Reston Station Groundbreaking As Work Begins on Reston's 'Sixth Village Center'

And with this hawt shovel-on-trucked-in-earth action, construction officially begins on Reston Station, which Hunter Mill Supervisor Cathy Hudgins called Reston's "sixth village center." But will that village center wind up looking more like Lake Anne or, say, Tall Oaks?

Hudgins, who is also Chair of the Board of Directors of the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, said Reston Station could be considered “Reston’s sixth village center,” alluding to Reston founder Robert E. Simon’s original vision that Reston be built as a walkable community centered around village centers.

“I hope we will measure up to the standards of Robert Simon for people to live, work and play here,” Hudgins said, “This is truly a significant part of Reston’s history, the [Dulles] corridor’s history and Fairfax County’s history. This changes Fairfax County from a bedroom community to a transit-oriented community.”

After years of hand-wringing and discussion, that change is officially here for Reston, as the $91.3 million garage, built as a private-public partnership between Comstock and Fairfax County, will become the foundation for a mixed-use complex with 850 residential units, 550,000 square feet of office space, 120,000 square feet of retail, maybe including that Cheesecake Factory we keep crossing our fingers for, and if the plans are any indication, more fanciful concrete bollards than we can count.

Expectations -- and the stakes -- are high for this project. If Comstock gets it right, Reston Station will set the standard for all the future development to come. If they get it wrong by, say, picking up discarded "public art" on the cheap, that, too, will set the standard for the future development to come. As Comstock CEO Christopher Clemente said yesterday:

“A partnership of this nature can only come about from commitment. We are here today because of the commitment of community leaders. This highlights what can be achieved.”

Here's hoping that commitment to Reston's high standards is upheld by both county leaders and Comstock.

In the meantime, Comstock has a fancy live "web camera" showing the construction on the project's site. Behold the excitement!

It doesn't look like much now, but it will soon enough.

And if you just can't get enough shovel-on-dirt action, please to be enjoying this fancy video from our BFFs at Patch:


You had us at "shovel."