Oh, Goody: Another Plan to Revitalize Lake Anne

So this fancy "picture e-mail" crossed our transom, promising exciting news about "commercial reinvestment" at Lake Anne, courtesy of Fairfax County and two fancy consulting groups. But it doesn't sound like the Cheesecake Factory is going to be crowding out the Farmers Market anytime soon, given that this is just a presentation that "includes an assessment of the current conditions affecting the non-residential uses in the LAVC and provide recommendations, informed by baseline data, public input and best practices to stabilize and sustain current establishments and to attract viable and complementary new non-residential establishments to the LAVC." Um, yay?

This is the first concrete thing to happen since Fairfax County Supervisors approved a redevelopment plan for Lake Anne back in ought-nine. That plan called for as many as 1,655 residential units, 80,000 square feet of retail and 235,000 square feet of office space, precisely 0.0 square feet of which has been built. Blame the ongoing slow-motion collapse of the global economy "market conditions," and of course, the Reston Association, which decided to move its own headquarters to a soon-to-go-bankrupt office park as opposed to Lake Anne as many had urged.

Our BFFs at Patch have already mocked the inscrutable wording of this announcement, but we're hoping that yet another group of consultants doesn't come up with yet another predictable yet vague series of recommendations, like creating a "restaurant row" (it already has one) or a "cluster for startups," as though the next Pets.com is going to have its servers cooled by refreshing lake water. For all the grousing about development and density, this is a spot that could actually use it, as the surrounding area never reached the density Bob Simon originally intended and has struggled to remain commercially viable ever since. Hopefully these recommendations will be a useful first step in making that happen, but who knows.