Reston: Large housing developments on all points of the compass

Change on the way: Leaves and landscapes are changing around town. Photo by Benjamin Burgess

A series of reports on the future of "New Town" as a new town

by Gene Powell

If you’ve thought “housing developments are everywhere” in Reston, you’re right.

More than 60 years ago, Reston was founded as an innovative “new town” with a guiding motto: “Live, work, play.” The town debuted as a diverse Washington, D.C., suburb with multiple housing options, centralized locations for offices, light businesses and mixed retail operations, as well as open green spaces.

In 2026, large development projects are transforming that idyllic vision through projects on all points of the compass, many of them replacing office and professional buildings with townhomes, apartments and condominiums.

The Commerce Metro Center project is located on Centennial Park Drive and Commerce Park Drive, including the Wiehle Reston-East Metro station, just west of the intersection of Wiehle Avenue and Sunrise Valley Drive. The site is 15.95 acres and encompasses multiple parcels and buildings. The proposal includes more than 2 million square feet of new development with retail, hotel, and office uses, in addition to 540 new residential units, parking spaces, and pedestrian improvements.

As Reston’s transformation continues, from lightly occupied farmland to the 1960s “New Town” to what some today call “Silicon Valley East,” concerns include crippling traffic increases, huge surges in school-age populations, potentially inadequate power, sewer and water infrastructure, and the loss of open spaces, small-business locations and recreational opportunities.

Perhaps most devastating to the goal of town founder Robert E. Simon, who envisioned Reston as a diverse, mixed-income community, are housing prices. Many single-family homes are valued at more than $1 million, while “affordable housing” can mean a one-bedroom condominium priced at $350,000.

The civic response to those proposals, concerns and prices is split among a diverse combination of private and public entities and centered on a comprehensive plan, updated periodically, that aims to balance protecting Reston’s original vision with recognizing contemporary realities.

Among the major developments proposed, seeking county approval or being built:

• Commerce Metro Center: The 16-acre development is west of Wiehle Avenue, between Sunrise Valley Drive and the Dulles Toll Road, adjacent to the Wiehle-Reston East Metro station. It also borders the Reston Association communities of Wethersfield Cluster, Harborside Cluster, Hunters Green Cluster, Hampton Meadows and Upper Lakes Drive. A county Planning Commission hearing is set for Nov. 17 on a proposal that includes office, hotel and retail uses, as well as 540 new residential units. Reston Association’s Board of Directors is concerned about associated light and noise pollution and is asking that a proposed 21-story building be reduced “to mirror the Google building opposite the site.” The board also wants the residences to join the association.

• East Link: On Reston’s western edge, along Sunrise Valley Drive near the Herndon Metro station, the most recent plan would place multifamily and stacked housing on 35 acres now occupied by three office buildings. A public hearing is set for Dec. 9 before the county Planning Commission.

• Reston East Planning Study: This 39.6-acre area south of the Dulles Toll Road extends from Upper Lakes Drive to Hunter Mill Road. Office buildings could be replaced by as many as 2,000 townhomes. On Oct. 27, county planners posted public comments from a July meeting noting concerns about traffic congestion, housing affordability and the impact on the adjacent W&OD Trail. A second community meeting is expected in December.

• Town Center North: A long-planned extension of the existing Town Center, the project could take 20 years or more to complete. It includes a mix of public and private projects, including the relocation of existing library and shelter buildings, new park space and a recreation facility.

• Lake Fairfax Business Park: On Reston’s eastern side, along Sunset Hills Road and the W&OD Trail, south of Lake Fairfax Park, the proposed development would contain 1,250 housing units and some retail options on 49 acres of the 76-acre site. An existing hotel, fitness center and data center will remain.

• Isaac Newton Square: In the heart of Reston, a few blocks north of the Wiehle-Reston East Metro station, portions of this original Reston office park are being transformed into what ultimately could be 2,100 housing units.

• Reston Crossing: A 24-acre concept immediately south of Metro’s Reston Town Center station and the Dulles Toll Road. County planning documents describe it as a “cohesive seven-block, transit-oriented mixed-use urban development.” Some plans for the site call for several high-rise buildings and more than 1,200 residences.

• Reston National Golf Course: A long-debated proposal would revise or replace at least part of the golf course on Reston’s southern edge with townhomes. Some county officials have called the controversial proposal the “poster child” for future changes to Reston’s original mix of residential, business, retail and recreational uses.

Reston’s skyline has already changed dramatically with the 40-story Skymark apartment building near Metro’s Town Center station and multiple high-rise buildings at the Wiehle-Reston East Metro station. A 2022 Reston Association environmental study forecast future population growth as high as 120,000, an estimate already challenged as too low.

Residents also will see other physical changes. New bridges or underpasses across the Dulles Toll Road are planned or under discussion as extensions of Soapstone Drive, South Lakes Drive and Town Center Parkway. A major developer floated the idea in 2025 of a trolley line connecting retail areas and existing office centers from Wiehle Avenue to Plaza America. The possible sale of at least part of the U.S. Geological Survey campus in Reston also was included in a 2026 listing by federal agencies of potentially disposable sites.

The town’s future also will be shaped by outside forces: the rapidly changing economic and business environment along the corridor stretching from Tysons and the Capital Beltway to Dulles International Airport and beyond. Loudoun County’s status as the data center “world capital,” combined with other strong growth along the Dulles Toll Road corridor, will place new pressures on electrical and water resources and could negatively affect adjacent residential neighborhoods.

Next: What makes Reston and the Dulles corridor in general so attractive to developers?

Rendering of the proposed Commerce Metro Center, as posted on the Reston Association website.