And in Alexandria, Virginia


Tech is making a $1 billion investment in the creation of its 1-million-square-foot Innovation Campus, which will produce graduates who can help the region fulfill its aspirations to rival Silicon Valley as a tech nexus. Northern Virginia “is sitting


pretty. It’s a remarkable thing it has pulled off,” says Christopher B. Leinberger, research professor of urban real estate and chair of the Center for Real Estate & Urban Analysis at the George Washington University School of Business. Leinberger believes that NoVa is positioning itself “to become a powerhouse in the 21st- century tech world,” and it’s nailing its audition for the part by busily creating precisely the kind of high- density, multiuse neighborhoods this new world demands.


Tysons On the outskirts of Wash-


ington, D.C., in suburban Fairfax County, an urban, citylike area dotted by skyscrapers has been very deliberately emerging during the last decade. On any given day in Tysons, one can spot a host of con- struction cranes across the horizon. It’s “the greatest


Glasner


placemaking exper- iment in America,” says Tysons Part- nership President Sol Glasner. The phrase “endpoint” does not apply to


growth there, he says, because “there isn’t one.” One of the latest deliveries at


Tysons is The Lumen, a 32-story apartment building advertised as being just steps away from the Silver Line’s Greensboro Metro station. The sleek, amenity-heavy tower is typical of the new Tysons vibe. The building’s 398 units have been filling up rapidly, with an assortment of millennials, married-with-no-children couples and empty nesters attracted by the urban setting, says Rob Mooney,


The Lumen, a 32-story, 398-unit apartment building in Tysons, is attracting a mix of millennials, couples without children and empty nesters, says Rob Mooney, director of business development for Hoar Construction.


director of business development for The Lumen’s builder, Hoar Construction. Although the walkable


quotient essential to a real city is still largely lacking, it will increase with more development, he says. True walkability also remains


aspirational at the Capital One complex at Tysons, but as the neighborhood near the Silver Line’s McLean stop is built out, that too should change. The Capital One site is


anchored by a 31-story office tower, the tallest building in the region, second only to the Wash- ington Monument. A Wegmans grocery store opened nearby last year, and a $120 million perform- ing arts center with a rooftop park is slated to open in fall 2021. A second tower is expected to be completed in 2023. The Boro, however, already


is walkable and thus is something of a template for redevelopment at Tysons. “The street grid came first”


at this mix of luxury residences, high-end office space and retail


located just a block from the Silver Line’s Greensboro Station, says Robert Sponseller, design prin- cipal for Shalom Baranes Associates, which co-designed the complex with the architecture, design and plan- ning firm Gensler. A joint project of


Sponseller


two commercial real estate devel- opment companies, The Meridian Group and Kettler, The Boro is projected to top out at 4.25 mil- lion square feet of development and includes the largest Whole Foods market in the region. What Sponseller calls the


“new urbanization” at The Boro emphasizes the public realm by paying particular attention to how buildings complement the street network. The Boro’s taller structures have been kept to the periphery of the 18-acre site, and parking lots are hidden under- ground or screened by other uses. The aim is to create a neighbor- hood on “a good scale, like SoHo,” the architect says.


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