Photo Pfun: A Look at the Node-Filled Wonderland That Is JBG's Fairway Redevelopment

If you couldn't get enough of our hott air rights renderings, today's your lucky day! Here are schematics of the proposed redevelopment of the Fairway Apartments near Lake Anne, which includes a couple of significant changes since the project was first unveiled last spring. Instead of two 10-story buildings, the plans now call for one 20-story building -- let's call it a mauvescraper -- surrounded by a lot more green space. Look out, Heron House!

The tall building's on the bottom left, surrounded by two mid-rise buildings and a clump of townhomes. The upper right is the second half of the project, which has two more midrise buildings. The parking garages are thoughtfully placed inside the courtyards of the midrise buildings, which is great unless you have windows that look out that way. We're not entirely clear about this whole "node" thing, which sounds like something your ENT would warn you about, or what the two "scenic overlooks" might afford a view of, unless it's middle-aged businessmen playing hooky from work while zipping around on golf carts.

Apparently, the retail space initially proposed for the project is gone as well:

Initially, the builder had proposed a small amount of community-serving retail on the site, but that idea has been dropped due to concerns that new retail services there would compete with Lake Anne Village Center, half a mile away, where businesses are already struggling.

That's actually thoughtful, given recent events. It's also an argument why at least some level of redevelopment will be necessary to keep the parts of Reston we love viable.

We have no idea what these red lines mean. Maybe something about the nodes.

To their credit, JBG has responded to some of the concerns raised by its additional plans. Traffic is still an unknown -- the 940 units represent 594 additional households, once you account for units replaced from the existing Fairway apartments. Capacity at nearby Lake Anne Elementary is also a potential problem. The project goes before the DRB on Jan. 19, before returning to Reston's planning and zoning commission on March 1 and then the county's planning commission on March 18.

This whole process may well serve as a preview of the larger redevelopment projects that are certain to come with the awesome Silver Line. Hopefully other developers will make at least as much of an effort as JBG has to respond to concerns-- at least thus far.