With the planned opening of the second phase of the Silver Line this fall, construction continues on several Metro-accessible sites.
In fact, all of the major new construction in Reston is less than a mile from Metro. The completion of the first phase of the silver opened the doors to the possibility of dense urban construction outside of Reston Town Center, and the past couple years have seen a flurry of high-density mixed-use rezoning and development plan applications make it through the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors.
In 2020, many of these proposed developments are beginning to take shape. Next week, we will talk about what’s going on north of the Silver Line, but today, here is a brief look at what builders are working on in South Reston.
The Kensington
The Kensington will be an assisted living center adjacent to the Wethersfield cluster near Wiehle Avenue. Approved in 2017, construction began last year and is progressing smoothly. When completed, the building will be three stories tall with underground parking.
The Kensington will share a driveway with the strip retail in Sunrise Valley Center.
Reston Arboretum
Pulte is preparing to begin constructing 40 townhomes (four stories tall with two-car garage) on what is currently a parking lot for a 55-foot tall office building (pictured). This lot was made redundant with last year’s construction of the first phase of this project, a three-story parking structure on the eastern portion of the property. Now that the new parking garage is in use, the empty parking lot can freely be removed for the new construction.
The Arboretum property is within a short walk of the Herndon Metro station, which is planned to open (fingers crossed!) before the first units are delivered. To the west of the new townhomes, a trail or path will connect the cluster with the nearby wetland preserve and Monroe Avenue.
The Sorrento
Since 2016, the light-intensity office park that surrounds the Roland Clarke Place cul-de-sac had been replaced, piece by piece, with urban-style townhomes. It began with Sunrise Square to the east, where Sekas Homes delivered 34 homes, and continues with Valley & Park to the west, a Toll Brothers development that will total 54 townhomes when completed.
The latest building to begin construction is the Sorrento, a seven-story apartment building that will be wrapped around a parking structure. Currently, the garage is mostly complete, with groundwork laid for the residential units. Major construction should wrap up around the end of the year, with the apartments ready for move-in sometime in 2021.
The final office building on Roland Clarke Place will remain for the time being, but Woodfield Development is planning to replace it at some point in the future.
Halley Rise
Formerly known as Reston Crescent, Halley Rise is one of the largest planned mixed-use neighborhoods in Reston and will be the center of the new urban core south of the Silver Line. Situated at the corner of Reston Parkway and Sunrise Valley Drive, this new development will feature some of the tallest buildings in town — taller than anything currently standing — and should begin what will be a matching skyline to that of the Town Center north of the Metro.
Excavation for the first building began late last year and, as can be seen in the photo above, is progressing quickly. The phasing for the development begins with the building in block F, the northeast corner of the site. Construction of block D (the unimproved lot seen on the left in the photo) will follow. Block D is approved to contain two buildings, a high-rise residential tower up to 27 floors and a six-floor office building. The block is also planned to be home to a movie theater and a Pinstripes location.
Currently under construction is the seven-story residential building that will be home to Reston’s first Wegmans location. The Wegmans is conceived as being on the second floor of the building, with first floor retail below it. On top of the first two floors of retail will be five floors of apartments, 380 units in total. Wegmans is scheduled to open by 2022.
Later this month, Reston Skylines will feature six more ongoing developments in Reston.