Another Park Crest Residential Tower Going Up in Tysons Corner

The 14-acre development in Tysons Corner known as "Park Crest" will get another residential tower. Life insurance company Northwestern Mutual purchased the undeveloped portion of Park Crest earlier this year and construction is to begin on the 19-story, 300-unit apartment - "Two Park Crest" - next month.

The Penrose Group and Donohoe Companies are partners in the development of the Park Crest site, and continue to work with architect Lessard Design to make Two Park Crest a reality.

Two Park Crest will be the second tower built in the Park Crest development, and will be under construction soon, confirmed a project architect at Lessard Design (formerly Lessard Group, now without a website). Construction at the Two Park Crest site will join another parcel of Park Crest now under construction: a 5-story, 354-unit apartment "Avalon Park Crest" by AvalonBay, to deliver next July. AvalonBay purchased the 2.64-acre site for $13.3 million in 2010.

The entire Park Crest site lies on sloping terrain, and the change in elevation has lent itself to the creation of a "terraced waterpark" that will be incorporated into the Two Park Crest site, explained Priya Sambasivam, an associate principal at Lessard. The water feature will crisscross through greenery and drop 20-to-30' from start to finish. Other on-site features of Two Park Crest include an outdoor pool, a fitness room, a cyber cafe, a game room, an outdoor Bocce ball court, and a "small dog park." Sambasivam added that the tower lobby will be "a grand two-story atrium."

Two Park Crest will be architecturally sympathetic in scale and style (contemporary) to the first completed residential tower in Park Crest, the 18-story "Park Crest One Condominium," but feature a strikingly smooth glass curtain wall facade offset with vertical bands of brick - unlike the highly textured exterior of Park Crest One, with numerous bays and rounded corners.

The condo delivered in 2008, and Penrose retained majority ownership of the remainder of the property. The 335-unit condo is 86-percent sold out and priced between $350K and $1.5 million said Mark Gregg, President of The Penrose Group. The other completed component of Park Crest is "The Lofts at Park Crest," a 131-unit apartment (95-percent occupied) with Harris Teeter grocery. The Lofts were sold to Behringer Harvard REIT for $67.5 million in January of 2010.

Two Park Crest will soon become the sole high-rise apartment under construction in the Tysons area, explained Gregg. Likewise, in 2008, Park Crest One was the first "luxury" high-rise condominium built in Tysons Corner in over two decades.

A third residential tower, the site of which was also purchased by Northwestern Mutual, is currently in conceptual design phase by Lessard Design and will likely be rental apartments. When complete, the entire Park Crest development will contain over 1,300 residential units, a mix of apartments and condominiums (high-rise and loft).

Of Park Crest's greater locale, Fairfax County planners believe that "by 2050, Tysons Corner will be transformed into a walkable, sustainable, urban center that will be home to up to 100,000 residents and 200,000 jobs." It's quite the goal, but they have nearly 40 years, and four metro stations on the way in their favor.

Virginia real estate development news

Canyon Ranch Living Project in Bethesda on Hold

The Canyon Ranch concept may have hit a snag in its march into Maryland. A combination of increased mortgage rates, and increased construction costs have caused the $1 billion dollar project in Bethesda to be put on hold for 30 days.

But is there more to it? Canyon Ranch Living aims to provide a kind of hermetically sealed environment in which residents live in condominiums, above dietetically-correct restaurants and health spas.

As the company webpage says about its on-hold Maryland project: "Imagine a spectacular home that’s also an experience. At Canyon Ranch Living – Bethesda, everything comes together to bring out the best in you – the all-healthy environment of renowned Canyon Ranch, luxuries at every turn, and the nation’s finest urban village."

In other words – imagine the experience of what Canyon Ranch calls an "urban village" - right off of I-270 and Old Georgetown Road on 53 acres owned by the Camalier family, one of the largest private development companies in the region.

Imagine feeling just like you really do live in a city; without ever having to bother with actually living in a city.

As one analyst, familiar with the real estate market on the east coast put it: "This isn’t California or Florida; status in the DC area is driven by your connection to the government or wonky group, not really where or how well you live. There is a market for holistic living as a social status symbol – it just isn’t the DC region."

The Canyon Ranch Project is part of a partnership arrangement between Canyon Ranch and the Penrose Group, of Tysons Corner. Canyon Ranch would receive up front payments and management fees to run the development.

Jan McIntire, Senior Director of Corporate Communications for Canyon Ranch has a different view and says the feedback they’ve received from their guests confirms a viable market in the Bethesda area.

"Knowledge of what our guests who live in and around Bethesda want and expect from Canyon Ranch Living makes us feel confident we’re on the right track."

That view is supported by a veteran real estate agent of the DC-area development boom who sees the Canyon Ranch project as a potential success based on the demographics of the area, but possibly a victim of rising costs in construction and the rise in mortgage rates.

"It’s a successful model," said the agent, "there are a lot of people who do want that feeling of being in an urban environment but without the hassle and they want the amenities; the spas, the holistic approach, the restaurants."