After years of discussion and hours of public testimony this weekend, the County Board has approved a substantial expansion to Pentagon City’s RiverHouse development.
In a series of 5-0 votes, Board members approved JBG Smith’s proposal to add 132 four-story townhome-style properties as well as two mid-rise multifamily buildings, one of 102 units and the second of 509, at the 36-acre RiverHouse site along Army Navy Drive and S. Joyce Street.
Subsequent phases of the development plan are expected to add more than 2,000 additional multifamily units spread across four buildings.
Getting to approval has represented “years and years, years and years and years” of effort, Board member Maureen Coffey said on Saturday.
“It really has taken a lot out of staff and the community,” Coffey acknowledged.
Her remarks came at the tail end of five hours of deliberation and public testimony about the future of the RiverHouse parcel, which is currently home to three apartment buildings with a total of 1,676 units.
If the entire expansion project is approved and completed, the current 1.61 million square feet of development would nearly triple to 4.43 million square feet. Most of it will be housing, with a small amount of retail space and a VHC Health clinic also part of the plan.
Though criticized by some in the community as too much density, Board members said the expansion aligns with goals of the county’s 2024 Pentagon City Sector Plan.
“We have to stay honest and true” to those goals, said Board member Julius “JD” Spain, Sr. “Significantly scaling back in any type of housing, especially near transit, has severe consequences.”
Board members did make some tweaks to the proposal before them, largely in terms of open space and the transportation network around the parcel.
Board Chair Takis Karantonis said the new plan represents changes in the county’s planning principles since the property was developed more than six decades ago.
“We have evolved a lot,” he said, saying the new development would “retrofit what wasn’t done well” when the original project was approved in the 1960s.
Among those who turned out to support the proposal was Jeffrey Williams, who has lived at RiverHouse for three decades. He applauded the plan.
“Replacing outdated surface parking with dense housing near Metro and bus routes will help Arlington achieve walkable, livable density,” Williams said.
The plan “will provide different types of homes for all kinds of families,” he added.
David Ozgo, who like Williams has lived in the Pentagon City area for three decades, said he supports new development on the site, but not to the extent being proposed.
He predicted the Pentagon City community “ends up being a net loser” in the proposal, and that concerns of residents are “being completely ignored.”
Ozgo noted that JBG Smith’s original redevelopment proposal had been far less intense, and said that county staff strong-armed the developer into incorporating more housing.
“This is not driven by the residents,” he said.
A more recently arrived neighbor of the site, Margaret Curran, spoke in favor of the plan.
“Density here may be an adjustment for a few of my neighbors,” said Curran, who owns a unit at Horizon House condominiums on Army Navy Drive. “But we have an obligation to promote the development of housing in Metro-accessible Arlington.”
Karantonis acknowledged that the addition of so much housing could cause strains on infrastructure in the National Landing area, but said issues like new schools and a local library would be taken up in due course.
“We’re not at all done,” he said.
Anne Bodine, who represented the advocacy group Arlingtonians for Our Sustainable Future at the meeting, said residents were being asked to rely on promises that may or may not materialize.
“We’d like to see the county not approve this until these other key infrastructure services issues are addressed,” she said.
As the series of votes was unfolding, Coffey noted the impact of RiverHouse on the lives of Arlingtonians over more than 60 years.
“This is a monumental site. Everyone has lived there, had a friend who’s lived there, dated someone who lived there — everyone ends up there at some point in time,” she said.
In the final analysis, Coffey said moving forward with major upzoning for the parcel was the right outcome.
“This is a big deal, and we deserve to be proud of ourselves on the progress we are making on housing,” she said.
