Two three-story office buildings sit on the east side of Wiehle Avenue between Sunset Hills Road and the Dulles Toll Road, a short walk from the Wiehle-Reston East Metro station. Both have been empty for years. In January 2025 a Comstock spokesperson told FFXnow that 1831 and 1861 Wiehle Avenue were slated for demolition that year, to make way for senior housing, apartments and a grocery store, though the company had not set a construction start.
Nearly two years later, both buildings still stand. Comstock no longer controls them. The land belongs to JBG Smith, which has not said publicly what it plans to do, and we found no demolition permit for either building in the county’s records. Fairfax County’s tax assessors value each building at $10.
The two blocks still carry county approval for about 680 homes, a 14-story office building and ground-floor retail, and those approvals stayed with the land when Comstock left.
JBG Smith controls both blocks again, and no demolition is scheduled
Comstock never bought the land. In August 2022 it took long-term ground leases on the two Wiehle Avenue blocks, a deal Bisnow reported at $60 million, citing JBG Smith’s own investor letter. A ground lease lets a developer build on land it does not own, usually for decades. The Washington Business Journal reported that these ran until 2121, and Comstock described itself as the “long-term ground-lessee” in a January 2025 filing with the county.
JBG Smith’s year-end 2025 investor package still listed 1831 and 1861 Wiehle Avenue as properties it ground-leased to someone else. Its March 31, 2026 package no longer did. JBG Smith’s filings put the end of the leases in the first three months of 2026.
The change became public on May 18, when a land use attorney told the Reston Planning and Zoning Committee that the sites “have now been returned to previous owner and prospective developer JBG Smith,” FFXnow reported. JBG Smith declined to comment then and again in September, and Comstock did not respond in May.
The only public comment we found since then came from Supervisor Walter Alcorn’s office. “We’ve reached out to JBG which is working on a plan,” a spokesperson told FFXnow in September.
County assessors classify both parcels as improved land with a dilapidated structure and value each building at $10. The land carries the value: about $23.0 million for 1831 Wiehle and $21.8 million for 1861 Wiehle in the 2026 assessment.
The buildings date to 1982 and 1985, and Marymount and NOVA once leased space there
County records show 1831 Wiehle Avenue was built in 1982 on 4.2 acres, and 1861 Wiehle Avenue in 1985 on 3.5 acres. Their tenants over the years included Marymount University, which ran a Reston location at 1861 Wiehle, and Northern Virginia Community College.
JBG, which merged with Vornado’s Washington business in 2017 to form JBG Smith, assembled the sites over a dozen years. It paid $18 million for 1831 Wiehle in 2005 and $19.5 million for 1861 Wiehle in July 2017, according to county sales records, which note that the 2017 price reflected an anticipated rezoning. That rezoning came the next year.
The 2018 plan put senior housing, 550 apartments and a 14-story office tower on the two blocks
The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors approved Reston Midline on Dec. 4, 2018, under case RZ 2016-HM-024, filed by JBG and the homebuilder EYA. The plan covers 17.5 acres east of Wiehle Avenue: four new blocks, eight buildings, 1,058 homes, about 260,000 square feet of office space and about 251,000 square feet of ground-floor shops and restaurants. Fourteen percent of the homes are set aside as affordable housing, and the plan calls for nearly three acres of parks.
The two Wiehle Avenue blocks carry about 680 of those homes and all of the office space.
| Block | Address and location | What the 2018 approval allows |
|---|---|---|
| Block A | 1831 Wiehle Ave., between Sunset Hills Road and Reston Station Boulevard | An eight-story senior building with up to 127 independent living units and 33 assisted living units, plus an eight-story apartment building with up to 325 units, ground-floor retail in both |
| Block B | 1861 Wiehle Ave., between Reston Station Boulevard and the Dulles Toll Road | A 14-story office building of up to 259,845 square feet, the tallest in the plan, plus an eight-story apartment building with 225 units |
| Blocks C and D | East of the Wiehle blocks, along Michael Faraday Drive | Townhomes and smaller apartment buildings, developed by EYA |
The approval also tied a list of public improvements to construction: extending Reston Station Boulevard east to Michael Faraday Drive, bike lanes on the surrounding streets, a linear park the plan calls the Wiehle Avenue Promenade, an elevated lawn on Block B, and a high-visibility crosswalk at Wiehle Avenue and Reston Station Boulevard.
The eastern half of Midline got built while the Wiehle Avenue half stalled
EYA kept building on its side. It cleared an office building at 1860 Michael Faraday Drive and broke ground in late summer 2020 on townhomes, and by mid-2024 all 113 had been built and sold, FFXnow reported. In 2022 it tore down an office building at 1840 Michael Faraday Drive to clear a site for apartments.
That apartment building, planned at about 227 units with ground-floor retail, is now going up on Reston Station Boulevard next to Block A. Construction started in July, according to FFXnow, and the county issued electrical permits for its garage and residential floors in October.
Two of the four office buildings the Midline plan was written to replace are gone, and both survivors sit on the Wiehle Avenue frontage. Anyone walking from the EYA townhomes to the Metro passes them.
