Lake Anne Plaza Beautification Project May Still Happen As LARCA Board Signals Support

RESTON, VA — Lake Anne Rising, the $250,000 beautification project proposed by the Gupta Family Foundation, may still happen, according the board representing the owners of the ailing Lake Anne Plaza in Reston.

Wednesday was the deadline Margaret and Dr. Shashikant Gupta had given Lake Anne of Reston, A Condominium Association (LARCA) to signal it was supporting their proposal to beautify Lake Anne Plaza. If LARCA failed to make that commitment by the deadline, as well as pledge to contribute $45,000 to the project, the Guptas would call it a day and the project would stop right there.

LARCA President George Hadjikyriakou told Patch on Wednesday afternoon the board supported the Guptas' proposal.

"The board is in agreement that this proposed project is a good thing, but we also agree that there are issues we need to discuss and come to an agreement on with the Guptas before we can move forward," he said, in an email. "I am confident that once we sit down to discuss (hopefully in a timely manner) we will get there."

Hadjikyriakou added that the board was still in the stage of negotiating while it navigated through the restrictions and requirements imposed on it by LARCA's bylaws. The new board is in the middle of reviewing the association's 2022 budget, which must be completed by the end of the month.

Related: Lake Anne Beautification Stalls Over Deadline, $45K Commitment

As Patch reported on Tuesday, an agreement between the board and the Guptas appeared to have stalled. At that time, Hadjikyriakou said he appreciated the foundation's offer but couldn't commit by the Dec. 1 deadline to supporting the project or authorizing the $45,000 for the beautification when the plaza already was facing an estimated $37 million in infrastructure repairs.

Over the last two years, LARCA's landscaping budget had fallen close to zero, as the board redirected money to pay for emergency repairs and address other infrastructure concerns.

As a result, the plaza's appearance began to deteriorate and the Guptas identified this as an area of concern.

"The plaza is really enjoyed by everybody," Shashi Gupta said, in Nov. 23 interview. "It's not just the owners. So we thought we could get some funding from different organizations, which might happen. In addition, we could raise money from the wider investment community. Then we could do something that gives hope."

The proposed beautifications would include filling the plaza's 15 planters with new plants, cleaning concrete and bricks, installing a sign at the entrance of the plaza, and restoring both the Pyramid Park sculpture and the Fonseca Monolith.

To get the ball rolling, the Guptas committed to contributing a $25,000 grant from their foundation toward the project. But they also said they would not move forward without LARCA's participation and a long-term commitment to continue the plaza's upkeep. As part of the proposal, they asked LARCA to make a commitment of support and dedicate $45,000 toward the project by Dec. 1.

Related: $37M In Repairs Needed To Lake Anne's Aging Infrastructure

The foundation proposed a budget of $250,000, which would be raised with the following funding program:

• Gupta Family Foundation: $25,000
• LARCA: $45,000
• Reston Community Center (RCC): $50,000
• Reston Association (RA): $25,000
• Community Fundraising: $105,000

With the exception of the $25,000 grant, the other numbers in the foundation's presentation were characterized as aspirational.

While the LARCA board reviewed the proposal, a group of Lake Anne property owners who had attended the Guptas' Nov. 18 community meeting began circulating a petition of support for the project. Nine property owners pledged to donating a total of $33,000 toward LARCA's share of the project, which meant the board only had to commit $12,000 from its 2022 budget.

Hadjikyriakou told Patch he had only heard about this effort second hand and couldn't confirm it. However, he did say the board supported the idea of dedicating funding in future budgets to landscaping, albeit at a lower priority to the list of urgently needed projects to complete.

"This will depend on the outcome of the upcoming meeting discussions with the Guptas and our ability to complete our 2022 budget review in a timely manner," he said.

Hadjikyriakou also said the board was working to resolve the boiler issue that has left some Chimney House residents without heat and making the necessary repairs to some Chimney House units that were damaged by flooding in September.

On Tuesday afternoon, Shashi Gupta was generally optimistic about the project's future.

"We have a draft agreement (currently under review by [the Reston Historic Trust])," he said in an email to Hadjikyriakou. "We hope to have it to you in a day or two and would request LARCA to execute it as expeditiously as possible, preferably no later than Monday, December 6th."