The first of three towers in a major office-to-residential conversion project has opened in Skyline.
Three Collective, a trio of older, 16-story buildings converted to apartments on the 5000 block of Leesburg Pike, will ultimately lease 675 units with one-, two- and three bedroom configurations. Resident amenities include a large indoor dog park, a bowling alley, a VR gaming lounge and arcade, “social kitchens” and an indoor/outdoor amphitheater, a press release says.
“Three Collective has quickly become the gold standard for office-to-residential conversions,” said Wendi Stallings, principal of the interior design firm Private Label International. “Being part of the team that created such an impactful property was an honor. The strategic offering with the right amenity mix creates a permanent competitive edge. We hope more conversions can follow suit.”
The Fairfax County project is among a growing number of conversion projects in the D.C. area, as work-from-home trends drives office vacancies. While Arlington does not have any adaptive reuse projects in the works right now, county staff are currently studying ways to encourage them, with guidance from the Arlington County Board expected later this year.
“The goal of the adaptive reuse work is to establish a process in Arlington that would allow similar projects to quickly receive land use entitlements in an economically viable way,” county spokesperson Rachel LaPiana told ARLnow. “The County Board may consider a range of projects under the adaptive reuse umbrella.”
Three Collective
While construction at Three Collective has taken several years, beginning in mid-2021, the developer tried to keep demolition “as strategic as possible.”
“When converting the former office buildings into a multifamily live/work community, many of the buildings’ existing components were actually added benefits,” Christina Johnson, creative director of Private Label International, told ARLnow. “It just took creative design and planning.”
A prominent example is sound-muffling materials including “dimensional upholstered walls,” “folded origami materials” and “wrapped walls and screens.” Other notable features are exposed concrete ceilings and floor-to-ceiling windows with views of D.C., Arlington and Old Town Alexandria.
“With Three Collective, we started with an incredible existing infrastructure that afforded us a much larger canvas to paint on in terms of amenity planning and design,” said Matt Perrin, executive vice president of underwriting and asset management at The Wolff Company. “A great deal of time and effort went into contemplating, designing, and curating what is now a market-leading amenity package.”
The design of the project, whose architect is Lessard Design, contrasts with that of the former WeLive project in Crystal City (now Common at National Landing).
The Crystal City project offered discount studio apartments and private rooms in three- and four-bedroom suites, with an emphasis on social living through numerous common areas. Three Collective’s units, by contrast, have more traditional layouts.
Available apartments lease for between $2,205/mo (one bed, one bathroom) and $3,125/mo (two beds, two and a half bathrooms).
The two remaining buildings are expected to open by the third quarter of this year.
Arlington ambitions
In Arlington, high office vacancy rates are driving a push to streamline county policies around office conversions.
“While often referred to as office-to-residential conversions, the adaptive reuse study will consider a broader range of potential new uses, such as hospitality, that may occur in a converted office building,” LaPiana said. “The study will address the post-pandemic, seismic shifts in how buildings are used and explore how economically sustainable urban, mixed-use places are created to meet changing consumer demand and preferences.”
In particular focus are Alexandria and Fairfax’s policies for conversion projects. County staff hope to allow these initiatives “to quickly receive land use entitlements in an economically viable way.”
This is in contrast to the WeWork, completed in 2016, whose approval process “was prolonged and uncertain because there was no clear pathway for approval at the time,” LaPiana said.
The County Board is slated to consider revising zoning and policy around office conversions in the fall.
“County staff are actively discussing adaptive reuse projects in Arlington with interested property owners, however, no plans have been formally submitted,” LaPiana said.
