The Fairfax County Planning Commission votes tonight, October 14, on a plan to replace most of Reston’s Lake Fairfax Business Center with up to 1,042 homes.
The developer, EYA, wants to tear down seven office buildings and three parking garages on 49.37 acres north of Sunset Hills Road and rebuild the land as townhouses, stacked townhouses and a seven-story apartment building, with a site set aside for a future elementary school. County staff recommend approval. The commission held its public hearing on September 23 and deferred its decision to tonight. The Board of Supervisors is expected to take the final vote on November 17.
The office park sits between Sunset Hills Road and Lake Fairfax Park, east of Wiehle Avenue. Most of its buildings are empty, and one of the buildings staying put is a data center that would sit about 100 feet from the nearest new homes.
EYA’s two options would build 956 or 1,042 homes
The application, RZ/FDP-2025-HM-00002, asks the county to rezone the land from the I-3 and I-4 industrial districts to PRM, the county’s Planned Residential Mixed Use district. The staff report lays out two versions:
| Option 1 | Option 2 | |
|---|---|---|
| Townhouses | 329 | 316 |
| Stacked townhouses | 242 | 209 |
| Multifamily | 385 | 517 |
| Total homes | 956 | 1,042 |
A stacked townhouse is two homes on top of each other, each with its own entrance, sometimes sold as a “two over two.” The difference between the options is mostly in the multifamily count. Both include a 385-unit building, seven stories and 75 feet tall, wrapped around a parking garage at Business Center Drive and Wildlife Center Drive. Staff say it could be rental or condominium. Option 2 adds 132 condominiums in three six-story buildings in the site’s northern section. The architect’s rendering labels the apartment building “an apartment community by RMR”; an entity managed by The RMR Group owns two of the parcels.
Townhouses would rise to four stories, 50 to 60 feet. Both options include about 22,000 square feet of retail or amenity space on the ground floor of the apartment building.
EYA’s first filing, in January 2025, proposed 886 homes. The count rose to 1,017 this summer before landing at the two options now before the commission.
Six of the seven office buildings are empty
The rezoning covers seven office buildings of two to seven stories, mostly built in the 1980s and 1990s, plus three two-story parking garages and surface lots. None would remain. EYA’s application says about 65 percent of the center’s office space is vacant, and FFXnow reported that six of the seven buildings are fully empty while the seventh is 40 percent vacant with a lease ending next year. The National Wildlife Federation headquarters building at 11100 Wildlife Center Drive is among the vacant ones.
Several neighbors sit outside the application: the Homewood Suites hotel, the Life Time fitness club, two smaller office buildings and the data center. Reston Montessori is also nearby. General Dynamics’ headquarters sits just south across Sunset Hills Road.
The Board of Supervisors cleared the way for housing here on August 25 when it adopted a plan amendment, SSPA 2023-III-9UP, allowing up to 1,250 homes and a school site on the business center land. Both of EYA’s options come in under that cap. “Abandoned office buildings are really bad for the community,” Hunter Mill Supervisor Walter Alcorn said at the time, according to FFXnow.
A data center would sit about 100 feet from the nearest homes
The Digital Realty data center next to the site drew the commission’s attention at the September hearing. County staff put the nearest new homes at least 100 feet from the building. The applicant’s figures put them 109 feet from the building and 130 feet from its noise source. The county’s 200-foot setback between data centers and homes applies only to new data centers, so it does not govern this one.
A noise study found levels at the property line did not exceed the county limits of 60 decibels during the day and 55 at night, though the backup generators were not running during the study. EYA’s proffers, the written commitments that become binding if the rezoning passes, require a more detailed noise study of the homes within 200 feet of the data center before permits are issued for that section. Homes the study finds exposed to more than 65 decibels outside would need construction that holds indoor noise to 45 decibels, and their buyers would get a disclosure in the sales and HOA documents. A solid fence or wall at least 6 feet tall, a planted buffer of 8 to 25 feet, and a new street, Street L, would separate the homes from the data center, whose site sits about 8 feet higher.
