Within the next month or two, Carr Homes hopes to break ground on the Fortnightly Square development, bringing to an end more than a year's worth of planning.
Last summer, the developer received approval for a rezoning application for the more than 7 acres of land between Grace and Center streets across from the Fortnightly Library. In September the company received the final approval of the engineering details, clearing the way for Carr to begin construction.
"Basically, we're ready," said Steve Ness, vice president of land acquisition for Carr Homes. "We're trying to get some documents together and hoping to start within the next month or two."
Ness said the property will eventually have two 32-unit condominium buildings, 82 town homes and a building housing five residential units and some commercial space.
More than a year ago, Carr was looking to build 120 town homes on the site, but altered the plans to reflect a mix of condominiums and town homes when it became clear the original proposal would not receive the town's blessing.
"We got rid of the 20-foot-wide townhouses [and] added two condo buildings with 32 condos each. … It's just over 150 units of different scale, size and building materials. This will now be visually interesting," said Councilman Dennis Husch, at the hearing in July 2002, of the change.
Construction on the condominium units will begin first, because they take longer to construct, said Ness, but the entire project will be completed at one time instead in phases.
According to the Herndon staff report, the condominium buildings will be four-stories with basement parking.