Akridge Partnering On Next Phase Of The Boro In Tysons
As plans to expand Tysons mixed-use development The Boro move forward, one of the D.C.-area's largest local development firms is joining the team.
Akridge is partnering with The Meridian Group on a mixed-use project with up to 550 multifamily units and 45K SF of retail as part of The Boro's next phase, according to a zoning application filed last week with Fairfax County.
Walsh, Colucci Senior Land-Use Planner Elizabeth Baker, who is representing the development team in the zoning process, confirmed Akridge's involvement with the project. Akridge and The Meridian Group declined to comment.
The new plans, which list Akridge as the applicant, describe the project as an extension of The Boro on a 5-acre site at 8400 Westpark Drive. Meridian Group paid $33.7M in January 2019 to buy that property, formerly home to the National Automobile Dealers Association.
The Meridian Group filed an initial rezoning application for the expansion in May, calling for roughly 1M SF of multifamily, senior living and retail development. The latest filing, a Final Development Plan application, provides greater detail on the plans for two multifamily buildings.
The two buildings, Building I and Building K, would each reach up to 90 feet in height. Building I is planned for up to 130 multifamily units, which the application notes will likely be for-sale condos, and 25K SF of retail. Building K would have up to 430 residential units and 20K SF of retail. SK+I Architecture designed the project.
The majority of the retail space will front Boro Place, the main retail corridor in The Boro development that will be extended across Westpark Drive as part of the next phase. The project's location across Westpark Drive is farther away from the Greensboro Metro station than the existing Boro development.
"The Boro itself is a much more dense development," Baker said. "Building I and K are going to be podium, stick-built product. There will be a gradation of density away from the Metro station."
The developer plans to include 93 workforce dwelling units in the two buildings. The plans also include public green space, underground parking for cars and bikes, and a five-story bridge over Boro Place connecting the two wings of Building K.
"The signature moment of the project is the five-story glass bridge connecting K North and K South," Baker wrote in the application. "Spanning the end of Boro Place, this bridge provides the terminated vista to the entire Boro development."
The next phase of The Boro also includes a building from Silverstone Senior Living with 200 senior living units and 53K SF for memory care and assisted living services. The Final Development Plan application for that building was filed in September.
The 1.7M SF first phase of The Boro delivered in 2019. It includes a 25-story condo building and apartment buildings reaching 32 and 13 floors. It also features a 20-story trophy office tower, a five-story boutique office building and 250K SF of retail anchored by a Whole Foods and a ShowPlace ICON movie theater.
The Meridian Group had multiple big-name development partners for the first phase. Kettler partnered on the multifamily buildings, and Rockefeller Group partnered on the 20-story office building, Boro Tower.
Akridge, a major developer of office, multifamily and mixed-use projects in the region, also has a 250K SF office building planned in Tysons. The developer last year delivered a 480-unit apartment building with 70K SF of retail in D.C.'s Buzzard Point neighborhood.
