A revised proposal for a 23-story Ballston redevelopment project calls for fewer total units in an unusual mix of apartments and condos.
Aria Development Group, which owns the site at 4420 Fairfax Drive, now proposes to build 59 condominium units and 182 apartments at the site of a five-story office building — down substantially from an earlier proposal to build just over 300 units.
Both options call for about 4,400 square feet of ground-floor retail and an overall floor-area ratio of about 9.19.
The developer is seeking County Board site-plan approval first, then will determine which alternative to pursue.
“We would like flexibility down the line,” said Jon Kardon, managing director of development of Aria, at an April 23 meeting of the site-plan review committee (SPRC) evaluating the proposal. “We would be thrilled to build this [new option], if we could finance it. We see a unique opportunity.”
Financing is likely to be the key sticking point in getting either alternative beyond the planning stage, Kardon said.
“It is a very difficult market to finance any residential development project at this time, whether rental or condo — especially for high-rise construction, which is more expensive to build,” he said.
Under the revised plans, the second to 10th floors would remain apartments. Floors 11 to 21 typically would have five condo units per floor, with the 22nd floor having four larger condo units. The penthouse level would provide a roof deck and other resident amenities.
SPRC members looked at the initial submission in February. In addition to the potential change in types of units since that meeting, there have been alterations made to landscaping plans, the facade and sidewalk plans along Fairfax Drive.
Kardon said that if the condo/apartment hybrid was approved, there would be separate entrances for each.
At the April 23 meeting, a number of residents living nearby raised concerns about the proposal to allow construction to take place until 9 p.m. daily.
Going so late “will certainly affect my well-being,” said Sol Febus, who lives in a nearby condominium building.
A number of SPRC members also zeroed in on potential complexities if residents of rental and for-sale units share a single building.
“In 30-odd years in residential real estate, I haven’t seen this much, the mix of the two,” said Denyse “Nia” Bagley, who chairs the Planning Commission and is a member of the SPRC.
The model is rare but “not unprecedented,” said county planner Peter Schulz.
He could not point to any buildings in Arlington that share for-sale and rental units, but did note two — Waterview and Altavista — where condominium and hotel uses coexist within the same building skeleton.
Aria representatives said the likely scenario would be to have the entire building placed in a condominium association, with the owner of the apartment portion having representation on its board.
The existing office building at 4420 Fairfax Drive was built in the early 1960s, with an addition in the 1980s, according to county property records.
Aria purchased the site for $11.5 million in 2023. That’s about half the previous sales price of $21.8 million in 2015, back before Arlington’s office market cratered.
Randy Painter, representing the Ballston-Virginia Square Civic Association on the SPRC, said housing of any kind could be a good fit with the location.
“We’re interested in having more home ownership and exploring how to make that happen,” he said.
“It’s probably a good thing, with the caveat that you’ve got to sort out all these issues” about mixing rental and ownership units, Painter said.
The April 23 meeting was the last crack at the project for the SPRC. The current timeline calls for the proposal to reach the Planning Commission and County Board in July.
In 2019, Washington Capitol Partners, Kettler Development and Bognet Construction proposed a project on the site with 237 apartments plus about 9,200 square feet of retail space. Those plans stalled and then never moved forward.
Aria’s proposed building would occupy a prime position adjacent to the planned and fully funded western entrance to the Ballston-MU Metro station, to be located at the intersection of Fairfax Drive and N. Vermont Street.
Plans call for two street-level elevators and stairs connecting to an underground passageway, along with a new mezzanine with stairs and elevators down to the train platform.
The transit-related project is being undertaken by the county government in collaboration with the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) and adjacent property owners. When completed, the facility will be owned and operated by WMATA.
