Vornado's Metropolitan Park Project Approved by County

ARLINGTON, VA-The Arlington County Board approved phases four and five of the Metropolitan Park project, which will ultimately result in the single largest residential and retail high-rise in Pentagon City. As part of its vote, the board amended the Pentagon City Phased Development Site Plan (PCPDSP) to allow building heights up to 22 stories within the Metropolitan Park development. It also voted to amend the Comprehensive Plan Master Transportation Plan Map to delete a portion of the planned 12th Road South.

The amended project calls for Vornado to combine the two phases of the project into one 22-story building with 699 residential units, and 40,413 square feet of retail space. A full-service grocery store -- Whole Foods -- will occupy most of the ground floor retail space of some 36,789 square feet. The store will front on the 12th Street South and South Eads Street with two smaller retail spaces located on the northwest and southeast corners of the building. The plan also includes a four-level underground parking garage with 885 spaces.

The eight-phase, 10-building Metropolitan Park development is part of the PCPDSP, which calls for the redevelopment of a 16 acres of warehouses and parking lots into mixed-use developments. Phases one and two -- the Gramercy and the Millennium residential buildings -- are already build and phase three, the Acadia, is under construction. Together they house a combined total of 1,110 residential units and 35,769 square feet of retail.