Boston Properties Pitches More Office in NoVa

Boston Properties wants to substantially increase the amount of new office space envisioned in the next phase of Reston Town Center in Reston, Va., despite “significant contraction” in the market’s office class.

The firm didn’t comment specifically about the phase, but in April said the scale of Reston Town Center’s retail offerings, its suburban location near where the tech-heavy tenant base’s employees want to live, and ample tenant parking in lieu of commuter parking can help office space thrive.

The public transportation Metro system is directly across Sunset Hills Road from the Reston Town Center Metro station, but the firm said flagging ridership is not a primary factor in this decision.

Redeveloping 1980s-era buildings

The company this week has proposed redeveloping two 1980s-era buildings and a surface parking on about a dozen acres with five new buildings totaling about 2.1 million square feet, according to application documents filed with Fairfax County.

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The application calls for 930,000 square feet of new office space, up 45 percent from the 643,000 square feet previously approved. That’s “a unique proposal in Fairfax County during a time when the office market is undergoing significant contractions,” according to one of the filings.

Reston Town Center has shown to be a relative success as an office hub. CBRE reports overall office vacancy in Reston at 26.9 percent while Reston Town Center was 96 percent leased as of March 31, according to The Washington Business Journal’s Dan Brendel.

The company intends to reduce the restaurant, retail, hotel and residential uses in the second phase by about 371,000 square feet, or 23 percent and 310,000 square feet of previously approved hotel have been removed from earlier approved plans.

First expansion since 2018

Dubbed Reston Next, the major expansion of Reston Town Center received its most recent approval in 2018. The first phase is nearly complete and includes two trophy offices, a hotel and a multifamily building.

On the southern part the property near the Metro station, two office-over-retail buildings of 529,000 square feet and 409,000 square feet, respectively, are shown on its site drawings.

The northern part would feature three residential towers, two with ground-floor retail, together comprising nearly 1,100 units across 1.2 million square feet. A park, some small retail buildings and a central open space with options for commercial, retail and/or civic uses would sit in the middle.