A proposed 845-unit redevelopment project in Rosslyn has won the support of the Arlington Transportation Commission.
The commission voted 11-0 in support of the project on a 2.3-acre site at 1901 and 1911 Fort Myer Drive, near Gateway Park.
The proposal by Penzance would prove “pretty transformational,” said commission member Sohail Husain, who served on the site-plan review committee that vetted the project.
The project would breathe life into a neighborhood sometimes seen as sterile and listless, he said at a June 30 meeting.
Rosslyn “always seemed to me like a thruway, a connection between D.C. and the county. It never felt like a true neighborhood,” Husain said.
However, commission members seemed to agree with staff that it would be unwise for the project to include a new skywalk over eastbound Langston Blvd — despite the advocacy of some community members.
Penzance plans to demolish existing office buildings on the two parcels and replace them with just under 960,000 square feet of living space plus about 14,500 square feet of ground-floor retail.
The site is bounded by Langston Blvd and Gateway Park to the north, N. Moore Street to the east, 19th Street N. to the south and Fort Myer Drive to the west. The current proposal includes the following buildings.
- A 23-story condominium building with 73 units on the northeast portion of the site
- A 27-story apartment building with 311 units on the northwest portion
- A 29-story apartment building with 461 units on the south of the parcel
Commission members sought clarification on various transportation- and transit-related concerns, including efforts to mitigate dangers to pedestrians and bicyclists.
“There’s still some opportunity here … to really improve and enhance the level of pedestrian safety,” Husain said.
Still, the project is not on track to replace an existing skywalk spanning eastbound Langston Blvd.
Robert Gibson, a planner with the Department of Environmental Services, said an above-ground crossing for pedestrians and bicyclists would only serve a small number of people at a “very substantial cost.”
Asked for anything more specific on costs, Gibson had nothing to offer.
“We don’t have estimates yet. We’re working on that,” he said.
Skybridges were a familiar sight in Rosslyn from the 1960s to the 2010s, but have fallen out of favor with urban planners. Most in the corridor have been dismantled, and the development plan now under consideration calls for removing the remaining one.
“They just were not working out,” said Gibson, who said a better approach is to “reposition the ground-level environment to make [it] more friendly to pedestrians.”
Adam Theo, a member of the Transportation Commission, agreed. Adding a new skybridge “does not solve the problem” of pedestrian and bicyclist safety, he said.
A proposal for a new skywalk has support from the North Highlands Citizens’ Association and some safety advocates. Among opponents is the North Rosslyn Civic Association.
Supporters and opponents of the skybridge concept have two more bites at the apple, with Planning Commission consideration set for Wednesday and County Board action planned for either Saturday, July 19 or Tuesday, July 22.
Last month, County Board members voted to extend previously approved site-plan amendments for the site, which dated to 2012 and had been slated to expire at the end of June.
Penzance does not plan to build the project based on those amended plans, but having them extended for three years makes it easier for the developer to swap the new proposal for the old one. Had the site plan expired, the county government’s consideration of the plan may have had to start from scratch.
