From Macy's to the YMCA: The Next 880 Units Under Construction in Ballston

• October 20th 2021

by Nena Perry-Brown

After a slew of developments delivered in Ballston last year — totaling over 1,000 units — the pipeline is seemingly on the cusp of a new cycle. 

This year,  townhouses delivered at Trenton Square as did more than 300 apartments at J Sol. Meanwhile, some projects that were formerly stalled have gotten a jump-start after changing hands, and a couple of new developments are in the earliest stages of review. 

Below, UrbanTurf takes an updated look at what's in the works in the residential pipeline in Virginia Square and Ballston.

In case you missed them, here are the other neighborhoods we have covered this year:

• The 1,100 Units in the Works Along the Columbia Pike Corridor
• The Nearly 3,000 Units From Route 1 to “Hyattsville Crossing”
• St. Elizabeths and 170 Units: What Remains on Track in Congress Heights
• Boulders, Makerspace, Woonerfs and the Next 1,100 Units Up for Union Market
• DC’s Busiest Development Neighborhood in 2021: The 20 Projects in the Works For NoMa
• Up in the Air and Hitting the Road: The 14 Developments in The Works for Ward 7
• A Food Hall, A Trail Lobby and the 20 Developments Planned From Brookland to Langdon
• The 6 Project Residential Pipeline Around DC’s Starburst Intersection
• Gallaudet’s Big Plans, 16 Acres Off New York Ave: The Residential Pipeline From Trinidad to Ivy City
• The Nearly 2,000 Units Just Approved in Southwest DC
• The 2,200 Units Landing Soon in National Landing
• The Buzz Around the Thousands of Units Planned for Buzzard Point
• The 3,000 Units in the Anacostia and Skyland Pipelines
• A Look at the 400 Units Planned in Historic Takoma, and the 1,200 in the Works at Walter Reed
• The Nine Developments Expected to Redefine Rosslyn
• Four Units Here, 70 Units There: The Georgetown Residential Pipeline
• What’s Next, and When, for The Wharf
• The 23 Projects on the Boards For Downtown Bethesda
• The 1,900 Units on the Boards Between Tenleytown and AU Park
• The 2,700 Units (Eventually) Slated for Navy Yard
• 1,900 Units Down, 1,900 to Go: The Status of the South Capitol Street Pipeline
• The 15 Projects and 870 Units on the Boards Around Shaw, and What’s Up Next
• The 240 Units in the Works in Adams Morgan
• The 250 Units Still in the Pipeline Along 14th Street
• The Last 75 Units Headed to the H Street Corridor
• On-Campus and Off-Campus: The Howard University Rundown

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1122 N. Kirkwood Road

Earlier this month, a construction permit was issued for a seven-story, 270-unit building at the corner of Washington Boulevard and N Kirkwood Road (map). The development will include 190 parking spaces across two below-grade levels; Eleventh Street Development is leading the project and Odell Associates is the architect. 

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YMCA Redevelopment

This March, developer Orr Partners filed an application with Arlington County to redevelop the YMCA campus at 3400 13th Street N (map), delivering a new 88,815 square foot recreational facility and a 374-unit residential building. The YMCA will have a two-story natatorium with a below-grade pool and racketball and tennis courts. Republic Properties is a development partner; Perkins Eastman is the architect. 

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American Legion Post Redevelopment

Last spring, the Arlington Partnership for Affordable Housing (APAH) got a permit to commence construction on the seven-story building approved to replace the American Legion Post at 3445 Washington Boulevard (map). The development will deliver new office space for the American Legion and 160 affordable apartments at 30%, 50%, 60%, and 80% of area median income (AMI); there will also be 96 below-grade parking spaces and 48 bike spaces.

Veterans will receive preference for half the units into perpetuity. The development is expected to deliver in summer 2022; DCS Design is the architect.

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Ballston Station

The County approved funding in June for the redevelopment of the Central United Methodist Church at 4201 Fairfax Drive (map), a month before developer APAH took over the property. The project, formerly led by Bozzuto, will deliver an eight-story building with 144 apartments affordable at 30-80% of AMI. The church will return to new space on the bottom two floors, joined by childcare and preschool facilities and nonprofit offices. DCS Design is the architect of the project. The project is expected to deliver as early as winter 2023.

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Ballston Office Redevelopment

Last summer, developer Kettler revived a proposal to redevelop the office building at 4420 Fairfax Drive (map) just as previous approvals were about to expire. Now, instead of a 24-story building with 237 units over 9,200 square feet of retail, plans are in the works for 367 units above 5,200 square feet of retail. The WDG Architecture-designed building would also have 156 parking spaces below-grade. The site has a WMATA easement and requires construction of another entrance for the Ballston Metro station at N. Fairfax Drive and N. Vermont Street — a source of much of the delays on the site. 

This past weekend, the Arlington County Board voted to apply for funding from the Northern Virginia Transportation Authority (NVTA) to get the ball rolling on construction; a previous attempt to secure funding from the NVTA was unsuccessful.

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Macy's Redevelopment 

In July, Insight Property Group applied to raze and replace the Macy's/office building at 685 N. Glebe Road (map) with a 16-story, two-phase development, delivering 555 apartments above a grocery store. The first phase would deliver 345 units above the 41,500 square-foot grocery store; the second phase would front Glebe Road, delivering 210 units and creating a shared outdoor terrace on the third floor.

The unit mix will span from studios to three-bedrooms, and most units would have balconies. The developer is also requesting flexibility to convert about 201,500 square feet of the building into an elder care facility. The project would also require a transfer of development rights and density from the affordable Tyrol Hill/Haven Apartments off Columbia Pike, also owned by the developer. SK+I Architecture is the designer.

The project would include 241 residential and 148 retail parking spaces on two below-grade levels, along with 222 residential bicycle spaces. 

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11th and Vermont

Jefferson Apartment Group and STARS REI are now the third development team to attempt a project at the former Portico Church Arlington at North Vermont and 11th Streets (map). The project will consist of 10 townhouses and 98 condos as approved by the county last year, an increase from the initially-proposed 12 townhouses and 72 condos.

The townhouses will be 2,000 square-foot three-bedrooms, each with a two-car garage and roof deck, and the condo building will also have a roof deck along with 120 below-grade parking space and 40 bicycle spaces. The development could break ground this year for a delivery in summer 2023.

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600 North Glebe Road

At the beginning of the year, construction started to redevelop the Harris Teeter and the former site of a Mercedes Benz dealership at 600 North Glebe Road (map). The entire project will be completed in three phases, starting with 310 apartments above a new Harris Teeter to replace the former American Service Center building. The second phase will raze the old Harris Teeter and construct another building with 195 apartments and a public park. The third phase will deliver 227 apartments with ground-floor retail and 687 below-grade parking spaces.

The project will also include 294 long-term bicycle spaces; Southeastern Real Estate Group is the developer and DCS Design is the architect. 

This article originally published at https://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/blog/from-macys-to-the-ymca-the-next-880-units-under-construction-in-ballston/18844.