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A massive array of solar panels could provide cover for the office building that developer Rushmark Properties and the construction company HITT Contracting are planning to build at Virginia Tech’s campus near the West Falls Church Metro station.

In a final development plan recently submitted to Fairfax County, the two companies — collectively known as Converge West Falls LLC — propose installing a photovoltaic array canopy on top of the building, which will house HITT’s corporate headquarters and laboratory space for Virginia Tech’s planned National Center for Smart Construction.

Standing approximately 117 feet tall, the canopy would encompass approximately 112,000 square feet, making it larger than the roof of the 270,000-square-foot building. It would have nine support columns ranging in height from 91 to 111 feet, per the application.

“The tree-like columns provide a structural solution while also creating the sense of lift and grandeur emulating a modern woodland canopy,” Walsh Colucci land use lawyer Andrew Painter said in a Nov. 22 statement for the applicant. “The multifunctional solar array canopy also shades the building from the sun, as one of the proposed building’s energy-reduction measures.”

The array is expected to generate between 1,100 and 1,400 megawatts of electricity — enough to supply most of the building’s energy, the application says.

The solar panels are one of several amenities detailed in a trio of plans filed last week to expand Virginia Tech’s Northern Virginia Center at 7054 Haycock Road.

Block A

Most of the office building — 230,000 square feet — would be devoted to HITT’s headquarters, but Virginia Tech would have up to 40,000 square feet on the northern side for educational purposes. A maximum height of 97 feet and six stories has been proposed.

Under the submitted plan, the building would be served by a below-grade parking garage and a 23,500-square-foot entry plaza on the south side with built-in benches, movable tables and chairs, “playful” lighting, and garden areas with native tree, pollinator and flower plantings.

“A large depression pond that exists on the site will be repurposed into a bioretention garden to treat stormwater run-off and provide visual interest along Falls Church Drive,” Painter wrote.

Block B

Further south on the 7.5-acre site between Mustang Alley and Falls Church Drive will be a 532,000-square-foot multifamily building with 440 residential units and 18,000 square feet of ground-floor retail.

Converge is planning to offer a mix of one, two and three-bedroom units that “will be larger than the current industry trend to better accommodate families,” according to the application. The building will be up to 139 feet tall, descending to 82 feet along Falls Church Drive.

Planned amenities include a residential and civic plazas with seating, landscaping, and areas for outdoor dining; a publicly accessible pickleball court and private dog park along Falls Church Drive; and a public walkway with art and garden terraces along Haycock Road.

The plan provides up to 701 parking spaces in a below-grade garage, including up to 86 spaces for the retail uses. The garage would be topped by “an occupiable vegetative roof deck and amenity space” for residents.

Block C

As part of the redevelopment, Converge has proposed extending West Falls Station Blvd — a new road included in Falls Church City’s adjacent West Falls project on the former George Mason High School property — east to Falls Church Drive.

Located between the office and residential buildings, the street median will feature a publicly accessible park with an open lawn, art installations and a 2,000-square-foot, one-story open-air pavilion, according to the submitted final development plan.

The plan also shows raised crosswalks that will provide pedestrian access to the median and on-street bicycle lanes for the boulevard, which has one travel lane in each direction.

The county hasn’t formally accepted the latest applications for review, but a conceptual plan for the overall development is currently scheduled to go before the planning commission for a public hearing on June 7, 2023.

A developer has officially filed plans with Fairfax County to bring housing, retail, and new office and academic facilities to Virginia Tech’s campus in Idylwood.

As a joint entity named Converge West Falls LLC, real estate investment firm Rushmark Properties and the construction company HITT Contracting have proposed replacing the existing Northern Virginia Center at 7054 Haycock Road with a 283,000-square-foot office building, up to 440 residential units, and a 2,000-square-foot retail pavilion.

Submitted last Thursday (Sept. 22), the application fleshes out an agreement made earlier this year between Converge and the City of Falls Church, which intends to sell the approximately 7.5-acre site to the developer.

The project will “serve as a logical connection” between the West Falls development on Falls Church’s former George Mason High School property and a planned redevelopment at the West Falls Church Metro station, Walsh Colucci land use attorney Andrew Painter wrote in a statement of justification on Converge’s behalf.

Rushmark is also involved in the Metro project, which will turn the Metro station’s existing parking lots into housing and office buildings with some retail.

Reviving a stalled plan between Virginia Tech and HITT, Converge’s Northern Virginia Center proposal features roughly 820,000 square feet of development across three buildings on two blocks west side of Falls Church Drive and north of Haycock Road:

If approved, the project would link the West Falls and Metro developments by extending the former’s central West Falls Station Blvd through the property. Building C would be in the center of the street’s 12,300-square-foot, publicly accessible median.

