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There are parts of Alexandria that are nearly unrecognizable compared to just a few years ago — and with cranes in the sky and plans in the pipeline, Alexandria will continue to change.
We'll be keeping this map updated when new development proposals pop up and when we have updates on construction in progress.
- Red pins: City of Alexandria east of Quaker Lane
- Blue pins: City of Alexandria west of Quaker Lane
- Green pins: Southeast Fairfax County
Zoom in and click on the map pins for more information on what's coming to your neighborhood!
Scroll down on this page to read about the current state of affordable housing, healthcare development, retail development and more.
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DENSITY AND AFFORDABILITY
Bring up the word “density” and you’re sure to spark a response from just about anyone in the area. Alexandria is the most densely populated city in Virginia and there are several new housing developments coming, but the city — and much of Northern Virginia — is still suffering from a serious lack of affordable housing for many families, young professionals and service workers.
“With rents continuing to rise and incomes not keeping up, many critical frontline and essential workers are finding it increasingly difficult to find homes in the communities where they work,” Mount Vernon District Supervisor Dan Storck wrote in July in a piece advocating for continuing Fairfax County’s commitment to affordable housing development. For those able to purchase homes, prices are up significantly from just a few years ago. The average price of residential real estate in the City of Alexandria (including condos, townhomes and single-family properties) was $719,893 at the end of June, according to data from the Northern Virginia Association of Realtors.
In Fairfax County, the average price of a home was $792,686. In June 2017, five years ago, the average price was less than $600,000 in both localities. More than half of all housing units in the city of Alexandria (52%) are occupied by renters, who are feeling the effects of inflation and high demand, too. Rental costs have increased in the past year, with the average rent for all apartments at $1,944 per month in the City of Alexandria, according to RentCafe data. That’s an increase from a pandemic-era low in November 2020 of about $1,700.
To stay within traditional guidelines where housing does not take up more than 30% of pre-tax monthly income, comfortably affording a $1,922 apartment requires a household income of more than $76,800 per year. Increasing the focus on affordable housing development is the right thing to do, according to residents who responded to the National Community Survey in the city of Alexandria in 2020.
In that survey, just 18% of residents rated the “availability of affordable, quality housing” as excellent or good. In the same survey, 79% of residents said it was "essential or very important” for city officials to focus on housing affordability. This is not a unique problem for Alexandria. Nearly half of all Americans (49%) say the availability of affordable housing in their local community is a major problem, according to Pew Research. That concern is up 10% from 2018.
While the city has made progress on creating more affordable housing, there is more work to do. Some residents think increasing density and using zoning tools to create affordable housing opportunities is part of the answer. A nonprofit group called YIMBYs of Northern Virginia focuses on advocating for changes in zoning regulations allowing for denser housing, including things like accessory dwelling units.
This summer, Alexandria officials considered another zoning tool to help encourage developers to build more affordable housing. The “bonus height” allowance proposal would have allowed buildings traditionally limited to a height of 45-feet to request an additional 25-feet of height if one-third of the additional housing the height provides is committed as affordable in the long-term. The proposal was met with strong opposition from some residents who worried about too-tall buildings popping up in otherwise low-rise neighborhoods. The proposal has been put on pause while city officials gather and provide more detailed information to residents.
TRANSPORTATION
For years on end, Northern Virginia and the District ranked in the top three metro areas with the worst traffic congestion in the United States, according to Texas Transportation Institute data. The pandemic provided a reprieve as many professionals worked from home, but the combination of increasing population and people slowly (and reluctantly) returning to a regular workday commute means traffic is now almost as bad as it was back in 2019.
There are many changes coming as local, regional and state officials work to make commuting, running errands and visiting friends a bit less painful.
In both Alexandria and Southeast Fairfax County, expect to see more dedicated bus lanes by the end of this decade. Fairfax County officials are working with state and local partners to widen Richmond Highway and put dedicated bus rapid transit (BRT) lanes in the middle, along with safer pedestrian crossings, bike routes and traffic signal improvements for cars. The new BRT system, called “The One,” will be the largest bus rapid transit system in Virginia once it is complete in 2030. The system will have nine stations along Richmond Highway from Huntington Metro Station to Fort Belvoir and expects to serve 15,000 passengers a day.
