The 367-unit residential development The Rutherford is headed to Planning Commission review tomorrow and makes use of a relatively recent new policy that codified an older trade.
The project is a multifamily building set on a 4.5 acre site at 5000 Seminary Road, next to the Hilton Mark Center. Of those 367 units, 25 will be committed affordable units. The developer is also contributing $811,547 to the Housing Trust Fund.
The staff report noted that The Rutherford is the first application within the Beauregard Small Area Plan to use the increase in density in exchange for housing approved back in 2020. The practice was a longstanding one for developments in Alexandria, but The Rutherford is the first in the Beauregard area to use the new official guidelines.
“The applicant noted that the proposed project is the first application within the BSAP to involve an increase in density following the adoption of the 2020 Housing Policy Update and underscored its efforts to maximize the total affordable housing contribution,” the report said. “Pursuant to the BSAP, developer contributions are charged on net new development and are intended to offset plan-wide and neighborhood-specific impacts to infrastructure, public facilities, affordable housing, and other city priorities by new development.”
The project is also set to have 405 parking spaces in two levels of underground parking. A presentation on the project notes that city staff are currently recommending approval of the project.
The project’s development special use permit, coordinated sign permit and transportation management plan are scheduled for review on Tuesday, June 6.
The Alexandria City Council could be signing a lease tonight for the new ‘West End City Hall‘.
The council is scheduled to review a 10-year lease agreement for the future home of the city’s Department of Community and Human Services at 4850 Mark Center Drive tonight (Tuesday). If approved, the City’s Health Department’s lease for the Redella S. “Del” Pepper Community Resource Center would go into effect on March 1.
DCHS services are spread in eight service locations throughout the city, and the Mark Center property will centralize operations. The deal has been in the works for nearly five years.
That initial agreement was for a 15-year lease, and would go into effect in February. The term has since been reduced to a decade. If approved by City Council, the Health Department would pay the landlord, which is the City, $1.8 million in rent every year, or $158,000 per month.
Council will review the lease agreement at its meeting tonight.
“The facility will include the Department of Community and Human Services, the Alexandria Health Department, Neighborhood Health, and a West End Service Center with a Permit Center, Finance Department transaction functions and limited Clerk of Court services,” according to the city.
The 270,000-square-foot property also includes an adjacent 800-space parking garage.
The new community resource center is named after Del Pepper, the longtime City Council member who retired last year.
The article previously stated that the Institutes for Defense Analyses owns the building. It is, in fact, owned by the city, which bought it from IDA.
Black resistance is the theme of the upcoming Virginia Black History Month Gala in Alexandria.
Actor, singer and producer “Leon” Robinson will be the keynote speaker for the annual event, which will be held at the Hilton Mark Center (5000 Seminary Road) on Friday, February 24, and Saturday, February 25. Robinson performed roles in “The Temptations,” “The Five Heartbeats,” “Cool Runnings,” “Above the Rim,” and as Little Richard in the 2000 film “Little Richard.”
The gala will also honor civil rights pioneer Betty Kilby Fisher Baldwin, who successfully sued the Warren County Board of Education to attend Warren County High School in the 1950s.
“African Americans have resisted historic and ongoing oppression, in all forms, especially the racial terrorism of lynching, racial pogroms, and police killings since our arrival upon these shores,” said the Virginia Black History Month Association, which is hosting the event. “These efforts have been to advocate for a dignified self-determined life in a just democratic society in the United States and beyond the United States political jurisdiction.”
Tickets to attend the two day event cost $45 to attend virtually, $95 for general admission and $160 for adult VIPs.
The schedule for the event is below.
- Black Health Health Fair — Friday, Feb. 24, at 4 p.m.
- Relationship Seminar — Friday, Feb. 24, at 6 p.m.
- Black Vendor Showcase — Saturday, Feb. 25, at 5 p.m.
- The VIP Social with Keynote — Saturday, Feb. 25, at 5 p.m.
- The Virginia Black History Month Gala — Saturday, Feb. 25, at 6 p.m.
A new bus rapid transit (BRT) system could connect Alexandria’s Mark Center with Tysons along the second-busiest corridor in Northern Virginia.
BRT systems are a way of potentially redesigning a roadway to favor fast and accessible bus travel, sometimes separating the bus into its own lane as in the Potomac Yard Transitway. The Northern Virginia Transportation Commission (NVTC) has scheduled a community discussion tomorrow to look at the planned Route 7 BRT system.
While the route will extend into Alexandria, the discussion tomorrow will mostly focus on the Falls Church section.
