The Arlington County Board is set to consider a major redevelopment in Rosslyn at its meeting Saturday morning.
The Board will consider a proposal by Monday Properties to tear down two aging 1960s-era office buildings, at 1401 Wilson Blvd and 1400 Key Blvd, and replace them with a new office tower, a new residential building, and public gardens.
Also set to be demolished is the buildings’ parking garage, in which Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward met a source dubbed “Deep Throat,” who passed on information that helped exposed the Watergate scandal. The scandal helped to topple the presidency of Richard Nixon in 1974. Monday plans to build a “commemorative monument regarding the Watergate scandal” as a community benefit of the project.
The 24-story office building planned for the site will include 513,004 square feet of office space and 11,131 square feet of ground floor retail. The 28-story residential building, located above what is now a Gold’s Gym, will contain 274 multi-family dwellings and a 44,409 square foot grocery store.
Together, the buildings will share 816 vehicle parking spots and 161 bicycle parking spots in a six-level, below-grade parking garage.
In addition to the buildings, Monday’s plans include a publicly accessible plaza with landscaped gardens, water features, outdoor dining and seating, a bocce court, “interactive play features” and a pedestrian connection from the corner of 18th Street and N. Oak Street to N. Nash Street.
Other community benefits offered by Monday Properties include:
- $6 million cash contribution to the county’s affordable housing fund (no dedicated affordable housing will be offered in the residential building)
- $5.7 million for transportation improvements
- $3.1 million for Rosslyn-area park improvements
- $1.1 million for a transportation demand management program
- $1.1 million for reconstruction of the N. Nash Street skywalk
- $750,000 for public art
- $50,000 for a new Capital Bikeshare station in Rosslyn
- Streetscape improvements
- Bicycle lane improvements
- Removal of the N. Nash Street slip lane
- Installation of multi-space parking meters
- LEED Platinum sustainability certification for the office building
- LEED Silver sustainability certification for the residential building
There’s no official word yet on a timeframe for the demolition and construction, but one source told ARLnow.com that it may be about three years before demolition could start due to lease provisions with existing office tenants.
