One doesn’t have to search very hard to see signs of the metro spurred construction boom occurring at the McLean Metro station. Surrounding the station platform are four major construction projects and a pipeline of future projects that will total more than 10 million square feet once complete. Between Capital One, Cityline, Commons of McLean, and MITRE Tysons East will be the first to truly transform from aging office parks to the vision the Board of Supervisors had in mind when approving the Comprehensive Plan in 2010.
We saw the maturation of that development activity last year when MRP Realty proposed the Highland District, becoming the first multi-building rezoning that was not under development when the Comprehensive Plan was being developed. That was an important signal that the original stakeholders who helped guide the Comprehensive Plan weren’t the only ones interested in ambitious plans in Tysons.
The maturation is now continuing as Akridge is proposing to become the first single building in-fill project for Tysons East, with plans for a new 15 story mixed-use office building. The building will replace the aging brown brick GEICO office building at 1690 Old Meadow Road. The new building will use approximately the same amount of land area for the footprint of the building, but will replace current surface parking lots with outdoor park space connected to new pedestrian improvements along Old Meadow Road and Route 123.
The pedestrian improvements along Old Meadow Road will connect to other plans for streetscape improvements including recently announce 1750 Tysons East, an existing office building redevelopment which will include pedestrian friendly improvements along Old Meadow Road.
Unfortunately, as shocking as the transformation in Tysons East is going to be, it will continue to be held back by the arbitrary over-sizing of Dolley Madison Boulevard. Even in the renderings of Akridge’s well-designed office tower the unappealing asphalt jungle of Route 123 is the primary focus. So long as the road continues to be allowed to be 10 lanes or wider for no reason, pedestrian friendliness, street level retail, and overall marketability will be negatively impacted. So long as the road is designed to be 20 feet wider than it needs to be, even if it kept the current lane count, this corridor will never look quite right.
