The new owner of Civic Place promised to furrow $1 million and 10,000 red and yellow tulip bulbs in McLean after the McLean Planning Committee last week blessed his request that the mixed-use project shift its focus from commercial office space to residential development.
Jan Zachariasse, who recently closed a $5 million deal to purchase the Civic Place property from owner George Kontzias, and Russ Rosenberger, president of Madison Homes, want to change the mix on the north side of the Civic Place development, finishing it out with four floors of residential and one of office space, instead of four floors of commercial office space.
The ground floor would still be used for about 18,000 square feet of retail space, under their proposal.
Although the change could cause the proffered conditions at Civic Place to be renegotiated, the 16 members of the MPC voted unanimous endorsements, both for the “concept” of the plan and for the suggestion that the $1 million be applied to the cost of acquiring and building a parking garage to support the “Main Street” that is proposed to parallel Old Dominion Drive from a public plaza on Beverly Road south to a park at Lowell Avenue. Madison Homes would put forth the $1 million as a cash proffer.
“Our principal interest in McLean Civic Place from day one was in the residential development,” said Russ Rosenberger, president of Madison Homes. “We think the project could be better with a higher residential mix that would put more people living in the downtown area.
Because time is short before the project is submitted for final permits and approvals, Rosenberger said he wanted to first gauge the reaction from the MPC. “We have to go back to our lender and convince our lender” that the new plan will work better, he said.
Under PDC, or “planned development commercial” zoning, Madison was originally approved for 70 units but dropped the number to 59 larger units in response to market demand.
The change back to 70 large units would increase the floor area ratio of the new project from 1.57 to 1.63. A higher the FAR generally establishes greater potential for profit in commercial construction.
“Parking is an issue that would have to be addressed,” he said. Although residential construction generally requires fewer parking spaces, the commercial spaces that would have been used during the day at Civic Place were to have been available for restaurants and residents at night, when the office workers went home.
Jim Peoples, who chairs the MPC’s subcommittee on Civic Place,
said he and MPC President Shirley Elliott met with the developer at Mendelsohn’s office the week before the MPC was to meet.
They explained that commercial development at the Civic Place site was less desirable than residential and, possibly, not viable.
He said Montgomery proposed a $1 million escrow fund to be established with the McLean Revitalization Corporation, the business entity established to support revitalization.
The money would be applied to a potential parking garage to facilitate the Main Street concept.
Peoples acknowledged that “people have worked long and hard” to develop the existing concept for Civic Place and that the changes would have a “substantial impact.”
AT THE SAME TIME, he said, “$1 million is a hell of a lot of money for some of us. We believe it’s in good faith that the developers” offer the money to be used for parking.
People said the shift from commercial to residential recognizes that “the residential market is red hot. [Madison] would prefer to address that market,” he said. Madison Homes specializes in quality residential construction, rather than commercial.
“If we do away with the commercial, we get a million bucks,” said Peoples.
“If somebody is willing to pay $1 million to not build an office, that’s an indication that office is not viable,” said Jack Wilbern of the McLean Revitalization Corporation.
“Madison needs some sort of assurance that this is a reasonable thing to do,” Peoples said, asking for a show of hands to indicate “Is the concept worth considering?”
Greg Lakin, one of the McLean Citizens Association’s representative to the MPC, asked for more time for discussion.
“The issues around the proffers are troubling,” he said. “By opening this back up, Civic Place is indicating it wants to renegotiate ... and re-air issues that had already been put together,” Lakin said.
“Madison needs at least a reasonable assurance that this is something we’d be willing to consider,” said Peoples. “If we’re going to turn them down flat, they’re not even going to go to their lender.”
“Residential vs. commercial is a simple issue. It does reduce traffic quite a bit,” said Maya Huber, another of the MCA’s representatives to MPC.
THE MPC VOTED unanimously in favor of both suggestions, changing the mix from office to residential, and devoting the $1 million proffer to develop parking that would free up the Giant parking lot for construction of Main Street.
Listening to the discussion in the back of the room were
Zachariasse, president of Waterford Development in Reston; Michael
Vardell, vice president of Clark Real Estate Advisors; Montgomery, introduced as a principal owner of the Giant site;
Dranesville District Supervisor Stuart Mendelsohn, Dranesville
Planning Commissioner Joan DuBois, McLean Citizens
Association President John Foust, McLean Revitalization Corporation
Director George Lilly, and Wilbern.
The revitalization of downtown McLean was an initiative of
Mendelsohn’s in 1997, his second year in office. Now in his
seventh year, he is subject to re-election next year.
“I came here to listen,” he said, acknowledging that the MPC had to decide if the substitution of residential for commercial property was acceptable.
“Is it an opportunity, albeit a short decision time frame, to make Main Street happen?” he said. “I am excited about the potential for realizing Main Street.”
After the vote, Montgomery said it was the first time he had attended an MPC meeting.
“It was not what I expected,” he said. “I was concerned it would get tied up, and wrapped around, and go nowhere. [But] you grasped the idea very quickly,” he told the MPC members. “You were thoughtful and interested. I am very impressed.”
He said the $1 million contribution could be “a way for us to develop a pot of money to start the progress you are looking for.”
“It is this kind of out-of-the-box thinking that is going to get us down the road,” said Peoples.
AFTER MPC MEMBERS applauded for Montgomery, Mendelsohn said “It is a breath of fresh air. The only way we are going to see any of this happen is through private investment. I am excited. We may look back on tonight as a turning point in the development of McLean,” Mendelsohn said.
Zachariasse, a native of The Netherlands, said his firm recently started work on a building in Falls Church, with retail on the ground level and 80 residences above it. He said 5,000 Dutch tulip bulbs were freshly flown from Holland to be planted in Falls Church.
“I know how hard you guys worked to get to this point,” he said.
“We came in at the last minute and pushed really hard” for the deal he proposed.
“We have seen that McLean has the same interest in interest in improving the downtown as Falls Church,” he said.
And Zachariasse said he will contribute twice as many tulip bulbs to downtown McLean.
They will be red, he said. “It’s the color of love between the city and the developer,” Zachariasse said.
The change in Madison’s proffer would have to be considered soon by the Planning Commission. The site plan has been approved and permits will be issued soon for construction.
residential sales are scheduled to begin in June.
“I would defer to the McLean Planning Committee,” in reaching her decision, Dubois said.
“I’d like to get the McLean Revitalization Corporation to weigh in, too. Whenever you reopen a case, if you are back in for a development plan amendment or a proffered condition amendment, everything is on the table,” she said.