Bacon's Rebellion

Democracy Thrives in Sunlight

Tysons II: Creating a Sense of Place

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by

James A. Bacon
in

The commercial real estate market is changing. Big developers are getting the message that the traditional pattern of development — scattered, disconnected, low-density — isn’t matching up with the demands of the marketplace. With luck, our lawmakers will get the message, too, and start devising ways to make it easier for developers to do the right thing.

The latest big announcement comes from Maryland-based Lerner Enterprises, which plans to build an 18-story, 472,000-square-foot office tower in the mixed-use Corporate Office Center in Tysons II. Billing the building as “state of the art,” Lerner sees itself as redirecting future growth in Tysons “away from urban sprawl, where cars and parking dominate the aesthetics, to one of urban centers where pedestrian amenities and public spaces unite to form a sense of place.”

The project will add an elegant enclosed pedestrian bridge system across Tysons Boulevard, linking the development with the “extensive amenity base” at the Ritz-Carlton, PalmRestaurant and the wide array of shops and restaurants of the adjacent Galleria. The heart of the complex, a plaza-like courtyard, will organize the entries for the office tower, retail and parking facilities. Landscaping, sculpture and architectural paving will enhance the formal entry court, which is conceived as an extension of the building’s lobby.

The building also will install state-of-the-art elevators, mechanical systems and high-performance glass, meeting “green” building standards and achieving Energy Star’s highest rating. (See press release here.)

I can’t tell enough from the scant details supplied by Lerner whether the project really delivers on the promise of creating a pedestrian-friendly environment that provides connectivity to neighboring properties. But, at a minimum, Lerner is talking the talk. And that’s a necessary precondition for walking the walk.

(Photo credit: www.tysons2.com.)

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8 responses to “Tysons II: Creating a Sense of Place”

  1. James Atticus Bowden Avatar
    James Atticus Bowden

    Doesn’t it need apartments to complete the mix? And a Mom and Pop grocery?

  2. Larry Gross Avatar
    Larry Gross

    re: apartments, shopping – yes my thought also.

    In many of these cases, the developer is promoting – not a master plan –
    but their component part of a prospective vision.

    It would be unfair and economically unrealistic to expect a developer to to a soup-to-nuts redevelopment master plan. Somewhere in the mix, local government – representative of the folks who live there must, at minimum, participate by seeing the developers proposal as an opportunity – for benefiting the community.

    Often, it seems that the way these things play out – is that opponents will point out what the development does not do – and essentially claim – that because it can not or will not do these other things that it is not a good development. Not suprisingly… some of the opposition will grudgingly admit that it’s a “good” project but it needs to be “somewhere else”.

    Localities do have a responsibility. After all, they control the zoning and other controlling factors for land-use. They need to do two things: 1. – articulate what KINDS of proposals they would like to see within the context of zoning et/al 2. – Configure their own plans and CIPs (Capital Investment Plans) to be consistent and congruent with number 1.

    I’ll give one small example where I live. Roads are the big issue and when a developer makes a proposal – the very first opposition comes from the fact that more traffic will be generated.

    The developer says he will do his part but can’t do it all. The county says that VDOT is responsible. VDOT says that it is broke. The developer says ” show me what your plans for that area are .. and I’ll negotiate with you about what parts I can do”. The county says ” we have no master plan… so we don’t know what to tell you – why don’t you hire a consultant to help us decide what to do”.

  3. Toomanytaxes Avatar
    Toomanytaxes

    Clearly, the building would a nice one. Lerner normally does a good job with what it builds.

    However, a high-quality building and its tenants still need infrastructure. For example, traffic congestion at Tysons Corner regularly reaches gridlock proportions. Adding an 18-story building to Tysons will put even more strain on traffic. The extension of Metrorail through Tysons does not fix the problem. The Commonweath’s best case for extending rail clearly demonstrates (Table 6.2-2 of the Final EIS) that spending billions for the Silver Line does not provide any substantial improvement in traffic congestion. Why? Because extending Metrorail permits the Board of Supervisors to grant the many rezoning requests that would greatly increase the density of Tysons Corner and because those new residents and workers will still have and use cars.

    Moreover, the only housing that will be added to Tysons Corner in the event that it is rezoned will be high-priced condos. The land is very expensive and construction costs escalate once a building’s size exceeds garden apartment levels, according to builders. Thus, builders simply cannot afford to construct lower-priced housing at Tysons Corner. Unless there is to be a huge taxpayer subsidy for affordable housing, there will be very little “affordable housing.” Likewise, unless Lerner’s tenants will be only executives who like living in condos, there will be more people driving to and from this new building.

