Showing posts with label Reston. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Reston. Show all posts

Tuesday, April 05, 2011

Reston Station Gets Underway Today

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Comstock Partners will break ground this morning on Reston Station, a 1.3 million s.f. development that will soon be connected to Washington D.C. via Metro's Silver Line, running from the Stadium Armory station to Dulles Airport. Reston Station will be the final stop of Phase 1 of the Silver Line, now at the mid point of construction having broken ground exactly two years ago and scheduled for completion in late 2013. Comstock will eventually build three office buildings, two residences, one hotel and retail space, but today will begin work on the 2300-car underground garage and bus depot, replacing the sprawling surface parking lots, hopefully in time for the opening of the Wiehle Ave station.

Davis Construction will do the digging and building of the "urban employment center" site 3/4 of a mile east of Reston town center, for the Dantesque 7 levels of underground parking. Design of the live-work center that will sit on top of it is still in the early planning stages.

Reston, Virginia real estate development news

Monday, February 07, 2011

Reston Station Announcement Heralds Coming Development

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Comstock Partners made the expected announcement today that it has selected Davis Construction to build its underground garage at Reston Station, setting the stage for a "spring 2011" groundbreaking for the 1.3 million s.f. facility on the new Silver Line. Comstock had previously projected a March start to the project in order to get the garage open in early 2013 when the Metro line is scheduled to run its first train. Davis has already been at work building the other parking component on the site for Fairfax County, but today's announcement kicks off what will be the start of new "office, retail, residential and hotel uses in multiple buildings surrounding a public plaza," according to a Comstock press release.

Comstock's massive mixed-use project is planned 3/4 of a mile east of Reston town center, the developer plans to build the 500,000-s.f. residential component as the first step in the process. The two towers will have 205 and 370 units, 19.5% of it designated for workforce housing.






Reston, Virginia, real estate development news

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

The Yard Inside

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By Beth Herman
When it comes to families, no one wants a home's manicured front lawn and curb appeal marred by remnants of yesterday's water balloon fight or Saturday's mud pie bake-off. In that respect, relegating the family experience to the back yard is a pretty good idea.
For FOX Architects Principal Jim Allegro and designer Holly Martin, creating both a formal and informal environment for 120 Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC) employees, 11921 Freedom Drive in Reston, Va., was indeed predicated on an expanded front yard/back yard concept, with high functioning public and private spaces that reflected the company's work and play ethic paramount.

With employee longevity a hallmark of GMAC, the nonprofit organization was incepted in 1954 as a comprehensive resource to meet the needs of business schools and students. Turning a 45,000 s.f. space into a design that reflected a warm employee family culture, along with areas that spoke to GMAC’s longstanding authority in its field, was a challenge met head-on by Allegro and Martin with their own designs on work and play.

A Fountain Runs Through It
Relocating from Tyson’s Corner to Reston, among GMAC’s primary goals was to improve employee quality of life. With a town center environment (ice skating rink; fountains; shops; restaurants and other amenities - all within walking distance) and abbreviated commute for reduced carbon footprint in the cards for much of its staff, the company jettisoned a 45,000 s.f. facility on two floors in Tyson’s Corner for one of equal size, also on two floors, in Reston.
Speaking to the collaboration between architects and client, Buck Blackburn, GMAC associate director, facilities and office services, said, “They became partners in the process...FOX had in-depth interviews with all departments and made sure to incorporate those requests into their design. They worked closely and smartly with all levels of the organization.”

Allowing that GMAC’s previous space was in fact not outdated or cramped in any way, but “equally modern,” according to Allegro, among the issues FOX Architects faced was ensuring the new space emulated the old but with more style, creativity and advanced technology. With challenges that included lower ceiling height and an exchange of formerly panoramic views for those of surrounding buildings, opening the space and cultivating natural light along the perimeter were intrinsic to the organization’s new design. A focus on state-of-the-art A/V technology and video conferencing, which would minimize extensive travel requirements at issue for some employees, was also a new design objective.

