ENGINES OF THE ECONOMY
mAPLE AVENUE
RETURN OF THE
THE REDEVELOPMENT CYCLE TRIGGER
ISSUE #3 MAY 7, 2012
FAIRFAX PARKS GETS VOCAL
THETYSONSCORNER.COM PAGE 2
COVER PHOTO BY
mkopka
NORDSTROM WALKWAY
ALL PHOTOGRAPHY AND
GRAPHICS WITHIN THIS
PUBLICATION RIGHTS
RESERVED TO THE ARTIST
PAGE 3
THE ECONOMIC
POWER OF CITIES PAGE 7
A REVIEW OF
MAPLE AVENUE
RESTAURANT PAGE 12
WHAT MAKES IT A
GOOD TIME FOR A
PROPERTY TO
REDEVELOP? PAGE 20
A NEW BLOG BY
FAIRFAX COUNTY
PROVIDES INSIGHT
ON PARK EVENTS PAGE 11
CONNECTION
NEWSPAPER
QUESTIONS
FUTURE OF
TYSONS CORNER PAGE 4
WE ARE LOOKING
FOR WRITERS PAGE 11
This past week the Connection
Newspaper carried an article which
was critical of the future envisioned
for Tysons Corner, specifically with
respect to how the recession has
evidently stopped all plans. “But now
in 2012, the hopes of that glorious
vision have run into the reality of a
post recession Northern Virginia and
the tightening of federal
expenditures that could spell
limitations in the future.”
Well we think that’s bogus
information Connection Newspaper.
We’d like to know why you believe
the new plans have been derailed.
Several extremely large investors are
moving forward as fast as they are
allowed to because the market has
shown that it wants more housing
options in Tysons Corner. Lerner,
Macerich, Clark, Avalon and Greystar
are all under construction and will
end up bringing nearly 3000 units
online by 2014 with investments that
are counted in the billions not
millions. J.P. Morgan reaffirmed the
fiscal solvency of the Greystar project
in providing funding stating;
“We believe Tysons Corner will
continue to grow and expect to see
development in a number of areas,
including of Class A office space,
multi-family housing and mixed-use
projects…Given the expansion of the
Metro to Tysons Corner, this area will
be an even more attractive place to
live, work or visit in the future.”
The Connection Article goes on to say
that Tyson’s plan was for a walkable
community, to change its current
preference towards roads, and says
that this runs into constraints given
the current economic environment.
Again, total non-sense, all of the
developers are on board with creating
more retail friendly, marketable areas
for residents, because as developers
they understand providing this
atmosphere will increase their net
gains.
Who has opposed it? The biggest
developer and land owner in Tysons
Corner, VDOT, who almost a year
after the first zoning submissions
were filed still has not released their
ellusive findings on the
Comprehensive Plans impacts to
traffic. VDOT has stated that their
goal was to temper back the density,
which would throw off all of the
economic incentives for developers to
provide anything but the status quo.
This has NOTHING to do with the
recession and it has EVERYTHING to
do with ideology at the state level
dictating land use on Fairfax County.
Next inaccurate statement by the
Connection comes in the form of a
typo and misinformation, “The
Metrorail has arrived and is slated to
be completed some time in 2013; four
stations in Tysons and one at Wiehle
Avenue in Reston. The $2.9 billion
project was on budget until this
spring when the Washington
Metropolitan Airport Authority
acknowledged that it was $150,000
million over budget.”
Well first $150,000 million would be
$150 billion (that would be quite the
cost over run). Clearly this was just a
mistake, and should be $150 million
however the sentiment itself is
markedly false as well. This $150
million was and remains a cost that
was known at the time of the contract
formation. It is an issue of the original
bid documents not being delayed in
order to further investigate the
possibility of this cost. It has always
been known as a possible cost
increase and should be viewed as an
amendment NOT a cost overrun. This
is a subtlety that people who are
involved in cost estimating might
understand but that the layman
would not. Regardless painting it to
be a sudden cost overrun is just not
accurate.
