Arlington County will continue its surging growth over the next 30 year, but most of those new people, jobs and housing will shift to Crystal City, the county’s latest long-range planning projections show. The projections show that 23 percent of the county’s future population growth will be centered in Crystal City, and that’s good news for the county’s ambitious goal of converting that area from a collection of corporate offices to a more residential neighborhood. The opportunity to remake the area comes as the Pentagon begins closing and consolidating its installations and offices around the country, including moving 17,000 employees out of offices in Arlington County, including 13,000 from Crystal City alone.
| Population Growth | ||
| Crystal City | 8,200 | |
| Columbia Pike | 7,300 | |
| Pentagon City | 4,700 | |
| Housing Growth | ||
| Crystal City | 6,000 | |
| Columbia Pike | 3,900 | |
| Pentagon City | 3,700 | |
| Employment Growth | ||
| Crystal City | 18,700 | |
| Rosslyn | 16,700 | |
| Court House | 6,300 | |
With the adoption of the Crystal City plan last year, the County Board expects most new development to be residential, mostly apartments. Anthony Fusarelli, the county’s urban planner, said officials have already been approached by several developers interested in building apartments in Crystal City.
“If you turn the clock back to 2004 or 2005, and if you were looking at a similar document in terms of what our growth forecasts were for the next 30 years at that point, they would have been much different,” Fusarelli said. Previous projections didn’t reflect the four years of planning the county conducted to transform Crystal City.
In 2004, the county was expecting Crystal City to have a population of 11,503 by 2030. Now, they expect the population, particularly around the neighborhood’s Metro station, to jump to 18,900 by 2040.
Overall, a majority of the projected growth in all areas will continue to occur mainly around Arlington’s major corridors near public transportation, just as the county has planned.
“It really does exemplify their smart growth policies and initiatives for the county,” said Elizabeth Rodger, a county demographer. In areas without easy access to public transportation, growth is not nearly as strong, she said.
Columbia Pike and Pentagon City, both of which are located near public transportation hubs, round out the top three areas where future growth in population and housing are expected. Columbia Pike is served by buses, but could grow even more if a proposed streetcar line is built there.