“Route 7 is the second busiest corridor in Northern Virginia, and ridership remained strong during the COVID-19 pandemic due to the essential workers who rely on this service,” the NVTC said in a release. “BRT would upgrade transit quality through the 14-mile corridor, connect major job centers, connect one Metrorail station and one BRT service, serve more than 7,500 transit dependent riders weekly and increase pedestrian access to transit.”
The exact route the BRT will take is still being studied, with a report on the options expected to wrap up in April 2023.
The meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, Oct. 11, from 6:30-8 p.m. The meeting is scheduled for Meridian High School at 121 Mustang Alley in Falls Church.
A three-car crash has temporarily shut down part of Seminary Road near the intersection with N. Beauregard Street.
Alexandria Police said in a release that the crash has shut down westbound traffic on Seminary Road after Mark Center Avenue, between N. Beauregard Street and I-395.
Injuries from the crash are non-life-threatening, according to police
Notification:: There is a temporary road closure on the westbound side of Seminary Road after Mark Center Avenue. This is due to a three-car crash. Injuries were reported to be non-life-threatening. pic.twitter.com/w5LT4y67VO
— Alexandria Police (@AlexandriaVAPD) May 11, 2022
Image via Google Maps
Alexandria is moving forward this year with plans to shift more of its services to the city’s West End.
In a recent town hall, Mayor Justin Wilson provided an update on plans to consolidate the Department of Community and Human Services (DCHS) into the former Institute for Defense Analyses (IDA) headquarters (4850 Mark Center Drive) at Mark Center. As part of the shuffle, IDA moved to Potomac Yard and redevelopment plans are in the works for one of the DCHS facilities in Del Ray.
“This is an opportunity to bring these agencies closer to the people they serve,” Wilson said. “Most of the population they serve is in the West End of the city.”
Wilson said the new centralized DCHS office is also an opportunity to set up what Wilson called a “West End Service Center.”
“The majority of our population is west of Quaker Lane, yet all the customer service elements have long been in City Hall in the farthest east of our city,” Wilson said. “Part of this effort is a desire to bring those city services to the West End of our city to make sure folks can access their government without having to get into a car and go to Old Town and find parking.”
The deal has been in the works since at least 2018. According to a city memo, it will cost approximately $1.9 million in annual building operating expenses and the city would need nearly $14 million in “upfront tenant fit-out costs.” As a city-owned building, Wilson said it will also save money long-term in comparison to buildings currently being rented across the city to house DCHS offices.
Wilson said staff should start moving into the building this year with services opening in the building sometime in the next fiscal year. The new 15-year lease on the building is scheduled to go into effect in February 2023.
“We should be moving people in this year,” Wilson said. “The building is in good shape. We have a lot of work to do, but we should have people coming in the next fiscal year. We’re excited to get this service center set up.
The Northern Virginia Transportation Commission (NVTC) is starting to look at financing for an extensive transportation project connecting Alexandria and Tysons.
The Envision Route 7 BRT project aims to bring a high-capacity transit service running from Tysons to Mark center in Alexandria, with stops at Seven Corners, Falls Church and the East Falls Church Metro station. The project is currently undergoing a mobility study looking over traffic operations and impact, with a particular eye toward the Falls Church segment.
At a meeting scheduled for Thursday, March 3, the is scheduled to look over next steps for the Envision Route 7 BRT project. A report to the NVTC laid out a timeline ahead for the project. Traffic modeling and simulation is planned to continue through the summer with public meetings and outreach for the project starting this fall.
NVTC staff are also working on identifying key funding, governance and operational decisions ahead for the project, the report said.
The effort is proposed to be jointly funded by Fairfax County and NVTC and will focus on the following elements:
- Develop a strategic framework that will serve as a guide for NVTC staff and the
Commission in the implementation of the BRT project.- Identify and prioritize the key funding sources for each stage of the BRT project and the
applicable timeline for each funding source.- Develop an interjurisdictional governance approach to guide the planning,
implementation, and operation of the BRT project.
The report said that proposals for consulting on the project are likely to come back to the NVTC at the meeting in May.
Right after the 100 block of King Street discussion last night, the Planning Commission approved a zoning text amendment that could let some West End developers make better use of the Mark Center site.
At the meeting, land use attorney Kenneth Wire represented the Mark Center Hilton and the Institute for Defense Analysis (IDA), two property owners at the site who have been pushing to have underutilized land around the Mark Center repurposed. Wire said the hotel owners are hoping sale of some of the property, particularly a parcel near a stormwater retention pond, could help fund a facelift for the very dated Mark Center Hilton.
