Is Volkswagen Group of America planning to move their HQ down the street to Reston?

This is not exactly baseless speculation. There is some evidence that suggests that Volkswagen has plans to become a key tenant of an office building under construction at the upcoming Halley Rise development in Reston.

Brookfield Properties and HR Retail recently released a detailed retail brochure for the property. It’s a nice piece of work, with plenty of renderings, timelines, and statistics. The cover shows a rendering of the completed development that has been shared before:

Slipped in on the last page is a rendering that makes several changes. Assuming this is a new rendering—and it might not be—let’s take a look at the six main elements of the render that are changed from before:

1. The most obvious change, this rendering omits the “Phase 2” buildings in block H.
2. The layout of the block D residential high-rise is reversed.
3. Decorative features on the cinema building are missing.
4. The block G high-rise has the Audi and Volkswagen logos.
5. The green roof on the block D office building is missing.
6. The block C hotel is 6 stories taller.

This raises a few questions: Is this an updated rendering or something produced long ago? How did this image make it into the retail brochure? Was this a concept produced for Volkswagen that did not pan out?

It may not be the most up-to-date rendering, but it is more likely to be recent than not. The cover rendering reflects changes to the design of the property that have been recently approved in the last few months, specifically the design of the high-rise buildings on blocks D and G.

Likewise, the rendering in question generally reflects the approved design changes, albeit with the differences listed earlier. The unknown is whether the subject of this article is an iteration before the official cover rendering, or an iteration after.

It’s possible that this is just something that was created specifically for Volkswagen to market the site to them, or at Volkswagen’s request. The existence of this rendering does not guarantee anything other than that the idea was considered of Volkswagen occupying the building. However, there are some facts that suggest that Volkswagen may be (or may have been at some point) seriously considering the possibility.

Volkswagen Group of America moved their headquarters to their current space at 2200 Ferdinand Porsche Drive in 2008. The building was newly constructed at the time, and Volkswagen is the sole occupant. The company also leases space next door at Corporate Park Drive, which suggests that their headquarters building is close to capacity. The two nearby buildings on Corporate Park Drive are also fully leased, with no room for expansion there.

Volkswagen’s independent subsidiary, Electrify America, currently takes up office space at Reston Crossing, directly adjacent (north) to the Halley Rise development. It’s unclear if Volkswagen Group is also leasing there. There may or may not be much room for the company to expand in those buildings.

After all this, Volkswagen and Brookfield’s plans are not public knowledge at this point. The building in the image is still in the early stages of development (no digging yet at of the time this is being written) and is not planned to be completed until 2023. But the fact that they are moving already on that site, with a timeline, indicates that they have a plan to build, and that usually means they have a key tenant in mind—unless they are building speculatively, which is rare. This should bear out in the next year or two.