Then why didn't you give the address of the townhouses? I just looked at the building you provided. I know the > 2100 Oakton housing units coming online all have townhouses in them. Families don't usually pay the premium for an apartment next to the metro. Families go where they can get more space for less money. |
Yes. That Marriott at millions for a condo is going to attract a lot of families with kids...... And, the BLVD is pretty pricey for rent. |
Because if I have you the name of the developers and the location you can do the magic of Google to find original sources rather than being spoonfed. Plus if you're the same poster who said they were familiar with the area, they undoubtedly saw a) the existing townhouses which were recently built, n) the boarded up office buildings they are about to come down(18 acres I might add) c) all of the sewer revamp that is going on to support the Issac square project, and d) the decommissioned community college building. That area has been under heavy construction for years. Anyone familiar with the area would know that even if they don't know the unit totals. |
I'm the pp who is somewhat familiar with the Reston area. There are some townhouses by Lake Anne that have recently opened--but not tons of them. They are next to the senior housing. There are also some old Old Reston Avenue going up--across from Plaza America. Again, not a huge development. Here is the development that PP was referring to: https://www.ffxnow.com/2025/10/23/work-starts-in-reston-on-first-phase-of-isaac-newton-square-development/ The first phase of work is underway in the redevelopment of Isaac Newton Square, an office park in Reston that will be transformed into a mixed-use neighborhood in phases over the next 20 years. |
| I think RIO mom is trying to claim that South Lakes has more new construction than Oakton. I do not believe that to be true in light of the huge development that is underway up the street from Oakton. |
No dog in this fight but the FCPS residential applications dashboard (last updated in August 2025) identifies more potential growth within the South Lakes pyramid than within the Oakton pyramid. I think the top five in order are Marshall, McLean, South Lakes, Westfield, and Edison. McLean will shed most of that potential growth to Langley with the Spring Hill island moving to Langley and much of the Westfield growth will be in areas likely to move to Western. Source: https://experience.arcgis.com/experience/08eca5b417f94ca09dc6c384db28c764/ |
What is your obsession with Fairfax County Parkway? It's just a road. Like any other. |
I said that there are some families zoned to Crossfield that are closer to Western than some families zoned to McNair. That is very different than saying Crossfield is closer to Western than to McNair and Coates. |
Like any other “major” roads. |
The whole area is being redeveloped. The left side of the picture on the left is where Whiele Reston station is, the new BVLD building, marriot, new google building etc aree. https://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/publicaffairs/reston-midlines-18-million-square-feet-mixed-use-development-near-wiehle-metro-approved The midline project is still under construfction, the Faraday apartments are open, maybe half the townhouses are bult, but the two buildings shown here haven't been taken down, new supermarket isn't built yet, they've got a ton of development still in progress there. Issac Newton is under construfction RIGHT NOW. https://greaterrestonliving.com/everything-we-know-about-the-isaac-newton-square-redevelopment-in-reston-va-so-far/ Plus you have all the new towers going up near reston town center I'd figure people in the "western HS area" would be heading up to Reston Lifetime and would be well aprised of all the construction progress, but i guess thats just for people rooted in oakton? |
A lot of kids cross busy roads to go to elementary, middle, and high school. Heck, the Crossfield kids cross that SAME major road to go to middle school and a lot of them let their kids walk/bike/scooter across the street to go to the shopping center. I don't see why you think FFX Cty Pkwy has anything to do with school boundaries. It's a really weird point that you and your RIO friends keep making over and over again. If you let your kids cross the street on foot, then it will be fine while in a school bus. |
I think the point is that one and two bedroom apartments whose selling point is being close to metro and restaurants/bars aren't the type of housing that is going to put a strain on the school system. The yield of school age students from those housing units will be effectively zero. All of the Oakton developments are in the middle of suburbia and all involve a large portion of townhouses. They might advertise as "mixed use development", but the retail portion of all 5 of the major developments is laughably small. Basically, maybe a small grocery store and a dry cleaner or UPS or Starbucks. Nothing like Reston Town Center or Fairfax Corner. |
The student yields from single family homes are higher than the yields from townhouses and the yields from townhouses are higher than the yields from apartments. But if you add enough apartments, particularly with two bedrooms, you can get a significant yield, as evidenced by the growth in enrollment at some elementary schools that feed into Marshall and McLean in FCPS, Meridian in FCCPS, and W-L in APS. |
I just don't see many families purchasing in the BLVD or Marriott. Look at the websites. These are for young professionals or empty nesters who want to be close to Metro. As for the 2100 housing going into the Isaac Newton Square phases--remember the article said it was going to be phased over 20 years. But, in any case, South Lakes has plenty of room--especially if they quit taking pupil placements. |
I looked at the Residential Development Applications Dashboard. For South Lakes, the county identified (as of August 2025) 16532 potential new housing units in various stages of development with a potential yield of 587 HS students. For Oakton, the county identified 2200 potential new housing units in various stages of development with a potential yield of 103 HS students. So the percentage yield was higher at Oakton than at South Lakes, which you'd expect given the housing mixes in the two pyramids, but the total number of additional students for South Lakes was higher because the number of potential new housing units was so much greater. On the other hand, on a year-over-year basis, Oakton was up 101 kids in November 2025 compared to November 2024, while South Lakes was down 16 over the same period, so there's that. |