Not every new Tysons development will be 1 million-plus square feet with thousands of new residential units.
A joint venture of Kettler Inc. and PS Business Parks has earned Fairfax County staff approval for the redevelopment of 7915 Jones Branch Drive, a 135,000-square-foot, six-story office with three wings within the West-Park Office Park known as the Amherst. Located on 5.75 acres roughly half a mile from the Greensboro and Tysons Corner Metro stations, the Amherst will be razed and replaced with a five- to seven-story, 450,000-square-foot residential building and limited ground-floor retail.
Given its distance from Metro, the Amherst is a development on a smaller scale than say, Scotts Run Station South, Arbor Row or Capital One — three projects that will bring more than 10 million square feet of new construction to Tysons. Planning staff describes the Amherst as a “next wave of development in Tysons,” farther from Metro “but still expected to meet the vision and goals of Tysons in completing the urban neighborhoods.”
Per staff, the project is well-designed, appropriately oriented toward Jones Branch Drive, and landscaped to fit well with the vision for Tysons found in the Fairfax County Comprehensive Plan. The application is a “good example of a residential urban building” and deserves approval. A Planning Commission hearing is scheduled for Oct. 29.
The Glendale, California-based PS Business Parks acquired the Amherst in December 2010 as part of an all-cash $140 million deal that included six other West-Park properties, all of which will likely be redeveloped in the coming years.
The new development will include structured (though masked) parking, a new street grid, trails, a dog park and hardscaped park areas totaling 1.4 acres.
“It is envisioned that development of the Application Property will be the first phase in a multi-phased redevelopment of the area bounded by Jones Branch Drive, Westpark Drive and Westbranch Drive,” according to the statement of justification accompanying the rezoning, which was filed in early 2014. “When complete, redevelopment of this area will transform this suburban style office park into a new residential community with services and parking in keeping with the vision of the Comprehensive Plan for Tysons.”
