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Kincora proposal nearing consideration
Despite the dire condition of the building industry, big development is far from dead in Loudoun County. Want proof? Look to about 400 mostly wooded acres near the Routes 7 and 28 interchange.Despite being rebuked by the Board of Supervisors 18 months ago, a team of developers is once again taking its case to county leaders to turn a swath of land across Route 28 from Dulles Town Center into what it hopes will be a vibrant community of homes, shops, offices and baseball.
The nearly $3 billion project is called Kincora, named for the former capital of Ireland. And much like the proposal supervisors pored over in 2007, these latest plans call for a massive development. Being proposed are 1,400 apartment-style homes, 500,000 square feet of retail, 4 million square feet of office space and a large performing-arts facility already being eyed by the Washington Ballet and the Levine School of Music. Developers are also promising about $70 million in road and other infrastructure improvements.
What's new, though, is what's piquing much interest from the community: a 5,500-seat stadium that would be home to an expansion team of the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball, a minor league team unaffiliated with Major League Baseball.
“They really want to be here,” said Waterford's Robert Farren, managing partner of VIP Baseball, a local group attempting to bring baseball to Loudoun.
In October 2007, the previous batch of supervisors rejected the first request by developer NA Dulles Real Estate Investor LLC to build Kincora over concerns the site was near two other large developments: Dulles Town Center and the future One Loudoun development
"My district told me we don't need three town centers on top of each other," former Potomac District Supervisor Bruce Tulloch (R) said at the time.
Undeterred, Kincora's development team -- led by Great Falls' Norton Scott LLC and East Setauket, N.Y.-based Tritec Real Estate Co. -- tweaked its plans and reintroduced them to county officials several months ago in the form of two land-use applications.
The first, a special exception request, is needed to build the ballpark. It will be taken up by supervisors in June. The other, a rezoning request, is needed for the homes. The Planning Commission will start hashing out this request in July. Currently, much of the Kincora property is zoned solely for data centers, which are usually windowless, climate-controlled buildings used to store electronic data.
“This is a better use of the land,” said Norton Scott managing member Michael Scott, on the latest plans.
Central in Kincora would be a “village” of low-rise buildings housing shops, restaurants and possibly a YMCA surrounded by apartments or condominiums. Taller (six to eight floors) office buildings would front Route 28 facing Dulles Town Center, while a separate set of buildings south of the village could be used by a university some day.
“The modern office worker wants a vibrant atmosphere where you can walk to restaurants or a Starbucks,” Daniel Coughlan, a principal at Tritec, pointed out. “And this is what the county wants.”
Punctuating all this would be a $30 million “green” baseball stadium that, beside being home to a baseball team, could also host concerts and youth sporting events, developers say.
Timing is key for this portion of Kincora to happen. For the league to field a team in Loudoun starting in May 2011, which is what the league wants, developers said plans for a stadium would need to be finalized this year. Meanwhile, Richmond, Newport News and Fredericksburg have reportedly shown interest in hosting the team if plans in Loudoun fall through.
“There are other sites in Virginia that want what we control,” said Farren, whose group is asking residents to sign a petition saying they want a team in Loudoun.
Despite the competition, Farren said the league, which also plans to expand into Montgomery County, Md., is impressed with Loudoun's “affluence” and expanding population. It also liked the visibility of the site Kincora would have along two major highways, he said.
“We're in the driver's seat,” he said. “[The league] said they want to be in Loudoun any way they can.”
Contact the reporter at jjacks@timespapers.com
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