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Change to Allow for Springfield Hotel
Springfield Times
By Jason Jacks
May 25, 2005

County supervisors approved a change to the Fairfax County comprehensive plan Monday to allow for the construction of a new hotel in central Springfield. In an unrelated action, supervisors also agreed to give the developer of the proposed Midtown Springfield property a piece of a local street, which the developer wants to realign.

The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors approved May 23 an amendment to the comprehensive plan that will allow Marriott Hotels to build a 165-room Residence Inn on a vacant 1.2-acre site near Old Keene Road, between Amherst Avenue and Backlick Road.

Though close to it, the property is not part of the “Midtown Springfield” development, which is a large mixed-use development of 800 residential units, retail stores, office space and a 10-story hotel planned for the central Springfield revitalization district.

According to a county staff report, Marriott's five- to six-story, 110,000-square-foot hotel, to be built on the old “Houlihan's” restaurant lot, would be an “extended stay” hotel with both above- and below-ground parking. The hotel would have its own restaurant, plus a “community meeting place,” according to the report.

In their report, county planners also said the hotel would attract less traffic than the restaurant did and that a new hotel may foster further redevelopment in that section of Springfield.

Also, on Monday, board members passed a motion by Lee District Supervisor Dana Kauffman (D) to hand over a small portion of central Springfield's Bland Street, which the county currently owns, to KSI Services Inc.

KSI, the developer proposing to build Midtown Springfield on a nine-acre site between Interstate 95, Commerce Street and Brandon Avenue, needed the right of way from the county to complete the rezoning application it intends to file with the county shortly. KSI will “realign” Bland Street to accommodate its future development, Kauffman said Monday.

Gerald L. Gordon, president and CEO of the Fairfax County Economic Development Authority, said he is not surprised by Springfield's recent development boom, which also includes a Waterford banquet facility planned for Commerce Street.

With shrinking affordable land options in Fairfax County, developers are starting to look elsewhere, like Springfield, he explained.

Gordon added that, while the Midtown Springfield proposal may appear to be a large one, the rest of the community will eventually grow around it.

“It's out of proportion now, but it will not be in a Springfield five years from now,” he said.

©Times Community Newspapers 2005