Residents Move Into 279-Unit Complex Built on Former Government Center Parking Lot

Residents began moving this week into Fairfax Crest, a 279-unit affordable housing building at 12020 and 12040 Government Center Parkway that opened Monday, October 26, on the Fairfax County Government Center campus. The project stands where a government center parking lot used to be, and it was delivered under two years after construction started.

Fairfax County officials and development partners gathered Monday for the opening. Braddock District Supervisor Rachna Sizemore Heizer said the project shows how land the county already owns can be put to different use. "By transforming underutilized parking lots into 279 beautiful homes, we get to show how strategic use of our land creates meaningful opportunities for individuals and families," she said in a release issued by the Fairfax County Redevelopment and Housing Authority. She also noted the location near retail, jobs, public transit, and childcare.

Lincoln Avenue Communities built the one- to three-bedroom units in partnership with the Fairfax County Redevelopment and Housing Authority. The building carries EarthCraft Gold certification and includes rooftop solar power. Amenities listed for residents include a playground, dog park, game tables, in-unit laundry, free internet, a fitness center, lounges, and underground parking. An on-site childcare center will be operated by the Reston nonprofit Cornerstones.

The housing authority owns the land. It took possession of the parcel from the Board of Supervisors in early 2021 and holds it under a 99-year ground lease. Capital One funded the construction, and the Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development also backed the project.

Stephanie Pierre-Louis, Capital One's head of community finance for the Mid-Atlantic region, said the bank provided more than $97 million in construction loans plus over $67 million in Low Income Housing Tax Credit equity for the 279 homes. "Stable, affordable housing is the cornerstone of economic opportunity, and the need is especially urgent across Northern Virginia," she said.

Fairfax Crest is one of more than 20 affordable housing projects the county lists as under development or recently opened, several of them in the Braddock District. The county has set a goal of producing 10,000 net new affordable homes by 2034. Lincoln Avenue Communities is working with the housing authority on two all-affordable high-rises in Tysons Central that would add 525 homes on a vacant Leesburg Pike site. The housing authority bought two parcels at 3625 and 3627 King Johns Way in McNair for about $23 million and estimates the nearly 2-acre site could hold roughly 400 affordable units.

Affordable housing is also being weighed alongside renovations at the Centreville and Chantilly regional libraries. The adopted fiscal year 2027 capital improvement plan sets aside $53 million for Chantilly and $37 million for Centreville through Economic Development Authority bonds. The Board of Supervisors moved the Centreville library site to the housing authority at the end of September so the authority can weigh a developer and evaluate the proposal.

The county's affordable housing webpage lists more than 20 projects under development or recently opened, including work at the Franconia Government Center.