Stanley Martin Homes wants to build 64 new townhomes at 625 Herndon Parkway. This is the first redevelopment requested for the Herndon Transit-Oriented Core, roughly 38 acres of land immediately north of the new metrorail station that is being constructed in Herndon on the Silver line. Photo by Fallon Forbush.
Herndon — Stanley Martin Homes wants to build 64 new townhomes at 625 Herndon Parkway.
This is the first redevelopment requested for the Herndon Transit-Oriented Core, roughly 38 acres of land immediately north of the new metrorail station that is being constructed in Herndon on the Silver line.
Stanley Martin Homes applied to build its project with the town’s Architectural Review Board, which reviewed the application and told Soledad Portilla, a senior engineering manager with the real estate developer, that her application needs more work.
“It’s the first application we’ve had in the metro area in that zoning district in that proximity to the metro, so the ARB wants to get it right,” says Lisa Gilleran, the town of Herndon’s director of community development. “They want the information augmented and they want to see some changes to it.”
The town’s staff report critiquing the application included comments on the proposed building materials, colors, treatments and other details in the design of the townhomes which did not conform to the expectations for the quality and urban design for the area.
These expectations are expressed in design guidelines for the HTOC’s public spaces, buildings and private access ways that the city council approved in 2012.
The $44.5 million project is estimated to be completed in the spring of 2019, while the station on the Silver line will be operational by 2020.
“The town staff is also reviewing the proposed site plan, and that’s going to take several months,” Gilleran says.
The reason for the strict guidelines and careful review is because the zoned area has eight property owners, Gilleran says. And it will be a challenge to unify all the owners to develop in a way that results in a “transit-oriented place where people want to be, where they want to work, where the want to live, where they want to dine, where they want to spend their life,” she says.
The process is further complicated because the metro area in Herndon has already been developed.
“It’s all office park at this point,” she says. “That means somebody has to redevelop those parcels, which takes more investment than [land that has not been developed].”
The zoning ordinance for the area is meant to encourage high-density, urban redevelopment.
While the three-story townhomes proposed in Portilla’s application are smaller scale structures than what the zoning envisions near the metro station, the town will allow it.
This is because the parcel is what Gilleran calls a transition area. The parcel of land sits between single family homes and what the town hopes will be buildings that are 20 stories high.
While the metrorail station rises from the ground, the Fairfax County Departments of Transportation and Public Works and Environmental Services will host a groundbreaking ceremony to kick-off the construction of the new Herndon station’s parking garage on Wednesday, Nov. 30.
The 2,007-space parking facility is designed to help reduce congestion on roadways by creating additional opportunities for ridesharing and the use of public transit, according to VDOT spokesperson Anna Nissinen.
The key features of the facility include a pedestrian bridge to the metro station that is currently under construction; vehicular and pedestrian connections to the existing 1,745-space Herndon-Monroe parking garage; and secure bicycle storage facilities.
The $44.5 million project is estimated to be completed in the spring of 2019, while the station on the Silver line will be operational by 2020.
Gilleran does not anticipate too many property owners will want to redevelop before the metrorail stations start operation, which means this is still the beginning of a very long process to create the most urban area in Herndon’s history.