A surface parking lot in Fairfax City’s Northfax area will be replaced by the N29 Apartments – a seven-story, mixed-use building with up to 260 units and some 5,000 square feet of ground-floor retail. On a nearly-3-acre site at 10306 Eaton Place, this project also includes a 10-level parking garage to the rear of the building, with one level below grade.

The parcel is in the WillowWood Plaza Office Center and is one of two there owned by Capital City Real Estate LLC. The adjacent, 1.5-acre parcel – also slated for a similar redevelopment – is at 10300 Eaton Place and is planned to eventually become phase II of a project there. Meanwhile, phase I – the N29 Apartments – was recently approved by Fairfax City Council. 

“It’s currently 89.8 percent impervious surface,” said Capital City’s Chris Love. “We’re replacing the parking lot with lower-impact uses. There are office and commercial uses in that area already, but what’s missing there is residential. Our residents will be able to hike on the George Snyder Trail, and we’re also on the CUE bus line. We’ll have a courtyard with a pool, and about a third of the site will be open space.”

During the public hearing prior to Council’s approval, the City’s senior planner, Albert Frederick, presented details of the plan. He said the retail uses would front on Eaton Place and the building would border a future, linear park there. He also noted several requests from the applicant.

The land is currently zoned commercial retail (CR) but would need to be rezoned to commercial urban (CU) to align with the City’s vision for that area. The applicant also sought a special-use permit to allow an upper story, residential/mixed use building in the CU district. And it sought several special exceptions so it could:

* Reduce the amount of nonresidential uses on the ground floor from 75 percent (almost 30,500 square feet) to just 5,000 square feet;

* Allow the maximum density to exceed 24 dwelling units/acre, (applicant proposed 87.8 dwelling units/acre); 

* Allow the building height to exceed five stories/60 feet;

* Vary from the maximum front-yard and side-yard setback requirements; and

* Reduce the amount of tree canopy required on the site from 10 to 6 percent. 

IN EXCHANGE for all those concessions, the applicant proffered a contribution of $97,760 – $376 per home – to the City’s Parks and Recreation, and it will also give $21,860 in lieu of the tree-canopy coverage. It’ll also contribute $390,000 – $1,500 per home – to the City schools, and it’ll provide public ingress/egress easements for all private streets, accessways and adjacent sidewalks.

Other significant elements of this project will be the installation of a stormwater-improvement system for that site, as well as the inclusion of 16 affordable dwelling units (ADUs) within the apartment building. 

“It’s been a journey to get here,” said attorney Evan Pritchard, representing the applicant. “And we’re proud to have City staff’s support and input on this project.”

Love said Capital City was actively working on finding businesses to lease the building’s commercial-retail space. “There’ll be a pocket park adjacent to the garage,” he added. “And we’ll also have some outdoor, café seating. We’ll replace 46 trees on site – 13 of which aren’t in good condition – with 50 canopy trees. And we’ll plant 10 different species of trees.”

Douglas Stewart, with Fairfax City-based Citizens for Smarter Growth, said the organization met with Capital City a few times and, overall, is pleased with what’s planned. “We think it’s a great idea creating a more pedestrian-friendly environment, and it’s better than what’s there now,” he said. “But could more retail be added in the future? In general, this application is a really good step forward.”

Councilmember Billy Bates said he was happy with the tree-canopy proposal and the application as a whole. “It’s important to acknowledge that this project will be a major improvement for stormwater management,” he said. “It’s also adjacent to multimodal infrastructure and will have a very small impact on land consumption. It’s good for environmental sustainability and the housing supply, including the ADUs. And it’s close to a grocery store and other retail uses.”

“To me, the future linear park is vital to what happens in Northfax,” said Councilmember Tom Ross. “What will you do to help facilitate that?”

“We’ll add a greater streetscape to University Drive where it crosses Eaton Place,” replied Love. “And we’re providing a road to [that park].”

“And outdoor seating will contribute to street life and walkability [in that area],” added Ross. “I’m looking forward to supporting this.”

However, Councilmember Jeff Greenfield worried that all those new residents in the apartment building could adversely affect local traffic. The applicant estimates an increase of 1,503 daily vehicle trips at buildout. So, noting the current afternoon traffic backups on Eaton Place, Greenfield asked what will be done about it.

“We’ll be encouraging our residents to bike, walk, share rides and use public transportation,” answered Pritchard. Furthermore, Fairfax City traffic engineer Curt McCullough said the City’s own Eaton Place/Route 123 transportation project will result in traffic improvements at that intersection.

Council then approved this project, 4-1, with Bates, Ross, So Lim and Jon Stehle voting yes and Greenfield the lone dissenter. Not present that night was Councilmember Kate Doyle Feingold.

Phase II Proposal

The current plan proposed, but not yet approved, for phase II would occur on the nearby 1.5-acre site and would consist of 64, four-story, two-over-two condos with two parking spaces each, for a total of 128 spaces. Also planned is another parking garage – this one with 375 spaces – to serve the existing office building at 10300 Eaton Place. It would be constructed between that building and Fairfax Boulevard. This site also has road frontage and access to Eaton Place via an existing, internal, private street.

The City’s Small Area Plan for Northfax envisions the creation of a linear park north of Eaton Place. It would be a large, green, gathering space for recreation and events, anchored by adjoining retail, office and residential uses. Phase II would include a park going from northeast to northwest and connecting to the future George Snyder Trail, Shiloh Street Park and new trail systems at Accotink.