A major office building in Ballston may be next in line for conversion to residential use.
Property owner Red Fox DC LLC is expected to come to the County Board later this month, seeking approval to convert a 13-story office building at 4100 Fairfax Drive — above Bronson Bierhall — to 296 residential units.
The proposal has the support of county staff, who see it as part of ongoing efforts to replace outdated commercial properties with housing. It will be considered at a County Board meeting on either Saturday, Oct. 18 or Tuesday, Oct. 21.
While the building footprint would not be altered, it would increase in height from the current 170 feet to 185 with the addition of a rooftop amenity space that would include a pool. The site’s current zoning allows for a maximum height of 216 feet.
Not all of the commercial tenants would be required to vacate immediately. The proposal currently under review would give the property owner the option of allowing some to stay as late as 2029, most likely to fulfill leasing agreements.
Ground-floor retail spaces and the 441 underground parking spaces would not be affected by the change. The property owner plans to create parking facilities for more than 100 bicycles.
The office building was constructed in 2000 as part of a redevelopment on the block bounded by Fairfax Drive, 9th Street N., N. Stafford Street and N. Randolph Street, adjacent to the Ballston Metro station.
Development of that block also included construction of the Richmond Square Apartments. Part of the plan called for the existing IHOP restaurant to be replaced with an office building, but that has not yet occurred.
The office building at 4100 Fairfax Drive is among those significantly impacted by the Covid pandemic and a changing employment environment.
The parcel’s value was assessed at nearly $104.4 million in 2019, but had fallen to $62.1 million this year. Office-building assessments largely are calculated by the amount of tenant income produced.
County Board members approved three office-conversion projects — two in Crystal City and one in Virginia Square — in July. Two of the aging office buildings will become multifamily residential, the third a hotel.
The actions had the net effect of reducing Arlington’s office-vacancy rate by more than a full percentage point, county leaders said at the time.
The county’s moves to support adaptive-reuse conversions largely won support from County Board candidates at a recent forum hosted by Arlingtonians for Our Sustainable Future.