Focus and Balance
“I’d say there was an element of public and private that played into the design concept,” Allegro said, explaining the “front yard” experience was to represent the former and “back yard” the latter. “They don’t get lots of visitors that come beyond their reception area and meeting space, and that’s where the bulk of their traffic is captured,” he said, adding the dollar and design focus went into feature walls in that space with curved, textured plaster and stone flooring.

Opposite a white lacquer, maple and antique glass reception desk, on the other side of the lobby where a bank of five elevators delivers visitors to the floor, Martin chose a double-sided fireplace that bespoke dignity and formality, yet accorded warmth to a space that in many offices can simply be sparse and utilitarian. A graceful, two-story water wall with rock garden base lends a regal, resort-like feel to the lobby area as well.
Because the reception area connects GMAC’s two floors (floors three and four of the building), Allegro said they elected to retain a stairway already in place. “That stair links very active places,” he said, adding “there’s nothing worse than a monumental stair that never gets used.” In this respect, the architect analogized that “…it feels more familial - like kids running up and down, going from bedrooms to kitchen,” noting the reason for the stairs is that they link 4th floor conference rooms to the highly trafficked reception area below, which also includes a lunchroom and smaller meeting rooms. In the lunchroom, a variety of seating, including touches like mesh “Fit” chairs from Interstuhl that conform to the body and breathe to accommodate body temperature, encourage staff to bring their laptops for a change of atmosphere, or even engage in a variety of Wii games which are readily available. A furnished balcony that overlooks Reston Town Center and supports about 200 people accommodates office and family functions, including holiday gatherings where children can watch the skaters below.

Where the floor above is largely dedicated to training, meetings and conferences, “mini team rooms” for more casual meetings, replete with lounge furniture, exist on both floors for staff purposes. Utilizing Plynyl (woven vinyl fabric bonded to polyurethane cushion) flooring, which is more durable and playroom-like, adds a true “back yard” quality to the mini team rooms which feature TV monitors. Coffee/copy functions nearby facilitate other needs.

According to Blackburn, the previous tenant in the space “…had dark wood and the window line covered with offices.” With a 60/40 closed office vs. open space concept now, access to the perimeter window line is generous. Where offices – which average 140 s.f – are enclosed, clear glass fronts channel natural light. Also, Martin’s light-toned wood, khaki-colored accent walls and white back-painted glass suggest an atmosphere of great balance, the overall design and color palette perpetuating the soothing, spa-like atmosphere first suggested by the lobby’s two-story water feature.

Top of the World
In their former offices, though conference and training rooms were cleverly named for various countries, they were inadequate spaces and Blackburn recalled using hotels for “all hands” meetings, at added cost to the company.

Creating a 2,200 s.f. divisible conference/training room that accommodates 150 in Reston, made up of one large and two smaller rooms, the space was subsequently monikered “the world,” Martin explained, and boasts Skyfold doors that retract into the ceiling for ultimate use of the space. Nine panels, or plasma screens, punctuate one wall, with access to daylight made possible by relocating a mobile wall. Tables on wheels result in unlimited configurations of space. A boardroom has a video wall which is eight feet long and 40 inches high, linking GMAC to various entities and serving to cut down on prolific travel, increase family time and reduce carbon footprint.

“My office is near the lobby and I hear visitor after visitor marvel at how nice the new office is,” Blackburn said, adding he hears staff interacting with visitors about how happy they are to work there. Noting he also gets to interact more with employees and they with each other, Blackburn affirmed, “It will take a few years to discover all the ways to make use of this space.”