THETYSONSCORNER.COM PAGE 4
THE CONNECTION SENDS THE WRONG MESSAGE
PAGE 5
The article goes on a tangent, discussing
the future of western Fairfax’s and
Dulles’ metro line. “Whether the second
nearly $3 billion phase from Reston to
Dulles will go forward is in serious doubt
unless Loudoun County votes to pay its
share (answer in July) and millions of
additional dollars come from Virginia and
the federal government. Fairfax County
has already voted to pay its share of
Phase 2. Up to now this entire project is
backed primarily by tax payers and the
drivers along the Dulles Toll Road.”
Firstly we are rounding the cost up $300
million dollars to call it 3 billion… I would
not say that 2.7 billion is “nearly” 3
billion dollars. Secondly, PHASE 2 is not in
trouble of being constructed, just delayed
to redesign the routing to remove the
Loudoun County station and possibly the
removal of the Innovation Metro station
(or atleast the removal of a parking lot
located there). MWAA will build silver line
to Dulles no matter what. What is in
question is how much of that cost will
need to be incorporated by toll road
pricing that will back private bonds, and
how much will be provided by the
municipalities.
Additionally, the Connection notes that all
of the cost is being provided by the Toll
Road and Tax Payers. This is true
technically, but what they don’t say is
that a lot of the cost is being paid by
Developer tax payers, not the general
public. Fairfax county residents are only
paying for $150 million of the project
cost, Fairfax county as a whole is on the
hook for $900 million.
So what gives? The very successfully
implemented Special Tax District. All of
the people who complained that Phase 1
was being carried on the backs of the
public to grant money to a select few
developers clearly didn’t realize that
most of the cost was actually on the backs
of those same developers.
In Phase 2 it will be the same with almost
all of the anticipated Fairfax share coming
from a Reston special tax district on new
development, something that Reston
developers also volunteered. This would
only be important if you wanted to share
accurate information though.
The Connection goes on citing Thomas L.
Cranmer of the Fairfax County Taxpayers
Alliance (gee I wonder which political
leaning he has)
“The taxpayers have generously provided
subway stops for developers.” He is one
of a growing clique who thinks that Phase
2 of Dulles Rail will be an economic
disaster, based on faulty estimations of
cost.
Again the fact is the developers are the
ones paying for this in a vast majority of
the funding.
In the Connections defense they do get
something right, Mr. Cranmer is in a
growing clique of the population who is
being misinformed, frankly by poorly
written stories like the Connection’s.
The article continues on its tax-centric
first message by stating “Housing values
have fallen due to recession, but the high
taxes of the mid-2000s have remained
high.”
1.07 cents per 100 dollars is a
historically “high” tax rate? It’s actually
one of the lowest historical tax rates in
our County in the past century. I suppose
fact checkers might have been sent home
for that statement.
The Connection’s citing of federal
contracts dwindling continues to be on its
head about actual facts. Is the prospect of
federal contracts being reduced a real
possibility? Yes, a 5-10% reduction in
federal contracts in this area is possible,
but the Connection also doesn’t realize
that in the past 10 years Tysons Corner
and Fairfax as a whole has successfully
diversified its major corporate private
work to include significant biotech,
healthcare, financials, and high tech
employment in addition to Defense and IT
contracts for the government. While 5-
10% reductions will hurt part of the
economy, the growth in other sectors is
showing that it will not slow the economic
prosperity of the region, and at a
minimum it hasn’t shown significant signs
as yet.
THETYSONSCORNER.COM PAGE 6
Next up by the connection; “IN 2009, the
Fairfax Planning Commission estimated that
to make Tysons Corner into the city of the
planning vision would cost $15 billion for
roads and transit not including the Dulles
Rail costs. Who is going to pay this enormous
cost is the argument now reverberating
around Fairfax.”
WRONG.
This is just not an accurate number, the
current number stands at 2.1 billion dollars. I
have ranted over and over on TTC, even this
number is completely out of whack. First, the
study period is a 30 year time frame, which
makes all numbers seem huge. Taking this as
a yearly cost it would be $70 million per
year. Now when you actually look at the
costs of creating an urban Tysons, removing
$500 million dollars in non-actual costs for
ROW and road grids which developers will
provide organically in construction, and $700
million for road projects that are not even
part of Tysons Corner, we end up with an
actual cost over the next 30 years of $900
million, or per year $30 million. Not an
absurd amount based on the fact that the
annual budget for Fairfax County is nearly $4
billion. This therefore would constitute
0.75% of the County Budget… hardly
something that is a pipe dream.
