Fairfax County supervisors on Jan. 25 unanimously authorized the Fairfax County Redevelopment and Housing Authority (FCRHA) to use funding of $33,051,534 to finance development of the planned 175-unit Dominion Square West Phase 1 affordable-housing development in Tysons.
The development “will be a significant and positive step forward in providing affordable housing for working families close to Metrorail,” said Supervisor Walter Alcorn (D-Hunter Mill). “This important project will provide much-needed housing for families and individuals working in Tysons and at locations all along the Silver Line and beyond.”
The Fairfax County Planning Commission on Jan. 12 unanimously approved the project’s final development plan, which was advanced by the Arlington Partnership for Affordable Housing (APAH).
The development will be located on a 2-acre parcel at 1592 Spring Hill Road, about 1,000 feet west of Leesburg Pike. APAH will construct a 175,000-square-foot, nine-story building with up to 5,000 square feet of retail space. The structure will be located above a three-level, partially below-grade parking garage with 175 spaces.
The project will feature common areas and amenities for residents, including community rooms, leasing and resident-services offices, and outdoor landscaped areas, county officials said.
The parcel, which is part of the larger Dominion Square West development, is located within a quarter-mile of the Spring Hill Metro station.
The project will include 35 one-bedroom, 105 two-bedroom and 35 three-bedroom units. All of the units will be affordable housing and made available to those making 60 percent or less of area median income (AMI).
Many units will be slated for people earning 50 percent or less of AMI and some will be set aside for those making 30 percent of that income level, said Scott Adams, a representative of the applicant, told the Planning Commission.
A substantial portion of the units will have two or three bedrooms. Such larger units generate the highest demand in affordable housing, said Mitch Crispell, director of real-estate development for APAH.
APAH bought the property for just under $21 million in the spring of 2021. Under an agreement made last July, APAH will assign the property’s title to FCRHA.
The county agency will finance the property’s purchase price using $10 million from its Moving to Work/Housing Choice Voucher Reserve Fund and $10.97 million in American Rescue Plan Act funds. FCRHA also will lend APAH $22,081,534 to build the project.
Founded in 1989, APAH has 18 properties with a total of 1,813 units worth more than $350 million. The group now has 800 units either being built or under development in the metro area.
The Dominion Square West affordable-housing project will be the first to use funds proffered to the county by developers under the Tysons Comprehensive Plan, which supervisors approved in 2010, Alcorn said.
“I look forward to the life-changing impact that these homes will have on working families’ succeeding and thriving,” he said.