A long-awaited redevelopment project in the heart of Springfield is on hold indefinitely in what may be the first large-scale casualty of Fairfax County’s flattened housing market.
Midtown Springfield, a proposed 9-acre cluster of dwellings, shops and offices, was an integral part of a plan to revitalize the lackluster area. Last year, an attorney for developer KSI said the project could be under way by late 2007.
But that was before Northern Virginia’s housing market deflated. Home values declined this year for the first time since 1998, a slump that was led by the condo market. The trend, coupled with the rising cost of materials, has made Midtown Springfield a far less lucrative venture.
KSI declined to comment on Friday, but officials acknowledge the developer has put the brakes on the proposal. The development would have been located off Interstate 95 and included parcels on Commerce Street, Old Keene Mill Road and Brandon Avenue.
“I don’t know if it is the first to be put on hold [because of the market], but it is the first of that magnitude that I’m aware of,” said Fairfax County Economic Development Authority CEO Jerry Gordon.
The proposal, as of last year, called for 800 condos and apartments, 40,000 square feet of office space, as much as 100,000 square feet of retail space and a 10- to 14- story hotel. Residents spoke hopefully of the project getting under way, and the latest setback has prompted at least a degree of frustration in the community.
“I think the county ought to get off their duffs and get things going,” said Bob Stockton of the Central Springfield Area Revitalization Council.