Straddling the boundary between the city and Fairfax County, the “Median Green” will also serve as a green space with landscaping, trees, movable tables and chairs for “informal gatherings,” open lawn areas, an outdoor stage or performance space, and public art.

Other proposed amenities include entry plazas for both the office and residential buildings and public gardens on Haycock Road and Falls Church Drive. The latter’s garden would feature a bio-retention rain garden.

The developer says it will also provide approximately 0.29 acres of publicly accessible open space on the Metro redevelopment site as well as private, “vegetative” roof decks for the office and residential buildings.

“Building A’s office roof will, for example, feature outdoor working and social spaces with lush planters and stormwater areas,” the application says. “The Building B’s residential roof deck will include a pool, recreation lawn, and seating terraces.”

As part of its transportation commitments, the applicant says it will upgrade the existing sidewalks on Haycock Road and Falls Church Drive, provide bicycle racks, and extend bicycle lanes planned for West Falls Station Blvd through the development. A total of 1,138 parking spaces will be provided.

“When constructed, this new neighborhood will function as one larger transit-oriented neighborhood,” Painter wrote. “The proposed NCSC facility will serve as a hub for research and testing of emerging construction methods, materials and technology that will inform Northern Virginia’s construction and real estate industries. Further, the proposal will attract individuals who think creatively, share ideas, and drive daytime demand locally-serving office and retail uses, as well as Metrorail ridership.”

Residents will have a new opportunity this summer to express their thoughts on Dominion Energy’s long-delayed effort to rebuild the Idylwood Substation at Shreve Road in Falls Church.

The State Corporation Commission has scheduled a hearing for June 10 at 7 p.m. after Fairfax County requested one in response to a new construction schedule that Dominion proposed earlier this year.

“My office and Fairfax County have strongly advocated for a new public hearing due to Dominion’s substantially delayed construction schedule,” Providence District Supervisor Dalia Palchik said in a newsletter. “This will be an opportunity for the community to convey concerns and frustrations.”

Dominion will replace the existing substation that was built in the 1950s with a new “gas insulated substation” that accommodates growth in the area without expanding the substation’s footprint, a Dominion Energy spokeswoman said during a community meeting earlier this year.

The project dates back to 2014, but the timeline for completion has kept getting pushed out.

“The length of construction time estimated by the company has tripled — from three years in 2017 to now almost nine years in total,” the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors said in a response to Dominion’s application to the SCC for a new in-service date. “The ‘end date’ that the residents were looking forward to — the date by which the daily disruption to their lives would be over — has jumped from mid-2020 to the end of 2026.”

During the virtual community meeting on Jan. 27, the Dominion spokesperson attributed the project delays to the permitting process, as well as an adjustment in scope and staffing changes. It is also a complex project, she said.

“Since Idylwood Substation is in an important area, it is necessary we keep most of the equipment energized while we work to keep reliable power in the Northern Virginia area,” her presentation said. “To perform this safely, we must work in limited space and even temporarily relocate certain equipment at times to install new equipment.”

This year, Dominion plans to tackle updating the building and begin construction on the first phase of a permanent brick wall along Shreve Road.

In its response submitted to the SCC on Feb. 23, the Board of Supervisors expressed appreciation for the status updates over the last eight months but said maintains its concerns “about the lack of urgency in the company’s commitment to actually completing this project.”

“The disruption and uncertainty of this process has taken a daily toll on the Idylwood community for years in the past and is now projected to continue for years in the future,” the board said. “The community deserves another chance to be heard publicly, especially given the radically different construction estimation that the company is now requesting this Commission approve.”

Here are the details for participating in the upcoming public hearing :

Telephonic Public Hearing Details:

Date: June 10, 2021 at 7 p.m.

To submit testimony:

To register to speak as a public witness in the proceeding, please submit the online Public Witness Form directly, OR complete and email PDF for PUR-2017-00002. Deadline to sign up is June 8.

To access audio for the hearing:

Visit: https://scc.virginia.gov/pages/Webcasting

Plans for a Route 7 bus rapid transit (BRT) system in Tysons are starting to take more concrete shape, outpacing an ongoing study of the corridor further to the south.

The service will initially launch in Tysons, operating between the Spring Hill and West Falls Church Metro stations, before later expanding into Falls Church and Alexandria, Fairfax County Department of Transportation staff told planning commission members at a May 11 committee meeting.

“Since the northern portion is kind of on a fast track, we would make this the first phase to see how it works,” Sean Schweitzer, a senior transportation planner for FCDOT, said. “It would work in the interim as a closed system until the rest can catch up.”

During the interim phase, the BRT will have nine stops, according to a comprehensive plan amendment proposed by county staff:

In the future, the Fletcher Street station could serve as a transfer point for an “enhanced” Gallows Road transit system, Schweitzer said. A study of that corridor down to Annandale is only just gearing up.

