Five hundred new parking spaces at the Huntington Metrorail will become a reality soon.
The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority Board approved a joint development agreement last week for the new spaces. The agreement was an amendment to a previous agreement that allows Metro to borrow funds from the Transit Infrastructure Investment Fund, which was created to reinvest joint development revenues into Metro programs, and use parking surcharge proceeds to help fund the replacement parking garage.
Under the sale agreement, Stout & Teague/Clark Realty Capital will develop the property as townhouses and other units ranging from approximately four to 14 stories.
The site includes approximately 31.5 acres which is currently used for a Metro-operated 924-space surface parking lot, a Metro Transit Police District Station, and the 10-acre Mount Eagle Park, which is leased by Metro to the Fairfax County Park Authority.
Plans call for 12 acres of the property to be conveyed by the developer to Fairfax County for continued use as Mount Eagle Park. Another 14.5 acres will be developed by Stout & Teague/Clark Realty Capital as townhouses and low-rise units. About 2.5 acres, which will be retained by Metro and leased to the developers, will be developed with 250,000 square feet of office space and 25,000 square feet of retail space. The Transit Police District Station will remain on-site within the leased property. The remaining 2.5 acres contain Metro-related roadways, an existing access easement for the adjacent Montebello condominiums, and a proposed plaza at the entrance to the site.
"This project is a good example of transit oriented development in an area that meets the vision we have outlined in the Fairfax County Comprehensive Plan," said Metro Board member and Lee District Supervisor, Dana Kauffman. "This project also exemplifies the tremendous success we have enjoyed in our Joint Development Program over the past 26 years."