County To Discuss Office Tower Thursday

Update: The hearing was postponed until April 26.

Original story: The Fairfax County Planning Commission will hold a hearing regarding the redevelopment of the Town Center Office Building at its regular meeting on Thursday.

 Parkway - replacing a five-story office building - has been met with resistance and criticism from local groups such as the Reston Citizens Association.

The planning commission can decide whether to recommend the project to the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors for approval.

RTC Partnership's mixed-use project is projected to have 413,700 square feet of office  and about 5,200 square feet retail use (Floor Area Ratio of 4.08). It has already been approved in concept by Reston Association's Design Review Board and the Reston Planning and Zoning Committee.

If constructed, the building will be taller than any current building at Reston Town Center.  

Reston 2020, a division of RCA, will tell the commission that the Town Center Office Building is "the wrong building in the worng place."

"The development proposal violates many of the “Planning Principles” adopted by the Reston Master Planning Task Force on 15 March 2011 and is inconsistent with the County’s Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) policy," reads a statement from Reston 2020. "The Planning Principles call for the Town Center area to be a “livable, urban space” with mixed use residential, office and retail components.  However, this proposal places a 23-story office building in the midst of the proposed Lerner Spectrum development.  The Spectrum plan, which calls for a mixed use community, embodies many of the Task Force’s principles."

To read Reston2020's complete statement, click here.