Washington D.C. design news

Monday, September 06, 2010

Reston Station: Planning for the Last Stop of the New Metro Line

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When it comes to development along the new Dulles Corridor Metrorail Silver Line, connecting downtown Washington D.C. to Tysons Corner and Dulles Airport, developers think big. Reston Station, a transit-oriented, mixed-use development soon to be brought into the orbit of Washington DC as the terminus of Phase 1 of the Silver Line, is no exception. Zoned for 1.3 million s.f. of development and incorporating three office buildings, two residences, one hotel, retail space and a 2300-car underground garage, developers expect to break ground on the garage next March and start the residences in late 2012. Davis Construction, now at work on Reston Station's county-sponsored underground garage, intends to complete work by 2013 to sync with the Silver Line's debut.

Comstock Partners, the Reston-based developer behind the vision, is just now beginning to market to prospective office users and hotel operators to fill up the 60,000 s.f. of retail, 650,000 s.f. of office space, and 220-key hotel that have been planned 3/4 of a mile east of Reston town center. Comstock has just begun design process for the 500,000 s.f. of residential space with the search for an architect, but already plan pair of residential buildings, 205 and 140 feet high, with a total 370 units, 19.5% of it designated for workforce housing.

Turning what looks, at least aerially (mislabeled picture above courtesy of MWAA), like a land of parking lots dotted occasionally by office buildings, into a community that is "edgy, contemporary, with easy living and walking to the Metro" as Comstock's Maggie Parker puts it, will require a bold metamorphosis. Anchored by the indispensable Metro station, various groups are working to design a more urban Reston. Reston 2020, a committee of the Reston Citizen's Association, which represents residents of Reston in the Reston Master Plan Review process, has outlined its own optics for the area, A Strawman Proposal for The Wiehle Area Metro Station, that envisions a thriving mixed-use, beyond 9-5, transit-oriented community. The group calls for increased residential uses, pedestrian and bike interconnectivity along the Silver Line corridor, embracing the urban center paradigm and integration of growth along the corridor. According to Penniman, Strawman Proposal author and board member of the Reston Community Center,
"Reston is a wonderful, planned community of urban and village centers, but running in the middle of it is the toll road, which has historically been lined with office buildings. With the arrival of the Metro and three stations running through Reston, there is an opportunity to add some urban flavor that would allow more people to live, work, walk and play...If we can create more pedestrian connections and manage traffic, that should do a lot to energize the corridor and would fit in well with the image of Reston as a community of open spaces and quality architecture."
Not everyone would agree that Reston calls to mind architectural splendor or exudes urbanity, but Comstock hopes their site next to the Metro will afford the opportunity to change that. Comstock plans on entering Reston Station in the running for LEED-ND (LEED for Neighborhood Development) certification, a relatively new category in the LEED rating system, which the US Green Building Council, the Congress for New Urbanism and the Natural Resources Defense Council developed collaboratively to certify neighborhoods that are planned according to smart growth principles with attention to urban planning and environmental design characteristics at the community scale.

Debate on the project has focused on traffic mitigation from the beginning. The Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority began increasing tolls on the Dulles Toll Road last January by 33% to help finance the Silver Line, with further toll increases expected in 2012. With increasing gas prices and suffocating traffic, the commute along the toll road has become less sustainable.

Comstock's Parker says the developer has focused on traffic management from the start, making the most of the pedestrian bridge that will link its project to the Metro station. Planners have designed Reston Station Blvd. as a new cross street, "an east-west spine road parallel to both Sunset Hills Road and the Dulles Toll Road provides a key cornerstone to the ultimate goal of a well-planned grid of streets." "We have proffered to significant traffic modifications to accommodate the suggested increase in traffic with the arrival of Metro. We are also committed to conducting other traffic studies as the development progresses through an aggressive Transportation Demand Management plan designed to reduce automobile trips generated by the office and residential uses" explained Parker.

Ultimately, construction timelines will be determined by economic realities, with even citizens groups acknowledging that "development will not proceed as fast as might have been thought a couple of years ago." With three years to go until the Metro station opens, time will tell what awaits sojourners venturing out to the end of the new metro line.

Reston, Virginia, real estate development news

 

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