Top 10 Tallest Buildings in Northern Virginia

     It's no secret that the entire DC Metropolitan area has a relatively stump like quality when it comes to tall buildings. Have you noticed how DC is the only major city in the country that does not have skyscrapers? Or how most of the buildings in DC are relatively the same height? The reason for this? The Height of Buildings Act of 1910. This act passed by congress limited the heights of buildings in DC to 130ft thus giving DC a relatively uniform and more European looking skyline. The act came in response to the construction of the Cairo Hotel, which reached heights of 164ft. Many DC politicians feared that unregulated building heights would obstruct the view of the many monuments in the city. 

The Reserve at Tinner Hill Falls Church

Our second featured development project is The Reserve at Tinner Hill. Located right off of Lee Highway on the border between Falls Church (Fairfax County) and the City of Falls Church.

Tinner Hill is marketed as a high end luxury apartment building that will feature 224 units and 521 parking spaces on top of 46,000sf of retail. 24,000sf of the included retail has already been leased to The Fresh Market a high end grocery store that is looking to expand its market in Northern Virginia. The chain already has locations locally in Vienna and Alexandria.

This project shows off a great mix of uses as well as demonstrating how transit is not always essential in order to build a development that maximizes the uses of the surrounding area. The development does not sit adjacent to a metro station but is fairly close to three stations along the Orange line (East Falls Church, Dunn Loring and West Falls Church).  While this project might not have the privilege of being metro accessible the benefits are notable. With the addition of this project the rapidly urbanizing area of Falls Church will continue to add ground floor retail which in-turn enhances pedestrian activity and triggers additional development in the surrounding areas. Additionally the City of Falls Church expects to generate between $600,000-$1,200,000 in revenue from this project . 

Dunn Loring Metro Redevelopment

Main entrance at the Dunn Loring Metro 

The Dunn Loring/Merrifield area of Fairfax County is currently undergoing a radical transformation that will perhaps give us a smaller scale preview of what is coming to Tysons Corner in the coming decades.

There is a lot going on throughout the Gallows Road Corridor but nowhere is it more evident than right at the metro station itself.

Avenir Place and JBGR are in the midst of the 2nd and final phase of their project that at full build out will include 125,000sf of retail, 628 apartments, a new metro entrance, an expanded parking garage for up to 3,000 spaces and new bus bays. Its hard to believe that as early as August of 2013 this area was merely a gigantic surface parking lot.

Inaugural Post

Hello everyone

I am very pleased to present to you my new blog. The 703 Record is an urban development blog covering the Greater Northern Virginia area. In this blog I intend to feature transit oriented developments around the region and specifically demonstrate how they impact and improve our daily routines. I hope you guys enjoy and I look forward to your feedback.

Sincerely
-Ervin Uriarte