JBG Plots a Mixed-Use Future in Tysons

Though commercial and retail development within the District has ground to a standstill, the reinvention of Virginia suburb of Tysons Corner is proceeding, at least on paper. In the wake of large scale projects such as BF Saul's Park Place II and Quadrangle Development's Towers Crescent, a JBG Companies subsidiary - JBG Rosenfeld Retail (JBGR) - intends to develop a sprawling 7-acre mixed-use development in an area that hosts not only the nation’s tenth largest mall, but its twelfth largest business district as well.

Dubbed the Tysons West Promenade, JBGR has taken on MV+A Architects to re-conceptualize the former Moore Hummer/Cadillac dealership at 8595 Leesburg Pike – directly across from the Tysons mall and less a thousand feet from the planned Tysons West Metro (now scheduled - in pencil - for a 2013 grand opening). Following demolition of the showroom and single-story structures currently on site, the multi-phase development will kick off with new construction in the form of a 250,000 square feet of retail and office complex, along with a pedestrian plaza and 1150 parking spaces. The only remnant of the site’s gas-guzzling past is to be the dealership’s 6-story parking garage, which JBGR plans to retain.

Phase I of development only scratches the surface of the development team’s vision for the property; current plans for a future second phase call for another million square feet of office, residential and hotel development. James J. Garibaldi, Jr., a Principal with JBGR, told Fairfax County’s Tysons Land Use Task Force in May that the “the site offers a remarkable opportunity for redevelopment into a pedestrian friendly, mixed-use, transit-oriented development in keeping with the goals and planning principles espoused by the [County].”

That redevelopment, however, will have to wait as JBGR reformulates their Promenade site plan. According to Brian Worthy of the Fairfax County Office of Public Affairs:

"The developer...had submitted a site plan to the County. That site plan was recently disapproved...because of concerns about grading along Route 7 not conforming with the work that's going to be happening there in anticipation of Metro. There were also some issues about how they were going to preserve trees on site and nearby...but the developer may be resubmitting their plan."

JBGR representatives declined DCmud's requests for comment on the current status of the project. Enquiring minds, however, will be able to investigate the developer’s plans for themselves this May 17^th through 20^th at RECon: the Global Real Estate Convention in Las Vegas, where the team will be showcasing a scale model of the Promenade.