Brandon Henry figured the Silver Line would be up and running by the time the 404-unit apartment building he was constructing in Tysons Corner was complete.

I never thought we would beat Metro, he said. Never, ever.

But beat it he did. The Ascent, a 25-story high-rise, welcomed its first tenants in April.

Not only is the building the first of its kindwithin close proximity of a new Silver Line station, but it is a test case for one of the most central questions about the future of Tysons: Now that the area has Metro, will people choose tolive there?

Tysons already has a citys worth of office space, shopping and jobs.But it has hardly any people. In 2010, when the county passed a nearly 250-page plan calling for the urbanization of Tysons, only about 17,000 people lived there. Thats up to21,228 according to the latest estimate. Still, there are3.39 employees there for every resident more than double the ratio in Arlington.

The countys plan for aMetro-accessible, urban Tysons calls for100,000 residents, and Henrys building is the first of more than a dozen major projects and more than 10,000 apartments or condos targeted for empty parking lots and industrial properties surrounding the Metro stations.

So far Henry, a managing director at Greystar, a South Carolina firm with offices in Tysons, likes what he sees. About 30 percent of the building is leased to a mix of people, most of whom work in Tysons. The project is leasing at a pace that he says will have the building filled in another two years.

He and the company are confident enough that next month they will begin work ona second building even closer to the Spring Hill Metro Station station, on a mostly empty lot. That building, designed by R2L Architects of Georgetown, will add another 400 units.

Greystar is attracting residents with many of the amenities that are already popular in newer buildings in Arlington and the District: common areas that offer a rooftop pool, fire pits, pool tables and numerous grills and entertaining areas. It is about a quarter mile from the entrance to the Spring Hill station.

The rapid construction of new housing surprised Stuart Mendelsohn, a real estate attorney and former member of the board of supervisors who helped shaped the Tysons plan.

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With Silver Line, will people live in Tysons Corner?

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July 28, 2014 at 11:51 am by Mr HomeBuilder
Category: Apartment Building Construction