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A 41-acre office and warehouse complex in northern Merrifield could be transformed into a walkable residential neighborhood with townhouses, apartment or condominium buildings, parks and street improvements.
Property owner Link Logistics and an affiliate of EYA Development submitted plans to Fairfax County on Jan. 3 to redevelop the Prosperity Business Campus at 2750 Prosperity Avenue. The project would replace the aging industrial office park with as many as 1,868 homes.
The property, built in 1985, stretches along both sides of Prosperity Avenue between Hilltop Road and Interstate 66. It sits about half a mile from the Dunn Loring Metro station and within half a mile of the Mosaic District.
The proposal requires rezoning the land from an industrial district to residential mixed-use. The developers say the new neighborhood would create a transition between commercial properties to the east and the Dunn Loring Village townhouses to the west.
Link Logistics began exploring redevelopment in 2022 by nominating the property for a comprehensive plan amendment. Its initial request sought a mixed-use housing option allowing up to 2.7 million square feet of development.
The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors authorized work on the amendment in April 2023. Link Logistics partnered with EYA later that year and refined the concept in response to feedback from county staff and the community.
Two development options
The applicants have proposed two alternatives that could be constructed in phases.
The first would allow up to 1,500 homes, including 419 attached townhouses and 1,081 units spread among three multifamily buildings.
The second would increase the total to 1,868 homes, with 324 townhouses and 1,544 units in four multifamily buildings.
The application does not say whether the multifamily homes would be rental apartments or owner-occupied condominiums. The developers have committed to meeting Fairfax County requirements for affordable and workforce housing.
Each multifamily building could contain one or two floors with up to 5,000 square feet of nonresidential space. The buildings would rise six or seven stories, with a maximum height of 85 feet. The proposed townhouses would have four stories and a stated maximum height of 24 feet.
The multifamily buildings would be concentrated on the property’s north side near I-66. Depending on the selected option, associated parking garages would contain about 1,200 or 1,700 spaces. With surface parking and townhouse garages included, the development would provide at least 2,287 spaces overall.
New parks and safer streets
The two concepts would create between 5.07 and 5.49 acres of publicly accessible parkland.
Both include a 3.27-acre Central Park west of Prosperity Avenue featuring an open lawn, playground, outdoor gaming area, walking paths and other amenities. The location and size of an additional gateway park would depend on which development option advances.
Once completed, the central park would be the largest park in the Merrifield Suburban Center, where adding green space has proved difficult.
Townhouse residents would also have access to interior courtyards and plazas designed to divide the development into smaller, walkable blocks.
The developers plan to preserve the Long Branch stream valley along the business park’s western edge. Proposed upgrades to Prosperity Avenue include improved sidewalks, bicycle lanes, on-street parking and a landscaped median along part of the road.
Fairfax County received funding in 2023 to design a separate reconfiguration of Prosperity Avenue featuring a road diet and bicycle lanes intended to address safety concerns.