    This is not Lerner’s fault. The problem lies directly with the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors that fail to address infrastructure issues and to use the land use controls that it possesses. At some point, Fairfax County will reach the tipping point where it becomes too expensive, too highly taxed and too dysfunctional to continue to be an attractive place to live and to do business. It will still have economic life because of its location near the federal government, but business expansion will move to other places where local government actually functions to balance the interests of existing residents and those who would grow the area.

  4. Ray Hyde Avatar
    Ray Hyde

    Exactly.

    My question is this. Where are the other areas businesses and residents will move to? Where is the local government that is actually promoting growth that existing residents can live with? It seems that the common argument is that everything should be somewhere else: we are going to see that argument played out, again, in Loudoun County today.

  5. nova_middle_man Avatar
    nova_middle_man

    This is an office building. And they are doing a service by having a pedesterian bridge so people will have the option of walking to lunch and avoiding having to cross the dangerous Tysons Boulevard. It reamins to be seen if the buidling will have a connection to a metro stop so people could walk to work. Hopefully at the bare minimum there will be a building shuttle.

    I too share your concerns with who is going to actually live in new and planned residential development

    The new grid pattern for Tysons and metro will help with traffic somewhat but it is true more traffic will be generated. Its important to be realistic about the Tysons redevelopment and design and that traffic volume will increase. The question is will the new grid street system and metro handle the additional traffic better thereby reducing congestion levels from current rates.

  6. Ray Hyde Avatar
    Ray Hyde

    Looks like in twenty years or so we will have completed an experiment that answers the question of whether todays current buzz words are really solutions or not. We can add it to MetroWest and Albemarle Place, and a few others in the experimental box.

    I have no doubt some future sages and wonks will be blogging about the idiots that promoted this mess.

    Or, we could go hire some truly independent researchers to go find and support the best available data.

  7. Toomanytaxes Avatar
    Toomanytaxes

    Nova Middle Man – Your points are generally well taken, but keep in mind that adding Metrorail does not improve traffic congestion according to the State. Why? Because the proposed new development would add so many new vehicles that any traffic reductions brought about by Metrorail’s presence are quickly undone.

    Here’s a real life example. Today there are approximately 7000 parking spaces at Tysons Corner Center a/k/a Tysons I. The proposed rezoning for that property, which would add office, residential and retail space, also includes 9000 new parking spaces for that parcel alone, for a total of 16,000 parking spaces. My understanding is that the new 9000 parking spaces are not related to the existing shopping center (no, it won’t be easier to find a parking space during the Christmas shopping season), but are only for the new buildings and residents.

    Obviously, the developers are not foolish people. They would not spend money building 9000 new parking spaces just to set empty. Those spaces will be filled with people driving to and from their offices at Tysons I and to and from their condos. Let’s be foolishly optimistic and say there are only 8000 more automobiles added to the traffic for Tysons I on any given day.

    Now let’s toss in all of the other proposed new development on the land owned by Lerner, West Group, SAIC, the car dealers, the strip malls, etc. All of those properties when redeveloped would generate additional automobiles, train or no train.

    Therefore, assuming that Metrorail is built at the cost of at least $4 billion, adding all of these new autos coming to, and going from Tysons Corner would likely more than undue any traffic reduction caused by Metrorail. It is, therefore, a true statement that taxpayers and toll road users will pay at least $4 billion for no improvement in traffic, but more crowding.

    Now factor in the likely cost overruns for Metro, plus the impact of all of these new people on parks, schools, fire, police, sewer, etc. To this mix, toss in a Board of Supervisors that will not request adequate proffers to cover a significant proportion of the necessary public facilities. I respectfully submit that, under these circumstances, no rational person not in the employ of one of the big landowners or their agents cannot help but be fearful of what could well occur to Fairfax County residents as a result of this entire charade.

  8. Larry Gross Avatar
    Larry Gross

    I am perplexed and amused to a certain extent.

    If I take the comments as to why higher density will not work and apply it to New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, et al – wouldn’t we have to conclude that these cities should not exist – given the reasons given?

    Especially so, with regard to traffic. Does New York City or Chicago have “gridlock” that strangles them economically?

    Do such cities have no businesses and no people in them because they are “gridlocked” with traffic?

    Do such cities function differently than Fairfax?

    I think the answer clearly is yes.

    In Fairfax, the car is king taking precedence over all other factors.

    In those cities, the car is, at best, tolerated and mobility is accomplished by subway, cabs and buses rather than private auto.

    Is it possible that Fairfax wants to be a city – is destined to be a city and there are those whose opposition is essentially opposition to it becoming a city?

    I really don’t have a major dog in this hunt but it does seem to me that we are clearly “hung” on the idea of how to accommodate higher densities and I’m not convinced that the reasons given, so far, are one’s why cities cannot exist.

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