Arlington Eyes Western Rosslyn for Redevelopment

Arlington County wants to spruce up the area between the towering heart of Rosslyn and the communities that surround it.

The county's redevelopment goals for the area include at least 60,000 square feet of park and open space, a new fire station, affordable housing, energy efficiency and a "mix of uses and compatible heights and densities."

The Arlington County Board will appoint a working group of residents, business leaders and advocates to work with planners on a draft document of the study area.

“This is a rare opportunity to meet community goals in a dense part of the County with little available land,” County Manager Barbara Donnellan said in a statement. “I am excited about the prospects of the possibilities of future public/private development and look forward to working with the community over the next year.”

The goal of the initial study is to develop a conceptual plan and related policy recommendations to guide future development, according to a news release.

County officials see this as a so-called placemaking opportunity, one that gives the western part of Rosslyn more of its own identity.

The county already has had preliminary discussions with property owners adjacent to the fire station at 1559 Wilson Blvd., including Arlington Public Schools, a nonprofit affordable housing partnership, and the Penzance Group. And those discussions led to Donnellan proposing the area be studied for redevelopment, the release states.

The Arlington School Board on Tuesday authorized Superintendent Pat Murphy to sign a non-binding letter of intent to sell school system property on Wilson Boulevard to Penzance, the release states.

The study area is along the Rosslyn-Ballston corridor, bordered by 18th Street North to the north, Wilson Boulevard to the south,  North Quinn Street to the west, and the eastern end of the 1555 Wilson Blvd. office building to the to the east, according to a county spokeswoman.

For more information, including a map of the study area and schedule of upcoming public meetings, click here.