Capital One World HQ in Tysons by Jmswllms0 licensed under Creative Commons.

Even in the midst of a pandemic and a nation-defining election, Tysons is still chugging along in its goal to morph from an edge city to “a walkable, sustainable urban center.” That effort involves encouraging dense, mixed-use development near the area’s four metro stations.

Fairfax County recently released an annual report marking the tenth year since the county passed the Tysons Comprehensive Plan. The report outlines progress on development in the growing urban area through July 2020.

Though the coronavirus pandemic has impacted Tysons, where office jobs still outnumber residents three to one, construction crews are still breaking ground and ribbons are still being cut on new buildings.

With so much potential activity, you’d be forgiven for having a hard time keeping track of what was actually getting built in the past year. Here’s a primer.

A note: the following projects were under construction sometime between July 2019 and July 2020. It’s not clear how the pandemic affected each project’s construction progress.

Approved major projects. Those with ongoing construction activity this year are marked in red. Image from Tysons 2019-2020 Progress Report

Project: Arbor Row

Construction began in the spring of 2019 on Monarch, a 102-unit condominium building at 7887 Jones Branch Drive with more than 5,000 square feet of retail space. The building is part of the 20-acre Arbor Row site. The condos near Tysons Galleria start at $600,000 for a one-bedroom.

Project: Capital One

Multiple buildings are going up near Capital One’s new headquarters, which opened in 2018 as the Washington region’s tallest office building. Capital One’s 26-acre development site is adjacent to the McLean Metro station.

As of August 2020, multiple buildings along Capital One Drive were under construction, including offices, a hotel, and retail space. A Wegman’s grocery store opened in one of these new buildings on November 4.

The development is home to Capital One Hall, a 125,000 square foot performing arts center at which that the developer has pledged to designate time for public use for at least 30 years. According to Tysons Partnership, the theater is set to open in the fall of 2021.

Project: Scotts Run Station South

The 30-acre development dubbed Scotts Run Station South, being built by Cityline Partners LLC, runs along Dolley Madison Boulevard south of the McLean Metro station. According to the Tysons Partnership, three buildings are under construction.

Archer Tysons, a 178-room hotel, is under construction and scheduled to open next summer. The hotel will be the seventh for the boutique Archer Hotel chain.

The Heming, a 28-story luxury condominium building, is slated to provide 410 units as well as about 40,000 square feet of retail space. In January, the developer had plans to complete the building in late 2022.

Finally, the developer broke ground last September on a new fire station for Tysons, which is scheduled to be in use by next spring. The new station at 1766 Old Meadow Lane was proffered as part of the development approval in order to add capacity to the growing area.

Project: The Highland District

The developer of the 17-acre Highland District site plans to replace office buildings with residential and retail space. Now The Bexley, a 140-unit condo tower, is moving people in to condos that start at $725,000. The project is within a half-mile of the McLean Metro.

Project: Hanover Tysons

In north-central Tysons, a developer is replacing a six-story office building with a 420-unit apartment building with up to 5,700 square feet of retail. The project at the corner of Jones Branch and West Branch drives also includes a park to the south of the building.

Project: The Mile

On Oct. 30, developer KETTLER announced it had broken ground on a new building in its 45-acre development site, The Mile.

Brentford, the new building under construction, is slated to offer 411 apartment units northwest of Tysons Galleria. The first units are scheduled to be completed in the spring of 2022.

Project: Tysons Central

The site plan for Tysons Central, a 20-story office and retail building near the Greensboro Metro station, was approved in October last year. The building will neighbor the Lumen apartment building, which started leasing in 2019.

Approved, but no crews yet

A few plans have made it through the approval process but as of July, had not started work. Those buildings include:

  • A 28-story residential building on the Scotts Run Station South development
  • A fifth office building being built by The MITRE Corporation
  • An 18-story residential building planned for the Parkcrest project

Correction: Construction on the Tysons Central is underway, and an early version of this article said a crew had yet to be assembled.

  • Tysons Partnership

This article is part of our ongoing coverage of Tysons underwritten by the Tysons Partnership and community partners. Greater Greater Washington maintains full editorial independence over its content.

Libby Solomon was a writer/editor and Managing Editor for GGWash from 2020 to 2022. She was previously a reporter for the Baltimore Sun covering the Baltimore suburbs and a writer for Johns Hopkins University’s Centers for Civic Impact.