Community Corner

The Ashby Proposes High Density Renovation in Downtown McLean

The developer envisions four new buildings on the same site where the apartment building is currently located on Beverly Drive.

The owner of The Ashby apartment complex in downtown McLean has proposed adding four new buildings on the site and doubling the occupancy of the existing apartment building.

And the McLean Citizens Association's Planning and Zoning committee is having none of it.

Mark Zetts, chairman of the planning and zoning committee, called the proposal to double the number of apartments "insane," telling the developer at a committee meeting on Wednesday evening that the vision won't work in this part of the community.

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"(The proposed density) is insane," Zetts said. "That’s what you get in Tysons. What is the public benefit? There is none."

The Ashby apartment complex is located on Beverly Road in McLean near the intersection of Dolley Madison Boulevard. The building currently consists of 256 apartment units. Washington Real Estate Investment Trust (WRIT Residential), which owns the property, has proposed changing the site's current zoning to accommodate an additional 253 apartment units.

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The developer has also proposed building an underground parking garage, eliminating all surface parking, which currently exists on site today.

One Planning and Zoning committee member called the proposal "too intense."

Sally Horn, president of the McLean Citizens Association, said the developer "needs to go back and rethink your project in its entirety."

"We don’t like it," Horn said. "We’re saying that’s not the vision for McLean."


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