The Connection stays on course attacking
developers with their final statement “One
proposal was a 50-50 split with owners and
developers of Tysons paying 50 percent of
the cost and the taxpayers the rest. But Rob
Jackson of the McLean Citizens Association
argues that it should follow the pattern of
the Route 128 project with the developers
paying 75 percent. Others believe that the
developers, who will be the principal
beneficiaries of the redevelopment, should
pay 100 percent.”
This is the most dangerous of all statements,
because it paints the developers as cheap
antagonists. The truth is the largest
disagreement remains what the funding will
go towards, not how much. If you are saying
that widening Route 7 between Tysons and
Reston helps Tysons developers reformat the
city into an urban environment, then clearly
you don’t know the first thing about mixed
use development.
If developers were in charge of providing
pedestrian and bike facilities, currently
anticipated to cost less than $100 million
over the next 30 years they would be all on
board. Heck if it meant making their
properties more marketable, they would be
willing to invest far more, just as they did
with the metro. And based on the fact that
Tysons developers have already built Fairfax
an entire metro system with very little help
from Fairfax (mostly just Federal funding) it
is just ridiculous to say that the developers
aren’t doing their part.
Its time for the County to do their own
part, with political strength not money, and
tell VDOT to stop demanding road projects
from the new city that no longer wants them.
If VDOT wants to build a road that undercuts
the fiscal stability of the Silver Line and Toll
road by attracting people to keep driving into
work, all the while doing so for free by
creating an artificial highway, then let VDOT
and those commuters pay for it.
I have no personal problem with the author
of this Connection article. I don’t know
Nicholas Horrock, so I have no idea why he
wrote this story and if he meant it to be so
outrageously biased in sentiment. What I do
know is that spreading false information is a
dangerous game, it continues to make people
believe that the very parties who are
investing billions into our region, helping our
economy, improving traffic problems through
infrastructure improvements, are some how
to blame because at the end of that
investment they will make a profit.
If the developers make a profit, it will mean
that we ALL make a profit because their gain
is the gain of the taxpayers in the form of
high density taxes that will easily overshadow
the anticipated 30 million dollars per year in
Tysons Corner infrastructure cost. Let’s start
questioning the status quo and rationalize
the way forward out of the traffic and land
use mess we have found ourselves in.
PAGE 7
THETYSONSCORNER.COM PAGE 8
CITIES: ENGINES OF
THE ECONOMY
Over the past year a lot of questions have been
asked whether creating an urban center to
Fairfax will bankrupt our region. One thing has
been lost in the discussion, if a city pops up then
regardless of the cost of infrastructure it is
essentially impossible for the county not to
benefit. The Tysons Corner area has been
typified for decades with massive parking lots,
the lowest form of development, even though
the land values in the millions of dollars per acre
would deem the area prime for an urban district.
For years Fairfax has allowed a piece meal
development plan which banked billions in tax
revenue, but did not leverage that revenue into
a central concept for the emerging city.
Billions of dollars might seem like a stretch, but
actually, over the past 10 years, Tysons Corner
has easily surpassed this value. Our analysis of
tax assessments for real estate within Tysons
Corner has shown that properties such as
Lerner’s Tysons II, Solutions Plaza, and Capital
One all surpass $10 million per year in tax
payments. In fact there are nearly a dozen
cumulative properties within Tysons which
exceed this mark.
If the city is already making this kind of revenue
for our region then what is the point of changing
anything? Well it was all unsustainable. As early
as 2001 the area had become more known for
pavement and traffic, than a corporate hub. No
one thought of supplying a residential demand,
that existed, due to Tysons Corner’s central
location.
More importantly, while high rises began rising,
feeding the need from corporate partners, retail
establishments were finding that they could not
rely on a steady stream of customers. The
problem was the daily mass exodus which lacked
the characteristics to help small businesses
thrive. While weekenders kept both malls
profitable, small strip mall retailers and
independent restaurants continued to fail. As
more road widenings were incorporated to assist
commuters travelling out of town, prime
locations with natural walking paths evolved
adjacency to congested and hazardous highways.
safa
PAGE 9
CURRENT TAX PAYMENTS IN 2011 FOR
A PORTION OF TYSONS CORNER
FUTURE TAX PAYMENTS BASED ON
CURRENT ZONING APPLICATIONS
IN THE PORTION OF TYSONS
CORNER WHICH INCLUDES
LERNER, SOLUTIONS DRIVE,
AND GREENSBORO, THE 2011
TAX ASSESSMENTS SHOW
THAT $25.7 MILLION IN TAX
REVENUES WERE PAID.
