Though Northern Virginia Community College (NOVA) won’t leave its Reston Technology Center for a couple more years, the office building’s owner is already planning for a very different future.
JB Properties, an affiliate of the Tysons-based company Bognet Construction, has proposed redeveloping the four-story office building at 1821 Michael Faraday Drive with housing, bringing the property in line with the increasingly residential neighborhood surrounding it.
Delivering up to 92 dwelling units total, the development would consist of 20 stacked townhouses as well as 72 multifamily units spread across two five-story, 60-foot-tall buildings, according to a rezoning application filed with Fairfax County on June 30.
Most of the 2.82-acre site would be taken up by the new housing and internal roadways, but some urban park space — 0.3 acres or 13,000 square feet, to be exact — is shown in the submitted development plan. Potential amenities could include open lawns, gardens or landscaping, outdoor seating, and bocce and beanbag-tossing equipment.
As part of the redevelopment, JB Properties has also proposed adding an 8-foot-wide sidewalk and roughly 4-foot-wide bicycle lanes on Michael Faraday Drive “to help connect riders with the Washington and Old Dominion Trail to the north,” land-use attorney David Gill wrote in a statement of justification.
About 99 parking spaces would be provided for the site, including 58 garage spaces for the multifamily buildings, one space in the garage for each of the townhomes and 21 surface parking spots for visitors.
“The proposal implements the County’s Concept for Future Development which encourages a mix of uses in a compact, pedestrian-friendly urban form within the Wiehle-Reston East [Transit Station Area],” Gill said.
Updated in September 2023, the county’s Reston comprehensive plan recommends an emphasis on residential development in the area east of Wiehle Avenue, though it should be mixed with about 25% non-residential uses, such as offices, retail and hotel.
Constructed in 1988, the existing office building at 1821 Michael Faraday Drive was acquired in November 2014 by JB Properties for $10.5 million, per county property records.
It has served as the home of NOVA’s Reston Technology Center since 2018 with 11 classrooms, three computer labs, a library and a multi-purpose room.
However, the community college confirmed to FFXnow in June that it will phase out the facility after deciding not to renew its lease. NOVA is set to vacate the building by December 2027, relocating classes to its other campuses.
While the building has a few other tenants, including Verity Commercial, which partnered with JB Properties to buy the site, the 54,000 square feet of office space is “under-leased,” Gill said in the application.
Several other commercial buildings in the area are also slated for redevelopment.
Reston Station’s Midline district has been steadily emerging to the southwest. Earlier this month, the Fairfax County Planning Commission recommended approval of revisions to a planned senior living building that will be paired with multifamily housing. Developer Comstock Companies anticipates demolishing the office buildings at 1831 and 1861 Wiehle Avenue to make way for that project later this year.
Construction is also expected to start this year on an apartment building from EYA and a condominium building from Elm Street Communities along Reston Station Blvd. As of June, EYA confirmed it plans to begin work on its building in the second half of 2025 but didn’t have an exact start date, a public relations representative said.
Outside of the Midline district, developer Pulte Homes has proposed replacing the three office buildings along Sunset Hills Road, east of the JB Properties site, with 100 multifamily residential units and 90 stacked for-sale townhouses. Submitted back in 2022, that application is still being reviewed by county staff.
