Flashbacks:
The RNGC Caddyshackpocalypse
Bollards!
During a public hearing earlier this week, the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors formally approved the awesome Excelsior project, which would add 457 residential units and 820 parking spaces in two new residential buildings to be built on the Oracle campus along Sunset Hills Road.
County staff had originally recommended that the project be denied, but the developer worked with the county to address concerns about the lack of detail in the original architectural designs, which as you can see above are far more clear than the original fancy renderings.
Under the new plan filed by the developer, the two residential buildings would be no more than 15 stories high -- let's call them midrise mauvescrapers. The new plan also includes some traffic management features (including putting some of those fancy countdown timers on nearby pedestrian crossings -- problem solved!), and an increase in workforce housing, which will now make up nearly 10 percent of all residential units. They're also going to add 10 short-term bicycle parking spaces and 44 long-term bike spaces in the parking garage (cough cough creeping socialism).
All joking aside, the county planning commissioners pointed out that the project is well-situated, within walking distance of Plaza America and its myriad craft opportunities, as well as the Fake Downtown and the future Reston Parkway/Targetville Metro station. It is also served by buses and whatnot, so it's in a good spot for this type of development.
And because we love us the random architectural details submitted with these plans, there's this:
What is it exactly? A giant ant farm? A watchtower staffed by goblins?
And lookit, a ditch, or maybe this is one of the "passive recreation amenities" the plan keeps going on about. Just the kind of "world-class architecture" that Reston needs, the end.
I think it's a watchtower staffed by goblins. If you read the fine print, you see it says "GONGHNYE BLOBLINE POLIE 2F LAGIK YA" and so forth, which is obviously Goblinese.
ReplyDeleteI believe Figure 2 is a depiction of the "world class" Excelsior wings that all residents of the new structures will be required to use to get to the Fake Downtown.
ReplyDeleteRestonian and Anon 2:01, you're both wrong. It's Twin Tower babitrails.
ReplyDeleteHere's what I don't get. Why does the developer want to build this right now? Of course the developer isn't going to care about traffic or infrastructure. That's someone else's problem to them. What is their problem is being able to sell all this housing. With a glut of housing on the market, selling all this housing will be difficult to say the least.
ReplyDeleteIn spite of the housing problems throughout the rest of the US, the housing market in No Va is still very strong. Housing market problems in Reston are anything like the housing market problems in Phoenix, Az or Stockton, Ca. So, I don't think that these units will be snapped up on spec, but they will sell as long as the seller isn't a total greedhead.
ReplyDeleteLooks to me like it will match perfectly with that lovely work on the corner of the toll road and sunset hills -- who's there now? Northup Grumman?
ReplyDeleteLovely, just lovely!
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