After a 6 month delay Greensboro Park, a rezoning located just off of International Drive, is back in front of the Planning Commission, looking to move forward with an approval. The project hit some bumps in the road with staff comments, some of which came from being a much smaller application than most of the rezonings the County has already approved. Greensboro Park proposes to build two residential/mixed-use towers. The buildings are 22-stories and 25-stories respectively, slightly taller than the original application of 20-stories and 24-stories.
The project will now include road improvements to Greensboro Drive, to provide additional bike lanes and wider walkways in line with the County’s comprehensive plan goals. The project has also added new renovations to the grounds of the adjacent office park, at the corner of Greensboro Drive and International Drive, to create more urban pocket parks and pedestrian plazas where currently there are only surface parking lots. The plan has removed a previous concept which included raising the height of the adjacent office buildings by 4 stories.
Both buildings are within 1/4 mile of the Greensboro Park Metro Station, making it a prime location for higher density, and integrating with the nearby approved Tysons Central project, as well as the pending Meridian SAIC campus rezoning. The project has followed through with many of the rezoning conditions set by the comprehensive plan, including on-going Traffic Demand Management assessment, reduction in parking with parking maximums, better storm water management, and contributions to school funding.
Proposed with the rezoning is a contribution of $9,378 per anticipated generated student. In a high-rise building of 500 units it can be anticipated that a school population of 58 students will be generated. This contribution of $543,924 will help fund capital improvements within the Westbriar, Kilmer, and Marshall High School districts; all of which are in need of expansion. This is on top of annual tax revenue payments to the general fund and Tysons District infrastructure fund that will be somewhere between $2.0 million and $3.0 million (estimate) per year at final build out.
To use the staff’s own words:
“Given that the development has addressed the recommendations of the Comprehensive Plan related to circulation, parking, public facilities and parks, staff concludes that the subject application is in harmony with the Comprehensive Plan and is in conformance with the applicable Zoning Ordinance provisions.”
It’s not clear if the units will be for sale condominiums or rental apartments. So far all new residential units brought on the market since 2010 in Tysons have been apartments only, leading to an under-supply in the condo market, that has seen prices escalate in the interim. The project does not include a concurrent Final Development Plan for construction documents, so it could be another 12 to 18 months before any construction activity is undertaken.