After serving as the headquarters of Prison Fellowship Ministries — a non-profit organization that ministers to prison inmates — for the past 20 years, the historic A. Smith Bowman House on Old Reston Avenue may soon become transformed into a restaurant and inn, surrounded by as many as 100 residential units.
Under a proposal by the site's owner, the 105-year-old house would be converted into the restaurant and inn, while two existing office buildings would be converted into 40 condominiums. Sixty more residential units would also be built on the site, having been approved five years ago for commercial space.
In addition to preserving the house, the proposal would also keep the property's gazebo and pond, which border the Washington & Old Dominion Trail.
Prison Fellowship, founded in 1976 by former Nixon aide Chuck Colson, is relocating to Lansdowne in two months. The organization has called Reston its home since 1984, when it renovated the Bowman House, which had fallen into such disrepair that it was ineligible for national or state historic registries.
George Kfoury, the site's current owner, is submitting a comprehensive plan amendment to Fairfax County, seeking permission to change the already-approved 98,500 square feet of commercial space into residential.
“I got to tell you, I'm very optimistic,” he said. “It’s a much better use of the property. It's already approved for that footprint. Residential is a better use. It's surrounded by residential.”
Monday night, Reston Association's Planning and Zoning Committee gave its unanimous support to Kfoury’s plans, though they stressed they would much prefer to see all residential use, as opposed to commercial.
“Our OK — our advisory opinion in favor of this — is that the residential option be exercised,” said Arthur Hill, the committee's vice chair.
KFOURY’S PROPOSAL will go before the Fairfax County Planning Commission on Nov. 17 and before the Board of Supervisors on Dec. 6.
Martin Walsh, Kfoury's attorney on the project, said he hopes to secure approval from Fairfax County before the end of the year, allowing Kfoury to begin adding the residential units and converting the existing buildings next year.
Walsh also said he expects to have a detailed impact analysis of the traffic generated by adding residential units, though he pointed out the site has already been approved for offices and residential units would actually create less congestion.
As always, said P&Z Committee Chair Richard Eckhardt, traffic becomes a concern when a project would add more residents.
“Even though that road has been improved, it's still just a two-lane road,” he said.
SHOULD THE PROJECT RECEIVE approval from Fairfax County over the next two months, the changes planned for the historic property will be set to move forward.
Walsh said the proposed changes make sense for the site, while preserving the historic integrity and nature of the area.
"Our rationale was that residential units would be compatible with its surroundings,” he said.
The site is currently surrounded by high-rise condominiums and low-rise apartment buildings.
It appeared Monday night that the P&Z Committee and Kfoury agreed that as many as 100 residential units would be a good fit for the area, especially over the already-approved commercial office space possibility.
“If you want our input, we would prefer residential,” Eckhardt said.