The route follows the preferred alignment along International Drive that the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors approved in 2021. The West Falls Church Metro was chosen as an interim southern terminus so buses can turn around, but the county hasn’t ruled out the possibility of making it a permanent station.

“If [the BRT is] better served by going directly to the Metro station, where it can pick up more passengers versus staying on Route 7, we could make that adjustment and have that be the ultimate alignment,” Fairfax County Transportation Planning Chief Mike Garcia said.

Except for the Metro stations, each stop will have separate platforms for east and westbound travel, staggered to reduce right-of-way needs, according to county staff.

The buses will mostly utilize dedicated median lanes, but they have to join other traffic at the Metro stations and to make the left turn from International Drive to Spring Hill Road. Spring Hill and Tyco roads will have “Business Access and Transit” (BAT) lanes limited to buses and drivers turning into the commercial area east of the Spring Hill Metro station.

To accommodate the BRT, FCDOT is proposing:

The proposed BRT plan will be presented to the community next week during virtual meetings at noon on June 7 and 6:30 p.m. on June 8.

However, some details of the project won’t be available yet, including what pedestrian and bicycle improvements will be provided, to the disappointment of some planning commissioners.

“I just think that’s really important to the success of Tysons, to this 30% modal shift we’re trying to get people to get out of their cars,” Braddock District Commissioner Mary Cortina said.

According to Schweitzer, FCDOT is currently developing plans for bicycle and pedestrian facilities as part of the study’s next phase, which will also look more closely at the right-of-way impacts, station platform configurations, and possible intersection improvements.

“We started last fall, and we are planning to complete that effort by next spring,” he said, explaining that the county needs to amend the comprehensive plan now so it can pursue funding for the project.

The plan amendment is scheduled to go to the planning commission for a public hearing on June 21, followed by a Board of Supervisors hearing on July 25.

Designed to operate more quickly than a local bus route, the Route 7 BRT will run from 5 a.m. to 1 a.m. on weekdays and from 6 a.m. to midnight on weekends. Buses are expected to arrive at each station every 10 minutes during peak hours and every 15 minutes during off-peak hours, according to a report released in summer 2021.

Since the BRT will cross multiple jurisdictions, a study of the overall Route 7 corridor is being conducted by the Northern Virginia Transportation Commission, whose attention is currently focused on the Falls Church area. Service will ultimately extend to the Mark Center in Alexandria.

The nearly 24-acre, mixed-use development planned for the West Falls Church Metro station will come with at least a few upgrades to the surrounding transportation network in Idylwood, if it’s approved.

Developers EYA, Rushmark Properties, and Hoffman & Associates — known collectively as FGCP-Metro LLC — have agreed to construct a shared-use trail along the north side of Haycock Road over I-66, according to a draft proffer agreement in Fairfax County’s Jan. 24 staff report on the development plans.

The proposed trail would replace the road’s existing asphalt sidewalk and one of its westbound lanes. It would be at least 10 feet wide — exceeding the 8 feet recommended by a county study of the area’s pedestrian and bicycle infrastructure.

A concept plan shows the trail being separated from the road by a 3-foot-wide jersey barrier on the I-66 bridge and a guardrail and buffer strip to the east of the bridge. With the trail, the developers would also add a crosswalk across Turner Avenue, where the trail would begin.

Under the proffers, which are conditions tied to the development, the Haycock Metrorail Connector Trail must open before the county issues a 40th residential-use permit for the townhouses planned on the Metro station site, though the deadline can be deferred if needed to get required approvals and easements.

Other improvements that the developers say they’ll provide include:

The developers have also agreed to conduct a traffic signal timing analysis and contribute $20,000 that the county can use to install traffic signal preemption devices on traffic lights within a 5-mile radius of the development site.

The development’s traffic impacts have been a top concern for many in the community, who argue that the existing infrastructure is insufficient even without the over 1 million square feet of residential, office and retail space that FGCP-Metro hopes to build on the Metro station’s parking lots at 7040 Haycock Road.

Another 820,000 square feet of development has been proposed on Virginia Tech’s adjacent Northern Virginia Center campus.

Metro’s West Falls Church redevelopment will bring up to 810 multifamily units, 90 townhomes, and a 110,000 square feet office building with up to 10,000 square feet of ground-floor retail.

The developers intend to build the project’s eight blocks in four phases. Individual plans have been submitted for the grid of streets, townhouses, the office building and one multifamily building, along with two proposed parks, but the blocks could be completed in any order under the proffer agreement.

Dranesville District Supervisor John Foust’s office will hold a virtual community meeting on the project at 7 p.m. today (Tuesday). The application is set to go to the Fairfax County Planning Commission for a public hearing on Wednesday, Feb. 8.