IF WE NOW OVERLAY THE
PLANNED DEVELOPMENTS
INCLUDING SAIC/DITTMER,
THE NEW LERNER OFFICE,
RESIDENTIAL, AND RETAIL
TOWERS, AND THE TYSONS
CENTRAL DEVELOPMENTS WE
FIND THAT THE TOTAL
REVENUE BECOMES $52
MILLION. THIS IS JUST ONE
TENTH OF THE TOTAL
REDEVELOPMENT AREA
ASSOCIATED WITH THE
TRANSIT ORIENTED DISTRICTS
IN TYSONS CORNER.
FOLLOWING THIS THROUGH
WE COULD ANTICIPATE WELL
OVER $150 MILLION IN TAX
REVENUE OVER THE NEXT
TWO DECADES.
THETYSONSCORNER.COM PAGE 10
CURRENT TAX PAYMENTS IN 2011 FOR
100 ACRES (500 UNITS) IN BURKE
Let’s give some context to the
values presented. in an affluent
region of Burke with fairly
consistent subdivision houses and a
strip mall encompassing 100 acres
attains approximately $2.2 million a
year. Given the likely 200 or 300
school aged residents in these 4
neighborhoods, the maintenance
required for the roads and common
green areas, and the existence of 3
separate parks it can be anticipated
that this neighborhood provides no
surplus to the county for public
improvements. Many people believe
this should be the case, that tax
rates should be created to only
provide for the base capital needs of
a jurisdiction.
I agree, however the needs of these
residents exceed just the area
directly located above when there
are no jobs located in this
neighborhood. When highways, mass
transit, public water, sanitation, etc
are necessary then in order for this
neighborhood to not bankrupt the
county it must have it’s taxes
raised.
Or
Dense regions such as Tysons Corner
should be invested in, to spur
growth that outpaces residential
neighborhoods by orders of
magnitude, and can keep tax rates
for residents as historically low as
we currently enjoy.
When 100 acres of an affluent
neighborhood provides the same tax
base as a single high rise you can
see how important creating a
healthy city will be to the future of
our region.
The argument to reduce Tysons
urbanization plans do not pass the
logic test. When urban failures such
as Miami are evoked when
discussing the comprehensive plan it
does not fully understand the
uniqueness of Northern Virginia.
Unlike Miami, the economic strength
of this region is established. The
planners are not trying to create
artificial jobs through these
concepts, they are trying to address
traffic and housing price concerns
that are forcing stagnation.
When we provide more space for
people to live and work, and when it
is provided in a manner that also
helps retail thrive with a natural
customer base, we are inducing
innovation. People with great ideas
can find a workshop setting, can
communicate faster, and find
employees who can afford to live in
the area. This is the final benefit of
urbanization, a healthy genesis of
new thoughts becoming new
businesses.
Those who oppose the plan say that
we are wasting money on Tysons,
pointing to the 2.1 billion in
transportation costs, and 3 billion in
metro. What they don’t define is
who we are. The public and
residents are not on the hook for
much of this, really only a few
hundred million spread over
decades. What is lost is this
investment won’t be needed unless
the plans are a success (we don’t
need the infrastructure unless
something is going to be built. This
is a low risk investment whose
returns will take months to repay,
not years.
The Tysons Corner is a
website in its infancy,
started in 2011, created
to discuss the local issues
specific to eastern Fairfax
including the regions of
Tysons Corner, Falls
Church, McLean, Vienna,
and Merrifield. Our goal is
to provide a deeper
analysis of progressive
topics centered around
the new urbanism
concepts of a 21st century
Northern Virginia. We
have seen the region grow
from a quiet suburban
community to a cultural
and economic contributor
of the east coast rivaling
other more established
cities. The area for many
years grew without
direction leaving a
disconnected community
of micro-developments
without any coordinated
design concept. Our goal
is to create a unified,
or cacophonous, voice of
residents and interested
parties to discuss what the
future vision for the
region could or should be.
