When a Fortune 500 company embarks on a new high rise building to support its headquarters there is a lot of fanfare associated to it. When that new high rise is proposed to be the tallest commercial building in a metro region it amplifies that symbolism of the event. With Capital One’s new 470′ high rise Tysons may have just hit the national stage. While a 470′ building in New York, Chicago, L.A. (or frankly Boston, Miami, San Francisco and Philadelphia) is a mundane and wholly unexciting event, in the historically short and stumpy DC metro region it will likely garner its fair share of attention.
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Some companies, architects, and new developers may have just perked their ears to hear that not only is a true high rise (dare I say quasi-skyscraper) will be allowed in one of the country’s most consistently strong real estate markets. While interest from local land developers in pushing the boundary of the height limit (which we are told by Fairfax officials isn’t a hard set rule), bigger players from outside of town may find it to be the perfect mix of low resistance development environment and strong market indicators.
The event for Capital One’s new headquarters was attended by many of the same state and local officials which have often attended debates, conferences, and other events in the next door Capital One convention space. Governor Terry McAuliffe summed up the feeling in Tysons right now, “What better place than Tysons for HQ of the 7th largest and fast growing bank in US?”
In a suburban office park best known for defense contractors and government consultants, Tysons has quietly been home to other businesses that garner less attention including Hilton Hotels, Capital One, Sunrise Living, several web app and development companies, and a host of accounting and financial companies. Now in its current transformation Tysons seeks to expand on a decade of diversification while holding onto the major corporate entities that have kept it a stable economic driver in Fairfax.
The new 470′ tower is going to be a great one to watch go up. Construction cranes for the project will become a fixture on the skyline, from almost every direction, for the next 3 years. The project will be in the shadow of the soon to be topped Lerner 1775 project and Nouvelle Apartments, as well as near by MITRE Building 4. Together these high rises, along with the several other projects underway, provide a visual grouping that should appease any questions about the future economic viability of Tysons.