This month marks the one-year anniversary of the completion of Phase 2 of the Metro Silver Line, and while proposed development around those stations is just beginning, much is on the drawing board.
Metro ridership along the Silver Line has also gained traction, especially for the Dulles Airport stop.
Phase 2 added six stops to the Silver Line: Reston Town Center, Herndon, Innovation Center, Dulles Airport, Loudoun Gateway and Ashburn.
The Reston Town Center Silver Line stop is the most developed, though it also had a 30-year head start. Boston Properties developed the original Reston Town Center in 1990, which itself has more than 50 retailers and 35 restaurants. Notable recent additions include the new Volkswagen North America headquarters, the new CACI headquarters and a new Fannie Mae tower.
“While Reston Town Center is furthest along and continues to actively add new product, many of these stations have not seen any development commence yet in a sizable way. It could really take a number of years before some of those projects even kick off construction,” said Michael Hartnett, senior director of Mid-Atlantic research at JLL, a commercial real estate firm.
There is at least 20 million square feet of proposed development adjacent to the six new Silver Line stations.
Transit-oriented development brings people, both workers and residents, into those new buildings. JLL reports a resident population of more than 10,000 within a half mile of the six new stations, and almost 42,000 within one mile. The daytime worker population is almost 22,000 within a half mile and more than 67,000 within one mile.
Residential growth around these stations is outpacing overall growth.
“The population within a half mile of these stations is forecasted to grow at a hefty rate of about 11% over the next five years,” Hartnett said. “That is significantly higher than the 1% for the broader regional growth.”
The median household income within one mile of the six new Silver Line stations is more than $123,000.
Metro ridership through the six new Silver Line stations is now an average 6,500 weekday rail entries, up 78.2% since December 2022. The Dulles stop accounts for 2,100 daily rider entries. JLL estimates there have been more than one million Metro rides that originate at the Dulles Airport station since it opened.
