City of Alexandria
The Vulcan Materials site in Alexandria's West End is set for a major transformation.
Formerly a concrete, aggregate materials facility and sales center for Vulcan Materials Co. — the nation’s largest producer of construction aggregates, according to its website — the site just west of South Van Dorn Street will welcome new condos, townhomes, a public park and a hotel.
City council voted 5-1 recently in favor of multiple development special use permits that will bring new streets to the area with the development. The development could include up to 31 townhomes, 88 stacked townhomes and multiple condo buildings with 204 units, in addition to a 256-room hotel and 6-acre park. The condos will range from one to three bedrooms. In documents submitted to council, a rendering shows the hotel as a Hilton Garden Inn and a Homewood Suites, co-branded.
Lennar Corporation and Potomac Land Group II, LLC are behind the project to redevelop the now-vacant brownfields site of nearly 18 acres. Environmental remediation itself could take a year or more to complete, according to the project's attorney, and delivery of the first homes will not happen for at least three years. The development is not required to include affordable housing units on-site, but there will be a contribution to the city's affordable housing fund.
Ultimately, city staff told council in site documents that they "[support] the proposed Vulcan site redevelopment plan that would remediate the former industrial site to create a new neighborhood with a public park, residences, a hotel, retail, and a street grid that aligns with the recommendations of the EWSAP. The project also represents an opportunity to continue building out the Backlick Run Trail and concentrate growth near the Van Dorn Metro and future West End Transitway."
Mayor Justin Wilson pointed out that the small area plan for this neighborhood was approved a decade ago, but development has been very slow. While he would love to see a higher-density development, he noted, he recognized the need to accept what's possible over nothing.
"Had I a magic wand, I would absolutely want to see this property that is in the shadow of the Van Dorn Metro — I would want to see it built to the maximum density, I would want to see an inclusionary zoning requirement that ensures that a portion of that is affordable — all of those things would be what I want to see on that site," Wilson said. "But that is not viable. That will not happen. So I think the question for us is what is in the realm of possibility and how do we make that happen?"
City of Alexandria via site developers
