Found this, re: the Georgelas Group's project,
http://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/plannin...projectloi.pdf
Looks like the tallest building is 31 stories, and the second tallest 21. Given the size of the buildings relative to those around them (there are 20 story buildings behind that are significantly shorter than both), I'd peg their heights as 400-450' and 300', respectively, both larger than anything currently present in Tysons.
Very interesting to note these two bits, as well:
http://www.connectionnewspapers.com/...per=73&cat=104
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tysons Corner, Five Years From Now
Ted Georgelas, The Georgelas Group
Big change will come to at least one section of Tysons Corner if Georgelas, manager at The Georgelas Group, has a say in the matter.
The real estate developer’s company owns 28 acres near the corner of Spring Hill Road and Route 7, including the area directly adjacent to the Tysons West Metro station.
In five years, Georgelas expects at least two apartment buildings with 800 living units, one office building with 500,000 square-feet of space and a hotel with 300 rooms to open on that property.
"The change will be overwhelming and dramatic. There will be one large, iconic office building that has been integrated into the Metro stop and two rental properties next to it," said the developer, who plans to put 15 buildings on the site into total.
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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...082704727.html
Quote:
Originally Posted by Washington Post
The amended master plan, approved in late June by the county Board of Supervisors, limits the amount of office space allowed in Tysons Corner to 45 million square feet, in an effort to prevent the area from becoming a traffic-riddled office canyon rather than a mixed-use, walkable community.
Though plans to actually start building are far off, developers have already submitted plans approaching the 45 million square-foot limit. The area currently has about 27 million square feet of office space, with another 6 million square-feet worth of plans that were approved before the new plan was completed. About 2 million square feet is likely to be reserved by the county for public facilities.
That leaves 10 million square feet to be had, and three major property owners have already submitted applications for about 4.6 million square feet that would count toward the limit, according to county officials, with many other plans still in the works.
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It looks like the Georgelas Group's plan is actually close to reality--meaning, that those buildings mentioned earlier in this post could be some of the first to rise. Also extremely interesting is how the office limit is already close to being reached; what implications does this have? The article talks about how, seemingly, they can ignore zoning caps in Virginia?
I think the major implication reaching the cap so soon would have would be height limits--the arbitrary 400' limit on buildings in Tysons is fairly ridiculous. There are no vistas to preserve and if you're going to build dense, do it right, and enable skyscrapers. The 400-450'ish Georgelas building is tall, but I think they should raise the limit to the 750' range, or abolish it completely.
One interesting solution I thought of is imposing extra taxes on those building above 400', in exchange for their greater FARs, essentially. The county could charge developers a one-time tax of $500,000 per 10 feet above 400' up--so a 600' building would pay an extra $10 million in taxes initially, but the developer would have a greater buildable area (if they allowed a FAR bonus) and the county would have more money.
Another interesting idea, I think, I had is to have a general limit of 400', but, maybe 10 special permits for buildings up to 1000', that are actually auctioned/sold off--giving trophy buildings all the more desirability. The tallest building (1000'er) would stand alone, and of course the rights to build that tall would be the most expensive to buy--and then you would have two buildings in the 850' range, four buildings up to 700', six up to 550', and then the general buildings from 400' on down. I think this plan would actually provide an interesting urban landscape--you could have a relatively uniform plateau around the general 300-400 level when close to metro stops, and the skyline would have great focal points with these other buildings, breaking up the monotony without overwhelming development goals. Just an idea!