“This corner site, right across from future [bus-rapid transit] station, this is an underutilized site and frankly could be a higher and better use than a smaller ancillary use for the building,” Wire said. “That could create some value to amenitize and upgrade the hotel. It doesn’t currently meet brand standards, it was constructed in the 80s. This sale will be reinvested into the hotel.”
Along with the Hilton site, a portion of the IDA complex in the Mark Center could also be headed to market. The IDA parcel was originally planned to be an office building but never got off the ground. Both parcels were approved for a rezoning that could see them turned into residential or mixed-use developments.
Wire said there’s currently no plan for what will happen with the land once the properties are rezoned, but the rezoning will help the property owners take the parcels to market fot future development.
During the discussion, Planning Commissioners also questioned whether more could be done to incorporate the Winkler Botanical Preserve into the site, but staff said the West End greenery is privately owned.
“There’s an opportunity for that to more broadly serve the community by being more open and accessible,” staff said, “but it’s a private conservancy group that oversees the area and it has been difficult to oversee discussions.”
What an interesting week in Alexandria. Here’s the rundown.
World champion sprinter Noah Lyles brought home his bronze medal from the Tokyo Olympics on Tuesday. In a frank, TED Talk-like speech at Alexandria City High School, Lyles talked about the importance of mental health as he struggled to perform at the games.
“A lot of people will look at the Olympics this year like something was different with the athletes,” said Lyles. “Well, it was a lot of difference because we had so much weight that we had to hold onto — about two years. I was no different.”
On the COVID-19 front, while the transmission level remains high in Alexandria, this week the city tied with Arlington for the lowest seven-day positivity rate in Virginia. Large outdoor public events are still happening, too, and on Monday, a vast majority of local elected officials and candidates converged for the Alexandria Democratic Committee’s annual Labor Day Picnic, which included an appearance by gubernatorial candidate, former Governor Terry McAuliffe.
Important stories
- Alexandria Police say string of 7-Eleven robberies are connected
- West End trail project derailed by stalled development
- Mural Mania: Check out these three new murals in Old Town
- Mudhouse Coffee buys building in Old Town
Top stories
- Man arrested for spending spree after finding wallet in Bradlee Shopping Center parking lot
- COVID-19 Update: Alexandria ties with Arlington for lowest seven-day positivity rate in Virginia
- BREAKING: Pedestrian critically injured in Old Town car crash
- Mark Center development plans head to Planning Commission this week
- Alexandria Police union calls out years of executive mismanagement
- JUST IN: Suspects arrested after allegedly firing shots at Alexandria Police
- BREAKING: Video shows brawl at Alexandria City High School cafeteria just two days after school starts
- Mayor outlines upcoming plastic bag tax plans
- Village Brauhaus aims for rooftop expansion
- No injuries or arrests after shots fired in Old Town Sunday night
- Most expensive homes sold in Alexandria in August
Have a safe weekend!
(Updated 9/8) Alexandria has many charming, attractive neighborhoods — the Mark Center isn’t one of them. But while it’s unlikely the highway-adjacent office park will be competing with Del Ray or Old Town anytime soon, a new pair of land-use changes could open the door down the road to the start of something of a transformation for the area.
Two parcels in the Mark Center Coordinated Development District (CDD) are headed to the Planning Commission on Thursday, Sept. 9 — the Hilton Hotel site at 5000 Seminary Road and the IDA site at 4880 Mark Center Drive. The applicants are asking for changes to open up some of the allowable uses on the site for future commercial and residential development.
“The owners of the two parcels… have submitted land-use requests to the City, including a CDD amendment and a Master Plan Amendment, in anticipation of the future development of their properties,” the staff report said. “The amendments to CDD#4 would allow for approximately 520,000 square feet of additional density, additional building height, and new uses as measured across both sites.”
The report said there are new special use permits requested for either site just yet, but those are likely coming in October if the changes are approved.
According to the staff report, the three changes being requested are:
1. Add land use recommendations for those properties in the SAP that do not have explicit land-use recommendations today;
2. Add proposed maximum building height recommendations for those properties in the SAP that do not have explicit maximum building height recommendations today; and
3. Clarify that office is not the only existing allowable use, as described in the SAP, at the property at 4880 Mark Center Drive.
The staff report says the first two changes are largely semantic, bringing the zoning language for the sites into line with existing city regulation. But the third takes a site that had originally intended to be office space and opens that up to commercial or residential development.
The change is significant, as it could be the start of the fulfillment of city plans to break the Mark Center out of the office-mold and adding a more diverse range of uses to the area. That change comes alongside improvements for the broader area, like Landmark development and the West End Transitway.
