Vienna’s New Urban Core

If you are wondering where your sign went, please read Post #267.


Background on Maple Avenue Commercial zoning

For nearly half a century, Vienna Virginia was proudly and purposefully a small town in an otherwise urbanized Northern Virginia landscape.  After undergoing rapid growth in the 1960s, Vienna’s population has been stable at around 17,000 inhabitants for the past 50 years.  The town’s Maple Avenue retail district maintains the low-rise, low-density look of the 1960s and 1970s, and primarily serves the needs of Vienna residents.

Vienna’s Town Council has now adopted a pro-growth strategy.  Key to this strategy is the creation of a new set of zoning rules for Maple Avenue, termed Maple Avenue Commercial (MAC) zoning.  This change has started the process of transforming the existing low-density Maple Avenue into a “medium-density”  mixed-use (housing-over-retail) zone and should eventually result in a modern urban core area.

The new Maple Avenue will be quite different from what we now have.  The 1960’s and 1970’s era low-rise buildings set well back from Maple will be replaced with buildings rising to just over 60 feet, directly adjacent to Maple.  Retail-only structures will be replaced with four-story mixed-use buildings, typically three floors of high-density housing  (condos or apartments) atop generic first-floor retail space.  This new upscale retail is intended to create a destination shopping district and draw shoppers from well outside of Vienna itself.

It is difficult to grasp just how much larger the proposed buildings will be.  Stand at the corner of Maple and Nutley to get a sense of the size of the proposed “444 West Maple” (Tequila Grande) structure.   At 61 feet, the tallest parapets will be significantly higher than existing 48 foot tall utility pole.   The building will stretch down Maple to the far end of the Wolf Trap motel, and run down Nutley almost to the existing entrance to the parking lot.  Its walls will enclose twice the volume of the largest existing commercial structure on Maple, the Giant Food shopping center.  There will be no parking in front of this structure — it will sit directly adjacent to a new, broader sidewalk.  My page with link to the site plans is here.

To visualize what has been approved for the current Marco Polo site, stand on the sidewalk by the modest Bank of America building (235 Maple West).  Look down the road to the corner of Pleasant Street. Look down the alleyway to Church Street.  Now imagine a building three times as tall as the Bank of America building filling that space.  All parking will be underground, and the structure will sit directly adjacent to a broader sidewalk.  My page with link to the site plans is here.

There is nothing even remotely comparable to these buildings on Maple Avenue now.  The single largest high-rise structure is 301 West Maple (the large office building on the north side of the road, well away from the road).  These new complexes contain many multiples of the volume of 301 West Maple.  And, as noted, they will be sited directly adjacent to the road, with no intervening open space.

These are just two of many changes that we believe to be in process, all at this scale.   Click here to go to a page listing all the buildings currently proposed or under discussion.


The new MAC zoning creates significant profit opportunities in converting Maple Avenue from commercial-only buildings to mixed-use housing.  The potential for large profits suggests that more lots will likely be redeveloped.

Before MAC zoning, buildings on Maple had to devote the majority of their space to commercial (e.g., retail or office) use.  Buildings over 35 feet tall required special exemption from Vienna commercial zoning rules.  This resulted in what we have now: Low-rise, fully-commercial buildings with the occasional mid-rise office building set back from the street.

With MAC zoning, by contrast, developers may now stack three stories of residential space on top of the retail.   The maximum allowable height (to the highest parapet) is now just over 60 feet.  By placing parking underground, developers may fill the formerly open parking lots to within 15 or 20 feet of the curb.  There is a requirement that a portion of the site be left as “open space”, but it literally does nothing of the sort.  And the “public open space” that is being created directly adjacent to Maple, and probably not very pleasant due, at least, to the noise level.

These new structures will typically be worth ten times as much as the structures they replace.  And the developers likely will make profits accordingly.    In the case of the Giant Food transaction, the land owner got the first $30M in profits.  Plausibly the developer plans to earn at least as much.  This illustrates the size of the bounty that has been placed on garden-variety retail property along Maple avenue.  The space is worth much more as medium-density housing than it is as routine retail.

The purpose of this website is to make Town of Vienna residents aware of these changes.  Possibly the great majority of town residents favor these changes.  But just as plausibly, most do not realize what is in store for Maple Avenue and the Town of Vienna.  With this website and associated efforts, I want to raise awareness of what the Town Council has set in motion on Maple Avenue.

If nothing else, please check the Facebook page of  Vienna Citizens for Responsible Development  .  They maintain a forum for discussion and and track the latest developments on this issue.

Sincerely,

Christopher Hogan, 226 Glen Avenue SW, Vienna, VA


If you are unfamiliar with MAC zoning in the Town of Vienna, read the rest of this page, then try a few of these links:

Summary of current and proposed MAC projects.  Specific issues are discussed in detail on separate pages, including:  building size, traffic,  traffic noise, walkability, open space, affordable housing, and tax revenues,