons Corner, the timing is critical.
"Once there are more residents -- voters -- in Tysons Corner, you will never again raise the ceiling," Lecos said. "There are no do overs after this point."
Staff writer Dana Hedgpeth contributed to this report.
New Coalition Wants Even More Growth
Peter Whoriskey
Washington Post
Friday, April 22, 2005
Tysons Corner, in many ways already the second city of the Washington metropolis, is poised to become much bigger.
The volume of building in Northern Virginia's jumbled suburban hub of offices and malls could grow by half under existing county rules if a proposed Metrorail line is built. Assuming recent growth rates hold, that seems likely to continue the area's rapid ascendance as a commercial hub second only to downtown Washington.
Now a powerful coalition of developers and civic leaders has formed to make the case for allowing Tysons Corner to expand beyond existing limits and become more like a traditional downtown, possibly doubling again its development potential.
If proponents of expansion are successful, the area would be altered not only in size but in character, with its largest developer, West Group, proposing to carve its sprawling holdings up into city blocks modeled after downtown Chicago.
Height limits around Metro stops could allow buildings up to 250 feet, which is lower than in Chicago but higher than in much of downtown Washington, where 160 feet is a typical maximum.
By virtue of Tysons Corner's size and prominence, the incipient debate over the expansion represents what may be the region's most significant test of the "smart growth" movement, which calls for focusing development into urban clusters around transit stops.
"Right now, Tysons Corner is the world's most successful office park," said William D. Lecos, president of the Fairfax County Chamber of Commerce. "What we want is a downtown."
The effort is already being challenged by some neighborhood groups, who fear that more building will exacerbate congestion on Northern Virginia's roads.
"What's going to happen to the surrounding communities when 10,000 new condominiums are built there?" asked Susan Turner, president of the McLean Citizens Association, who emphasized that the group's board had not taken a position. "Our roads are already absolutely jampacked."
She is skeptical that building near Metro stops would lessen traffic troubles, arguing that Metro's Orange Line in Northern Virginia, one of its most crowded, may not be able to accommodate more riders.
"Smart growth assumes that you have a high-functioning, high-capacity Metro system," she said. "We have an overloaded line that will only be overtaxed by the new development."
But the push to expand Tysons Corner has political momentum, with developers and civic leaders considering new roads and a grid pattern of streets intended to ease bottlenecks.
On Tuesday night, three members of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors and a new Tysons committee, a citizens group, met to coordinate a study to determine how much more development can fit once the proposed Metro line reaches the crossroads that 50 years ago was largely pasture. The effort was initiated after a rush of 21 developer applications in the area.
And today, the Fairfax County Chamber of Commerce is convening a meeting of business and civic leaders at George Mason University to discuss what Tysons might become.
"We support more density in Tysons Corner and more homes in Tysons Corner, because that is the only way we can create a walkable, transit-friendly community," said Stewart Schwartz, executive director of the Coalition for Smarter Growth, a consortium of environmental groups.
Many developers, businesses and civic leaders consider Tysons Corner the cornerstone of the Northern Virginia economy and that, as such, its fate should be carefully considered. "It is the goose that lays the golden eggs," Kenneth A. Lawrence, a Fairfax planning board member, said at Tuesday's meeting.
Once touted as a prototypical suburban office market with cheap rents, empty roads and easy parking, Tysons has become more costly and its roads more congested.
It faces competition from Arlington, which offers a more urban setting with convenient Metrorail access, and Loudoun County, which offers suburban advantages.
Tysons Corner could be "out-citied" by Arlington and "out-countried" by Loudoun, warned Robert E. Lang, director of the Metropolitan Institute at Virginia Tech.
West Group executive Tom Fleury agreed. "If we don't plan Tysons Corner as a city, the epicenter [of development] will move westward."
Lang advocates building more densely despite the opposing political forces.
Even if the slate of developer-proposed expansions wins approval, however, Tysons Corner seems unlikely to be changed into a traditional American downtown.
Although the proposals would together permit millions of square feet of additional construction, that is largely because Tysons Corner, at about 1,700 acres, is larger than many traditional downtowns.
Moreover, even the most aggressive of the building proposals calls for a density far below that permitted in downtown Washington or even the Ballston area of Arlington. The "floor-area ratio" -- basically a measure of how much building can be erected on a given piece of land -- is roughly 10 in Washington and 6 in Ballston; the proposals at Tysons Corner range from 3 to 5.
For those who believe in creating what they call Northern Virginia's "downtown" at Tysons Corner, the timing is critical.
"Once there are more residents -- voters -- in Tysons Corner, you will never again raise the ceiling," Lecos said. "There are no do overs after this point."
Staff writer Dana Hedgpeth contributed to this report.
