Proposed Downtown Townhouses Add Retail, Garage Space

The developer who has proposed building 49 townhouses on what is now a parking lot on Elm Street has added stores  and increased the size of the parking garage.

The project and the changes dominated  the McLean Planning Committee meeting Wednesday. The Committee  reviews new projects in downtown and make recommendations to Dranesville Supervisor John Foust.

The two major changes in the plans for  6862 Elm St. include: 

• The addition of 6,000 square feet of retail space.   “Six thousand square feet isn’t very much at all." Ghassan Abukurah, of the Planning Committee said.  "J. Gilbert’s (the popular downtown McLean Restaurant) is bigger than that.”

• Increasing the three-story parking garage to 120,000 square feet, up from 100,000.  Jim Peoples, acting chair at Wednesday’s meeting, said this extra parking would go on the roof of the proposed garage, so the building’s footprint would not be expanded. 

The garage which will face Elm Street "will be totally fronted with retail," said Stuart Mendelsohn, the attorney representing EYA , the developer ,when  reached for comment on Thursday morning.

"The only entrance to the garage will be on Fleetwood. On Elm St., we may have some form of sit-down restaurant, a deli in addition, and some other retail.  We want to keep the pedestrian-friendly ambience of McLean,” Mendelsoln said.

The Planning Committee has never liked the townhouse plan. They expressed their "concerns" last summer .  “We don’t agree that one of the most critical areas of the CBC go to another  low density project,”  Peoples said Wednesday.

Mendelsohn said, “When you talk to the neighbors, they don't want higher density because of traffic issues.”  Mendelsohn also noted, “pocket parks and open space” are part of the development plan, as well as “a nice sidewalk or trail through the property in all directions, with a lot of green space.”

The five acre tract is zoned for commercial therefore the townhouse plan needs the approval of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors.

Next step:  EYA , who first proposed the project nearly a year ago, will come back  before the Planning Committee in March.