We look to fill the
questions that many have
and provide the depth of
coverage that is difficult
for overall news
publications to provide.
We are currently
looking for interested
bloggers who are
looking for a forum to
discuss their ideas as a
writer for TTC. This
could be done as an
exclusive TTC format
or as a crosspost with
other independent
blogs. If you are
interested in reaching
a large base of readers
specific to this region
think about joining.
Please feel free to contact us;
PAGE 11
FAIRFAX PARKS
GETS VOCAL
If you have been a resident of Fairfax
County for a while you might have
noticed we have a lot of park land in
our county. Between the recreational
parks for little league teams and
adults to the natural preserves and
trails that wind through Fairfax our
County has made a huge effort in
preserving the beauty that drew early
colonists to our region. Unfortunately
new comers to the area, of which
there is always a steady flow, might
not be aware of everything that the
Fairfax County Park Authority has to
offer. So Fairfax is getting vocal with
the start of their new discussion blog,
started last month, that discusses
various events and happenings for the
Park Authority. This week's story is all
about the Farmer's Markets that are
available in every corner of Fairfax.
http://ourstoriesandperspectives.com/
THETYSONSCORNER.COM PAGE 12
PAGE 13
OF THE
THETYSONSCORNER.COM PAGE 14
I have no idea what took
me so long to try Maple
Avenue.
It shows how many great
restaurants are available
in our area.
Duck Two Ways photo
There were so many great things that I took
away from my visit to Maple Avenue
restaurant that it is difficult to know
exactly where to start. The story of the
chef, Tim Ma, is a good place to start. Tim
started as a colleague in the field of
engineering, in fact I first learned about
Tim when he catered a work event
coordinated by my boss, who was a
coworker of Tim’s when he still wore the
office uniform. After working in the field
he found that his real passion existed
outside of the realm of change orders,
design documents, and water reports. He
left the lucrative and steady work force of
engineering to follow his dream of being a
chef.
As a part time foodie this story speaks to
me. We in the engineering field are often
confined to the realm of the right brain,
what is the most efficient design. Food is a
realm of creativity. Like great stories, great
food is a tough trick to create without
plagiarizing or creating a hackneyed
cuisine. Chef Ma brings a unique voice to
every meal possibly by being an outsider to
the process for so long.
PAGE 15
The decor presents this anti-restaurant
concept aptly. Instead of creating a 100
seat dining atmosphere, the location has
been selected to be intimate and small.
Right off the bat this shows that money is
not the primary motivator, the experience
remains first and foremost. When you sit
down you feel more like you’ve been
invited into someone’s home than into the
traditional business operations of a
restaurant.
The menu is focused and precise but
contains more flavors than the 30 or so
items would suggest. I had to try the Duck
Two Ways when I saw duck prosciutto with
shaved foie gras torchon. This dish is so
complex in flavors that every bite was
unique. The duck prosciutto created an
earthy base complimented by a rich Belazu
balsamic which provides a sweetness to the
dish. The shaved foie gras with the wild
greens kept the appetizer light, and unlike
many decadent salads it was very easy to
get an even fork full of each piece. This
was the best salad I have ever eaten. The
problem now becomes that anytime I
return it will be difficult not to reorder it.
This was the
best salad I have
ever eaten.
THETYSONSCORNER.COM PAGE 16
PAGE 17 PAGE 17
The entrée, butter
poached scallops, was
just as impressive as my
appetizer. The potato
puree with the
champagne sauce was, in
lay, the creamiest mash
potatoes you could ever
hope for. The sauce was
velvety which was very
crucial to the composition
of the plate as a bedding
of the equally smooth
butter poached scallops.
The smoked jowl hash,
which I have to admit I
had no idea what it was
until it came to the table,
had a southern home
cooking feel to it, it was
comfort in every bite.
The plate was well
thought out, unique, but
familiar in many ways. I
got what I paid for with
this dish. Instead of the
cost of the meal going
towards overhead and
operations while giving
the patron the same old
recipe, it was clear that
the cost was almost
completely incorporated
in providing excellent
ingredients paired in
harmony.
