Church Street Parking Garage Development Falls Through

After months of discussing a potential mixed use parking garage in the Church Street corridor, the Town of Vienna and a private developer have abandoned the project, citing issues with the project's general contractor.

Since March 2012, the town of Vienna and Arrington Properties, LLC have worked as partners in developing a mixed-use retail and residential building and four-level parking structure on the lot at 120 Church St. NW. But when Suffolk Construction Company Inc., the project's general contractor, closed its Falls Church offices earlier this summer, the town decided to terminate the project.

The Vienna Town Council agreed to a contract with Suffolk in May 2013. 

"We were probably about a day away from actually having (the parking garage project) executed and signed by the mayor and signed by Nick Arrington of Arrington (Properties), LLC," town manager Mercury Payton said. "And about that time is when we learned from Suffolk Construction that they no longer would have a Falls Church office."

Payton noted that Suffolk Construction had offered to continue as the general contractor for the project from their offices in Boston, Mass., but the changed circumstances and added distance from the project discouraged the partners from going forward with the process.

The town tried to reach a similar agreement with a new contractor, but it could not strike a deal that fit within the project's budget. 

The project was initially submitted to the town under Virginia's Public-Private Education Facilities and Infrastructure Act (PPEA) on March 2, 2012. Arrington was to finance a mixed-use retail and residential building on the front-half of the lot on Church St. NW; the back-half of the lot was proposed to be sold to the town of Vienna for $1, and would have housed a four-story parking structure.  .

The town anticipated breaking ground in February 2014 with an 18-month construction phase. The garage would have had more than 170 parking spaces, according to previous presentations, to be used by town residents and visitors to Vienna's historic Church Street.

In response to the project's recent cancelation, Arrington Properties proposed an alternative plan for the lot that would involve the private development of a two-story mixed-use building accompanied by surface parking. Arrington Properties told the town that any additional surface parking not required for the existing and proposed structures on the lot could be made available to the town on a favorable basis and at no cost to the town as part of the Church Street Vision. 

"Of course, it's not going to be the same magnitude in number (of spaces) that we had going on with the parking structure, but some number of parking spaces that would help with some of the parking on Church St.," Payton said. "It is (Arrington's) independent project, but it's going to be within the parameters of the Church Street Vision."
Support for the parking garage, among residents, were mixed. Some felt it would help development of the town keep pace with the kind of walkable environment new residents and consumers were seeking, particularly as development around Tysons came closer to completion.

But some residents worried the garage would actually attract more traffic to the area, and Merchants worried about the effects a parking garage  would have on the visibility of their businesses.

No further details on Arrington's private development project have been released at this time. 

For more information on the project:

• Town Receives Plan For Parking, Retail Space
• Church Street Height Limit Debate Continues
• Ask the Town: Is the Town Considering a Parking Garage? 
  Town to Host Meetings on Proposed Parking Garage
• Town Continues Public Meetings on Parking Structure
• Letter to the Editor: No Need for a Parking Garage