Rail Funds Reinvigorate Developers In Loudoun

Fresh off the federal government's recent agreement to fund the first phase of Dulles rail, developers in Loudoun County have revived long-dormant plans for hotels, convention centers, shops and housing on property that surrounds the future Metro stops.

Unlike the planned stops in Tysons Corner, Loudoun has no major commercial developments near its three proposed Silver Line stations. As a result, Loudoun, which is the largest Washington area jurisdiction without a major interstate highway or commuter rail line, is exploring what to do -- and how it might prosper -- from its "gateway" transit locations.

"These are not any old locations. They are highly visible and are going to be really important to the county and its taxpayers," said Patricia Nicoson, president of the Dulles Corridor Rail Association, a nonprofit group that supports rail to Dulles. "They should capitalize on it."

Suddenly, a county that was once among the fastest-growing in the nation but was hit hard by the economic downturn is dreaming again about new construction.

One Northern Virginia developer is urging Loudoun officials to move a proposed Metro stop on Route 606 in Ashburn a few miles northwest, away from the median of the Dulles Toll Road and next to a planned hotel and convention center.

"The station, as it is right now, is too deep into the interchange. It ought to be able to be walked to," said H. Chris Antigone, owner of Dulles Gateway Associates LLC, which bought 260 acres next to the property being used for the station nearly 25 years ago. "It's a tremendous asset, and we have a great many ideas for it."

Dulles International Airport officials have begun to ponder what they might build "to support airport operations" on a piece of land north of the Metro stop. Similar discussions are in the works for a station at Route 772, at the end of the 23-mile extension, and at Route 28, on the border of Fairfax and Loudoun counties.

Two mostly condominium and rental apartment developments, tentatively called Loudoun Station and Moorefield Station, are planned for land near the Metro stop at Route 772. They include a small amount of commercial development.

And at the Route 28 station, officials are debating how to proceed with three proposed developments, including one slated for 75 acres of prime real estate, called the Dulles World Center. The land, owned by Jordanian businessman Samir Kawar, was once part of a package to bring Major League Baseball to Northern Virginia and, if built upon, would consist of 5.5 million square feet of townhouses, multifamily homes, hotels, retail shops and office space.

The money that came with the recent agreement will finance only the first phase of the Silver Line to Reston. But the federal approval was enough to energize county planners and developers, said Loudoun County Planning Director Julie Pastor.

"I think everyone is excited because they can say, 'Hey, rail is coming,' " Pastor said. "I think we feel like it's real now."

Pastor said she has seen documents for potential developments near the Metro stops dating to the early 1990s. At the Route 772 stop, the potential for residential and commercial construction is big, she said, and officials are debating whether a pedestrian bridge above the toll road should be built there.

The Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority has indicated that it would like construction to begin on some of the stations by the end of this year. As proposed, the Silver Line's Dulles corridor stations would be completed by December 2015.

Loudoun officials are eager to duplicate the commercial successes of Arlington County, which saw a largely walkable residential and retail core sprout along five Metro stops stretching from Rosslyn to Ballston. Real estate taxes from the three-mile corridor generate one-third of the county's property tax revenue.

Peter Jobse, president and chief executive of the Herndon-based Center for Innovative Technology, a state-funded center created to develop Virginia's technology economy, said that although most of the proposals are still conceptual, federal funding for the first leg of the rail extension had made many long-dormant plans "more realistic."

"It is the time to plan, not to put shovels in the ground," said Jobse, whose nonprofit firm has proposed building millions of square feet of retail, office and hotel space surrounding its headquarters on Innovation Drive near the Route 28 Metro stop.