Planning Commission Chair Phillip Niedzielski-Eichner asked for monitoring of constant low-frequency noise and warned against burdening a future generation of homeowners, FFXnow reported. Vice Chair Evelyn Spain of the Sully District said that given neighbors’ concerns about data centers, “even the 200 feet is still uncomfortable for them,” and urged staff to stay on top of noise complaints. The commission deferred its vote to give EYA time on staff’s technical concerns and so Hunter Mill Commissioner Paul Thomas could hear from the Reston Planning and Zoning Committee, which met September 28.
CoreSite is asking the county to change the screening buffer behind the Cocquina cluster, a few miles away, as neighbors complain about construction at its Sunrise Valley Drive campus. We covered that request in our October 8 post.
The plan sets aside land for a school, but staff doubt one fits
The site falls in the Sunrise Valley Elementary, Hughes Middle and South Lakes High attendance areas. Fairfax County Public Schools estimates it would add 308 students under Option 1 and 334 under Option 2. South Lakes was at 99 percent of capacity in 2025-26 and is projected to reach 101 percent by the 2030-31 school year, and Sunrise Valley is projected to rise from 84 percent to 98 percent. Those projections do not yet reflect the South Lakes boundary change that begins in 2027-28.
Instead of a cash contribution for schools, EYA would dedicate 3.96 acres at the north end of the site for a future elementary school or park. The applicant values the land at about $14 million, compared with a cash contribution of about $5 million. FCPS notes that a 950-seat elementary school usually needs about 14.5 acres, and county staff expect “challenges with feasibly constructing an elementary school” there. EYA could put a temporary youth athletic field there in the meantime, which county staff oppose.
Staff recommend approval with three issues still open
County staff recommend that the commission approve the rezoning, the development plans and seven waivers. The staff report flags three outstanding items:
- Affordable homes. EYA commits that 12 percent of the homes will be affordable dwelling units or workforce dwelling units, homes priced for households earning 60 to 100 percent of the area median income. Staff want some of those homes in the regular townhouses, not only in the stacked townhouses.
- Athletic fields. Staff asked EYA to build a full-size field or give about $3.6 million to the Park Authority. EYA’s proffers count the school land toward that expectation instead.
- Stormwater. The plan removes about 20 pounds of phosphorus a year from runoff, against a Reston plan goal of about 26.6 pounds, roughly three quarters of the target. The plan still exceeds the required minimum of 8.65 pounds.
Staff also call the project “significantly overparked,” with 1,795 to 1,886 spaces against a state-set minimum of 764 to 784.
Other commitments in the proffers include a new trailhead and a few parking spaces for Lake Fairfax Park’s Rails to River Trail, a dog park, a 10-foot shared-use path along Business Center Drive and Wildlife Center Drive toward the W&OD Trail, and a rebuilt Business Center Drive with a planted median. The traffic study projects 7,940 daily trips, 728 more than the current office approvals allow, and EYA’s transportation demand program targets a 25 percent cut in vehicle trips. EYA also commits to good-faith talks about bringing the townhouses into the Reston Association or the Reston Town Center Association, without a promise to join either.
Buyers and owners near Lake Fairfax should watch three dates
Tonight, October 14. The Planning Commission makes its recommendation. The meeting starts at 7:30 p.m. at the Fairfax County Government Center.
November 17. The Board of Supervisors is expected to hold its hearing and final vote. Residents can sign up to speak at that hearing.
After approval. EYA would still need site plans and building permits before any construction. EYA’s other Reston project, 57 townhomes at Bowman Manor on Old Reston Avenue, won Planning Commission support in June.
Equestrian Park borders the site to the east. The plan puts townhouses on Landbay A, the section closest to it, and EYA says the nearest existing home would sit at least 73 feet from new units. For buyers, the plan adds several hundred new townhouses within a half mile of Wiehle-Reston East Metro, according to county staff, and next to Lake Fairfax Park, with a data center disclosure attached to some of them.
We will update this post after tonight’s vote. If you own near Lake Fairfax Park and want to talk through what this plan could mean for your home, or you want to be first in line for information on the new townhouses, reach out.
See something missing or wrong? Email us at [email protected] and we will check it and update the post.