Comstock got as far as site plans, a grocery lease and a zoning change before the leases ended
Comstock wanted the Wiehle blocks as an extension of Reston Station, its development directly across Wiehle Avenue. We covered its plans in our 2025 Midline update. Bisnow reported in 2022 that it planned to break ground in 2023. It submitted a site plan for Block A in 2023, filed for grading and foundation work in 2023 and 2024, and in 2024 signed The Fresh Market to anchor a 27,000-square-foot grocery store in the senior building.
The 2018 approval specified an independent living facility, a senior community with staff and services such as meals or transportation. Comstock told the county in January 2025 that it had been “unable to identify an independent living facility partner.” It asked for permission to build 127 apartments for residents 55 and older as an alternative, with no change in size or unit count.
The Planning Commission recommended that change on July 9, 2025, and the Board of Supervisors approved it 10-0 on Aug. 26, 2025, under case PCA 2016-HM-024. Alcorn called it “more a technical change” at the hearing. As part of the approval, Comstock agreed to pay for the crosswalk at Wiehle Avenue and Reston Station Boulevard.
Within months the leases were gone. Neither company has explained why. Brian Winterhalter, the attorney who disclosed the change in May, represented neither company and said he had not yet talked to JBG about its plans. Speaking generally about the area, he said inflation and the cost of labor and materials make it “very hard to build a multifamily building in Fairfax County right now.” Comstock’s own investor presentation from May 14, 2026 still listed a “Midline District” in its pipeline, with 1,100 homes and a 2028 delivery date, FFXnow reported.
The Fresh Market told FFXnow in May that it had no update on its Reston plans.
Neighbors report break-ins and graffiti, and police logged 11 calls by mid-September
Fairfax County police data shared with FFXnow counted 11 calls to 1831 and 1861 Wiehle Avenue between January and Sept. 14, 2026. Six were for trespassing, four at 1831 and two at 1861. Neighbors described break-ins, graffiti, fires and people sleeping in tents and cars nearby, and someone tagged the roof of 1831 in August. The JW Marriott Reston Station tower rises just across Wiehle Avenue.
Residents told FFXnow they expected a meeting about the problems, possibly in October, with Alcorn’s office, police, the nonprofit Reston Strong, the neighboring Faraday Professional Center and neighborhood representatives. We could not confirm that the meeting took place.
Sidewalk gaps along Reston Station Boulevard also remain, because the developer’s obligation to finish them begins only when construction does. The Wiehle Avenue crosswalk is under consideration for money from a county pedestrian fund, but has no funding yet.
The approvals stay with the land, so JBG Smith can build, partner or sell
A rezoning attaches to the property, not to the company that requested it. The 2018 approval and the 2025 senior housing change both remain in force, so whoever builds on Blocks A and B can start from them without returning to the Board for the same program.
JBG Smith can build the blocks itself, ground-lease them to another developer the way it did with Comstock, or sell the land. Its first-quarter 2026 report said the company continues “to dispose of select assets to fund opportunistic investments.” In February it sold Potomac Yard Landbay H, a National Landing parcel in Alexandria it had entitled for 120 townhomes, for $50.7 million.
A buyer or partner who wants something other than the 2018 program would need county approval. The proffers, the binding commitments attached to the rezoning, cap Midline at 1,060 homes and allow only 10,000 square feet of the office building to change use, so turning Block B’s office tower into housing would take a proffer amendment and a public hearing.
Our take: clear the buildings now, keep the grocery and reconsider the office tower
The county decides land use, and JBG Smith decides what to do with its property. We live and work nearby, and we would push for four things.
The buildings should come down or be fully secured whether or not construction is near. The county values them at $10 apiece, and they draw police calls. Clearing the sites would end the trespassing complaints and hand the next developer a site ready to build.
The grocery store should survive any redesign. Comstock’s own filing described the grocer on Block A as something the community “specifically requested.” Every new building around the Wiehle-Reston East station, including EYA’s apartments next door, adds residents who could walk to it.
Block B’s office tower deserves a second look. The 2018 plan put a 14-story office building beside the toll road. Since then, the county has approved Lofts II, replacing office space on Samuel Morse Drive with 158 homes, and is studying housing for several office sites in its West of Wiehle study. Comstock’s Commerce Metro Center proposal south of the station calls for 540 apartments. More homes on Block B would line up with those nearby office-to-housing plans.
The crosswalk and sidewalks should not wait for the buildings. A safe crossing at Wiehle Avenue and Reston Station Boulevard serves people who live at Midline today.
Three signs will show the blocks are moving: a new partner, a demolition permit and crosswalk money
The first is any announcement from JBG Smith of a buyer, a ground lease or its own plan, which would most likely surface in a quarterly report or at the Reston Planning and Zoning Committee. The second is a demolition permit for either building, which would be the first physical step on the Wiehle frontage since 2024. The third is a county decision to fund the Wiehle Avenue crosswalk from its pedestrian program, which would improve the walk to Metro no matter what happens to the buildings.
We will update this post when any of those happen. For more on the area around the station, see our coverage of Comstock’s $299 million refinancing at Reston Station and our guide to living in Reston.
See something missing or wrong? Email us at [email protected] and we will check it and update the post.
