Three Phased Options Given for Lake Anne
From the Times Community Newspapers
By Lise Hausrath Simmons
March 16, 2005

The economic consultants hired to study the revitalization of Lake Anne Village Center have given the community three options, ranging from increased marketing of the center to major redevelopment.

Basile, Baumann, Prost & Associates Inc. said in its Fairfax County-funded report that actions to inject new life into Reston's historic heart could be taken on a continuum, starting with the marketing approach and leading up, if necessary, to significant new development and redevelopment at the quaint site overlooking one of Reston's man-made lakes.

If nothing is done to rejuvenate the Lake Anne center, retail sales by the merchants there are projected to decrease by 8.8 percent, the report warned.

The next step, now that the study has been released, is for the Reston community to digest the report and participate in a charrette process to give feedback and direction to the county from the people who will be impacted the most by any change, the consultants said.

The report is available online at http://www.fcrevit.org/lakeanne.main.htm.

Hunter Mill District Supervisor Cathy Hudgins (D) has scheduled a community meeting on the report for tonight, Wednesday, March 16, at 7:30 p.m. at Lake Anne Elementary School. The school's address is 11510 North Shore Drive.

Detailed study

The study contains much information about Lake Anne's history, its physical condition and data about other village centers in Reston, as well as relevant demographic data and information about retail, housing and office market trends and conditions in the Washington, D.C., area.

Section 4 is the most relevant part of the report. It presents three approaches to revitalization: strategic marketing, “modest infill” and “master plan realization.”

The consultants said that, regardless of the approach taken, “the future of the Lake Anne study area will depend on public and private sector actions.”

They also stressed that the three approaches detailed in the report “are not exclusive from one another. That is, they represent a continuum of actions and strategies that can be phased over time.”

The strategic marketing option focuses on more formally organizing the existing merchants at Lake Anne, enhancing “distinctiveness” by attracting more unique shops and restaurants, using better signs to direct people to Lake Anne, conducting a focused marketing campaign and dedicating Lake Anne's Washington Plaza to Fairfax County as a public space.

This last step would “distribute costs across all beneficiaries and guarantee public access to Lake Anne,” the report said.

The “modest infill” approach would incorporate all the steps taken with the strategic marketing option but would modestly increase the area's population by way of limited residential and office space development.

This would be accomplished by developing “underutilized parcels” at Lake Anne, including the 2.2-acre Good Shepherd Lutheran Church site and a nearby piece of land owned by the Reston Association, the report said.

This modest development, involving the addition of 44 new dwelling units, plus 25,000 square feet of office space on the RA property, would increase pedestrian traffic at the center, the report said.

New residential and office development

The last option on the continuum would involve a significant increase in Lake Anne-area population through new residential and office development, adding 754 new households and nearly 100,000 square feet of office space. It would also relocate some existing office space.

At 16.5 acres, the 181 moderately priced units at Crescent Apartments near Lake Anne could be redeveloped “at a residential density of 50 dwelling units per acre, or 825 units,” the consultants said.

The area where the Association of School Business Officials (ASBO), the convenience store and the surface parking lot are now located would be redeveloped, with structured parking added.

By relocating ASBO and the convenience store, office space could be added while increasing the visibility of the waterfront and retail environment at the center, the report said.

The report said funding for and management of strategic marketing activities could initially be provided by the Fairfax County Department of Housing and Community Development and merchants within the study area, and then ultimately through formation of a special assessment district or business improvement district (BID).

To facilitate the creation of a BID, the consultants recommended that the Lake Anne of Reston Condominium Association, which owns much of the village center's residential and office property, be restructured into separate residential and nonresidential condominiums.

“By developing redefined responsibilities and cost allocation formulas, condominium costs could be redistributed between the newly formed residential and commercial entities,” the report said.

The incentive to do this would come from Fairfax County, which would “assume responsibility for Washington Plaza-related costs for management, maintenance, outstanding debt, as well as any capital improvement and ownership liability of the public spaces,” the report said.

Broadening the revitalization area

Regardless of what steps are taken, the county should broaden the Lake Anne revitalization area to include the Crescent Apartments and Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, the report said. The church is planning to leave that location.

“Both of these sites lie outside of the historic overlay [at Lake Anne] and could be intensified in use according to the Reston Master Plan,” the consultants said.

Higher density residential development of the two parcels would help increase the critical mass of people needed to patronize Lake Anne businesses. “They also represent opportunities to provide a share of low- to moderate-income housing units within the increasingly unaffordable Fairfax County market,” the report said.

The consultants determined that the existing parking at Lake Anne is inadequate and that certain “physical conditions” at the center have begun to “significantly deteriorate.” Those include retaining walls, mortar joints, walking surfaces and concrete.

©Times Community Newspapers 2005