$5 Million Request For Herndon To Finish Downtown Redevelopment Project Accepted

HERNDON, VA — Fairfax County Board of Supervisors approved a motion at its regular meeting last Tuesday to accept a $5 million request from the Town of Herndon to help pay for the completion of the Herndon Downtown Redevelopment Project.

Dranesville District Supervisor John Foust introduced the motion, which was seconded by Board Chair Jeffrey McKay and approved unanimously by the board.

This vote was the first step in the county's process, according to Foust. Once county staff examines the proposal, it will bring the request back to the board for final approval.

Back in 2017, the Town of Herndon entered in an agreement with Comstock Herndon Venture to redevelop nearly five acres of town-owned land into a mixed-use project that would include hundreds of apartments and thousands of square feet of retail space.

The council also approved an ordinance that would allow Comstock to buy the land from Herndon. Comstock plans to build a complex that would include 281 apartments, 17,600 square feet of retail space, and an 18,000-square-foot Arts Center in addition to a 761-space parking garage, according to a statement from the town.

Related: Herndon Downtown Redevelopment Project

Back in 2018, supervisors approved a request from the town for $1,200,000 from the county's Economic Opportunity Reserve to go toward the capital construction costs for the redevelopment project. Because everything had been put on hold due to the pandemic, none of the allocated funds have been spent to date.

"The project continues to move through implementation and all key milestones have now been met, including all necessary regulatory approvals and the sale of the property by the Town to their development partner," Foust said, in his board matter. "Not surprisingly, the COVID-19 pandemic has had major impacts on the construction and delivery of this project. There have been substantial increases in material costs and workforce restrictions which have led to project cost increases."

To address the cost increases caused by the delay, the town council approved the expenditure of an additional $5 million of its own money to make sure the project was completed. This brought the total amount allocated by the town for the project to $17,850,000. The town then submitted a request to the county for another $5 million contribution.

In approving the motion, the board directed County Executive Bryan Hill to prepare an Initial Project Evaluation of the Herndon Downtown Redevelopment Project to ensure they met the guidelines of the Economic Opportunity Reserve. Hill was also directed to evaluate the impact the $5 million contribution would have on furthering the county's goals.

"This is the culmination of close to eight months of effort between town staff, county economic development staff, Supervisor Foust’s office and Comstock, the developer of the project," Councilmember Signe L. Friedrichs said, in a post on Facebook.

At its Nov. 6, 2020 public meeting, the town council amended its comprehensive agreement with Comstock to get the project rolling again.

The amendment included extending some of Comstock's rights that were affected by the pandemic delays and market conditions so that it could pause the construction start day by 24 months.

In addition, the town council approved some economic incentives for the developer, including cutting building permits and water and sewer fees by 50 percent, as well as extending an abatement in real estate taxes. The estimate value of these and other incentives was $1.9 million over 10 years, with an estimated tax return above refund of $1,165,000.

The town's incentive at that time, besides kickstarting the project as a whole, was to change ownership of the property it had acquired for the redevelopment, so that it could began collecting tax revenue on it. As long as the town owned the property, tax could not be collected on it.

The agreement also allowed the town to continue using the existing ArtSpace and public shared parking.

The land transfer between the town and Comstock occurred on Dec. 15, 2020.