THETYSONSCORNER.COM PAGE 18
Not to be outdone, the
risotto was also
excellent, with a
delicious base which
reminded me of fondue,
with a gruyere cream
sauce. The crostinis
smelled and looked great,
and I would have tried
one if it hadn’t been for
the death stare I received
from my girlfriend as I
tried to get a piece.
I was told before
attending to save room
for dessert, thank you DL
Thurston (see his blog
dlthurston.com). I am
glad we did because the
Yuzu Lime Pie with the
home made marshmallow
was the cherry on top of
the meal. Its not usual to
find a restaurant that
focuses on dessert in
equal priority as the
dinner, but in this case
Maple Avenue provides a
dish that stands on its
own.
I’ve always found that
key lime pie/tart/etc is
one of the most varying
desserts in terms of
execution. Some places
make it too tart and
bitter, some making it
sugary sweet. When you
find a good key lime
custard it reminds you
how poor in quality the
knock offs really are. The
rich brown sugar and
graham crackers provide
a depth to the sweetness
and the marshmallow
makes me now which that
I could put this topping on
everything that
traditionally is finished
with whip cream.
Our meal, which by the way was
my two year anniversary with my
girlfriend, was exactly what I was
hoping for from Maple Avenue. It
was intimate. It was all delivery
and no brand name. What’s that
mean? The bells and whistles
which cover up the inadequacies of
bigger restaurants aren’t needed
here. Maple Avenue stands behind
its food, not its austerity, and it
delivers a genuine, masterful meal.
PAGE 19
Support the arts
and creativity in
our schools
Photo: Tysons Corner, taken
at Anthropologie by aspiring
photographer Taylor Worsley
THETYSONSCORNER.COM PAGE 20
THE REDVELOPMENT
CYCLE TRIGGER In our story, the Economics
of Redevelopment, we gave
a financial background as to
why some mid rise
structures can remain in
urban settings while others
are torn down for true
skyscrapers. When one
views how much a building
makes, and how much it
could make by removing
inefficient land uses such as
parking spaces, above
ground storm water
management ponds instead
of rainwater harvesting, and
mechanical facilities at
ground level instead of at
the penthouse you can see
how the land value makes all
the difference.
When land is cheap it
doesn’t make sense to
increase the cost of building
construction to save a little
space, but when an acre
costs upwards of $10 million
a design should consider the
cost saving up going vertical.
When land prices reach
these levels planners and
zoning administrators should
understand that given
certain density maximums
they run the risk of allowing
a property to stagnate when
the benefit of new
development is not
outweighed by the minimum
return on investment.
The price of land and land
use policies, given the same
employment and residential
base, is why some cities rise
while others wither.
Photo: Chicago Skyscrapers, jNIGIM
PAGE 21
When parking lots sit on a
property worth $10 million
dollars per acre, each parking
space has an equivalent cost of
$50,000. When a parking lot
contains 100 spaces this cost
can get huge very quickly.
Beyond the cost of the original
purchase itself ($5.0 Million)
going without production,
leasable space, there is also the
taxes that the owner pays on
essentially un-used land. Now of
course parking is a necessity
even in the densest urban
settings, however constructed
parking within a building takes
1/5th of the land needed for
surface parking and takes up NO
equivalent space when it is
incorporated in the structure of
a building.
The reason why a building as
shown doesn’t incorporate
parking garages as part of it’s
structure is due to the
cost/benefit of doing so at the
time of construction. When a
county will not allow a certain
height to be surpassed then the
builder can either go below
ground (which causes extensive
costs in excavation) or to eat up
leasable space above ground.
The latter rarely ever happens
unless the owner is allowed to
build a structure vertically
larger to accommodate the loss.
Excavation is typical when the
building sales can return the
difference. So in this example,
where the parking lot has an
indirect cost of $5.0 million
capital, $50,000 annual tax, and
$25,000 annual maintenance at
a certain point it makes more
sense given demand to pay more
up front to redevelop.
In Tysons that parity point is
here in many cases and
approaching in almost all. A
parking space of 180 sf in the
new comprehensive plan would
be replaced with 4500 sf of
developed space. Residential/
retail/commercial spaces can
vary between $15 to 40 per
square foot. The parking space
which cost $50,000 can now
make $100,000 annual
revenue. The question becomes
is there enough benefit to
outweigh the extensive (often
more than $100 million) in
construction cost in a timely
return?
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