The City of Alexandria is reimagining bus transportation in several areas, including at the new “WestEnd” development on the former Landmark Mall property, along North and South Van Dorn, Beauregard and Duke streets. Depending on how studies and finances play out, these routes could see a combination of signal prioritization, dedicated bus lanes and other improvements to keep traffic flowing along those frequently congested roads, while providing safer pedestrian and bicycle routes. In September 2021, the Alexandria Transit Co., which operates the DASH bus system, made the buses free to ride to encourage usage.
People in their own cars aren’t being left out entirely. The Virginia Department of Transportation is considering adding HOT (High Occupancy Toll) lanes to the rest of the Beltway in Virginia, from the Springfield Interchange (the Mixing Bowl) through the Alexandria area and across the Woodrow Wilson Bridge.
The Potomac Yard Metro station is expected to be fully operational by November, but not before a few more growing pains. Extensive work on the Yellow and Blue lines is expected to start in early September, including shutting down a portion of the Metro lines south of Reagan National Airport to connect the new Potomac Yard rail station to the rest of the system. Metro is also planning to spend millions of dollars and about eight months rehabilitating the Yellow Line bridge and adjacent tunnels. That will effectively cut off Alexandria from points north on the Metro rail system until at least May 2023. Buses will provide routes around the affected Metro rail stations.
HEALTHCARE
Two of the largest developments in the Alexandria area have a common anchor: Inova.
In Alexandria’s West End, the 51-acre Landmark Mall site is being leveled. By 2028, a new hospital and trauma center, medical offices and related services will fill the 10 acres at the former Sears. The rest of the development will include a variety of residential, retail and civic uses, open space and more. The City of Alexandria received the Red Clay Development of the Year Award for its Landmark Mall Redevelopment Plan from the Commonwealth of Virginia.
At the other end of the city, Inova is working with developer Stonebridge on Oakville Triangle, a $300 million project at the corner of Swann Avenue and Richmond Highway. The project includes more than 1 million square feet of residential space, a new Inova HealthPlex with a comprehensive emergency room and 55,000 square feet of retail. The first buildings could open by the end of 2023. With the opening of the new Inova Hospital and Trauma Center at the WestEnd (formerly Landmark Mall) in 2028, the “old” Alexandria Hospital will be closing. With some controversy, the hospital was able to pre-emptively rezone the hospital land for redevelopment in an effort to make it more attractive to potential buyers. It is likely that the hospital’s land at 4320 Seminary Road will become a new residential development — how dense and what other uses are considered will depend on who purchases the land.
OFFICE SPACE
Although a lot of businesses are telling their employees to return to work in the office, many of those businesses are offering flexible terms for remote work. As their office leases end, many of those same companies are seriously reconsidering how much space they actually need for the years ahead. That means there’s a lot of office space for lease in Alexandria, and a number of office buildings are converting to residential use. In Eisenhower East, a plan to build two office buildings was scrapped in favor of building residences.
On King Street, an office condo building is undergoing renovations to become residential. Such conversions are happening in Old Town North, too.
But one single office tower in Alexandria accounts for more than 15% of the city’s empty office space: The Victory Center at 5001 Eisenhower Ave. Built in 1973 and renovated several times, the office building is best set up for a government client, but the building has sat empty for years. An affiliate of Stonebridge bought the entire property just before the pandemic hit, and sold the eastern portion of it to another company. Winchester Homes is now building 130 townhomes on what was the parking lot east of the office building. Stonebridge is planning to redevelop the western portion of the property. The future of the Victory Center building itself is still to be determined. Stonebridge has reportedly considered demolishing the building and building a multifamily residential building above a parking garage there.
WATER
Of all the projects in Alexandria, the most complex project is happening mostly underground. Alexandria is one of hundreds of cities nationwide with a combined sewer system, and the state-mandated RiverRenew project is designed to significantly reduce the pollution the combined system can cause when the system is overwhelmed by rainfall. In July, the star of the show arrived — a subterranean tunnel boring machine named Hazel that will construct a new 2-mile-long tunnel 100 feet underground. The tunnel will run along the Potomac River from the end of Pendleton Street, through an outfall at the end of Royal Street where it will continue to the AlexRenew wastewater treatment plant in the Eisenhower East area.
Ultimately, the project will prevent 120 million gallons of combined sewage from affecting local waterways every year. RiverRenew officials have been careful to explain that this project is focused on water quality and is not a stormwater control project. In other words, RiverRenew will not reduce the likelihood, frequency or effects of tidal and rainstorm flooding that routinely affect low-lying neighborhoods in Alexandria. For that, Alexandria city officials are investing in and playing catch-up on a variety of projects, including culvert remediation and larger sewer lines for new developments.
