The year didn’t start well for WRIT when major tenant Custom Ink moved their 500 employees out of 7900 Westpark into a new space in the walkable Mosaic District. Who can blame them though? They went from an outdated space at the aging office building facing I-495, to a new space next to hundreds of prospective customers within walking distance, near two dozen restaurants, and within walking distance to Dunn Loring Metro. Perhaps, more important to the decision makers at Custom Ink were the new bells and whistles that came with their built for space at Mosaic.
Custom Ink’s former headquarters office space at 7900 Westpark in Tysons with traditional office layout
Custom Ink’s new headquarters office space at Mosaic District with more open floor plan and amenities
WRIT is taking action to address problems with the marketability of their Westpark Space, but is it enough? Over the next two years they will gut and alter the existing building to update the look and provide many of the amenities that tenants expect. The buildings thin windows veiled in concrete will become a glass curtain wall based on renderings released by WRIT. At this time it does not look like the property will change any of the land use aspects of the property, leaving the building solely office with the exception of some minimal ground floor public spaces for dry cleaning and cafe space.
While the change is clearly an improvement to a building facing the end of its marketable life cycle, it is a far cry from WRITs initial proposal that was presented to the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors in March of 2010. That proposal would have seen the entire property altered in line with changes occurring elsewhere in Tysons to rezone to a mixed use community as seen in the presented rendering. Unfortunately the proposal never gained traction, whether by failure of the County or by disinterest to move forward by the owner.
There is nothing about the renovation at the existing 7900 Westpark building that obstructs WRIT from being able to move forward with more ambitious plans for the property, however, it is unlikely after a multi-million dollar renovation for larger plans to advance any time soon.
7900 Westpark may get help in terms of marketability by way of a separate project located across the street by Cityline which will provide mixed use residential development similar to what is occurring at Mosaic. That work is advancing at Hanover’s property and will likely be ending around the same time 7900’s renovations are complete.
One thing is sure, Custom Ink’s employees are pretty happy about the change in venue, an important signal of what the consumer, in the form of employees and their employers, want in office convenience.
New office. Woohoo! #customink. I was told there was going to be cake! @CustomInk
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Got a tour of the new/awesome @customink office at @mosaicdistrict. Looking forward to having such a fun company as @CavaGrill neighbors.
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New office is surrounded by so many awesome food options. I need to start saving up $$ now…