Dominion Square, a massive rezoning project formed by the compilation of several car dealerships in Tysons, dubbed “CARS” LLC has been off the County planning docket for several years now. The project is located on the south side of Route 7 between Spring Hill Road and Westwood Drive.
The last time we saw some activity on the rezoning was in 2014 when we covered the plans on the old TheTysonsCorner website. Many complications arose since that time, from coordination of the Boone Boulevard extension and Dulles Toll Road connections, to planned locations for recreational facilities and public spaces being debated with local residents.
The project is an important one for the urban fabric, namely because it is one of only a few rezonings proposed along the south side of Route 7, a portion of Tysons often derided as strip malls and car dealerships. Without a sense of cohesiveness between infill parcels on this side of Tysons, the entire district could lag behind other more quickly transitioning parts of town like Tysons East and the Greensboro corridor. That’s why it is exciting to see Dominion Square is back on the docket for the planning commission in the new year, with a January 18th public hearing.
It’s been quite some time since the last renderings or site plan for the project, so hopefully the presentation will provide some updates that resolve any remaining obstacles to approval. The previous iteration of Dominion Square proposed 12 buildings, ranging from 150′ to 400′ in height and totaling 4.5 million square feet of development. We’ll see if the newest plans remain as ambitious and grand.
The final plan is likely to create significant walkability improvements for the south side of Route 7 and likely improve connectivity between northern Vienna and the Silver Line metro stations — anything is an improvement compared to massive surface parking lots. The new plan comes packaged with a FDP (Final Development Plan) to boot, so expect construction of an initial first phase building relatively soon after approval if market conditions are right.