| back to News > Work Progressing on Ashburn Goose Creek Village June 24, 2009 John Toler, louduni.com As anyone experienced in real estate will tell you, the location of a property is paramount. The 174-acre Goose Creek Village project–now under construction on Belmont Ridge Road in Ashburn–is in a prime location, northwest of Broadlands between Brambleton and Lansdowne. Bordered by Belmont Ridge Road and the Greenway, the property will have access to the improved Sycolin Road, which will become its “Main Street,” passing through the commercial and office components of the project. Situated on a high ridge, residents will overlook the natural, protected Goose Creek that forms the project’s western border. While not as large as some of the county’s other mixed-use projects, plans for Goose Creek Village North call for 850,000 square feet of office space and 180,000 square feet of retail space. Currently signed-on as tenants are a Harris-Teeter grocery store, Walgreen’s pharmacy, and a Sunoco service station that will be operated by local dealer Eric Smitz. The current plan also calls for additional retail stores and a bank, all of which will be surrounded by 545 surface parking spaces and 39 on-street spaces. The project will have 3,400 feet of street frontage on Belmont Ridge Road, and 1,000 feet on Sycolin Road. According to the developer, Allan D. McKelvie of Washington, D.C., work on the service station site will begin this month, and the Walgreens in July; both will be open for business this fall. Other commercial construction will start in January 2010, and the Harris-Teeter is expected to open in the fall of 2010. European Flair The overall design of the commercial area is to create a European “town center” effect, emphasizing walk-ability and “…the thoughtful integration of public spaces and elegant architecture… a unique locale for Loudoun County residents to gather, shop and relax while dining with long views to the west overlooking the Blue Ridge Mountains,” according to the GCV Website. McKelvie notes that the improved Sycolin Road at the project will be “calmed,” with the speed limit reduced from 45 mph to 25 mph down to the Goose Creek bridge, making the road more like a village street than a major thoroughfare at that point. Centex Homes Phase I, located south of the Greenway, consists of 92 townhouses that have already been built, sold and are fully occupied. Centex Homes Phase II will be built in the north end of the project. According to Emma Pluto of Centex, the number includes 300 townhouses and 264 two-over-two condominiums. “We have already pre-sold 18 townhomes in Phase II,” notes Pluto. Future plans for the residential community include a fitness center with an indoor swimming pool, now under negotiation with a supplier, according to McKelvie. Family-owned for More Than 50 Years The original, nearly 200-acre property between Belmont Ridge Road and Goose Creek has been owned by family of the late Dr. Allan McNeill McKelvie (1916-1994) since 1956. An orthopedic surgeon, Dr. McKelvie practiced in Washington, D.C., and Leesburg. “My father always felt that it was important for us to be good stewards of the land,” recalled son Allan, who lives in Washington, D.C. He noted that the family had placed a permanent easement on 20 acres along Goose Creek with the Virginia Outdoors Foundation in the early 1990s. As part of the proffer agreement with Loudoun County to build Goose Creek Village, 20 more acres along the creek were set aside. The combined parcels will become the 40-acre “Designated Goose Creek Green Space” along the stream, lying north and south of the Greenway. The decision to develop the property did not come easily, but when the McKelvie’s property was bisected by the Greenway, the rationale for keeping the land as open space was diminished. While the location of Goose Creek Village offers some unique assets, there have also been some negatives, mainly due the rocky ground that makes up the ridge. Site work by William A. Hazel Inc. of Chantilly has been ongoing for several months, with a small army of workmen cutting through sheer rock to grade the land to the proper level, install the duct bank for the utilities, build the storm water-handling infrastructure. Total Development Solutions, which is involved with the interior roadways, faces similar challenges due to the soil composition. McKelvie notes that the economy was in much better shape when the project started. But he is gratified by the efforts of those hired to build and market the project–and certain that the demand will be there when the work is done. |
