Plans for new garage at Huntington Metro still in early stages of development

Jersey barriers block the entrance to the top level of the Huntington Metro station’s south garage.

Metro announced Monday that it will be demolishing the south garage at the Huntington Metro station during the summer of 2019, when the station will be closed for three months due to platform repairs at other Yellow Line stations.

What will come after the demolition, however, is still being worked out. It will include a new garage, but also a “reconfiguration” for that end of the station, according to a WMATA spokeswoman.

“We are currently developing concepts for reconfiguration of the Metro-owned properties at the south entrance that includes a rebuilt garage,” said WMATA spokeswoman Sherri Ly. “Once those concepts are finalized and approved by [Fairfax] County, an implementation plan for rebuilding the garage will be finalized.”

The Fairfax County Department of Transportation (FCDOT) said Thursday that they will be working with Metro to make sure that bus rapid transit (BRT), as envisioned in the Embark Richmond Highway plan, is accommodated in the plans for the new garage and reconfigured south end of the property. Huntington is integral part of Embark, with the station being the ultimate destination for the BRT system that will run between Huntington and Fort Belvoir.

“We anticipate that Metro’s new garage at that location will accommodate the Richmond Highway BRT and we will be working together with them on future planning,” said Robin Geiger, head of communications for FCDOT.

The garage is being torn down during the station shutdown because the south entrance, which accommodates traffic from North Kings Highway, would need to be closed anyway while the work is being done, Ly said. 

The garage, which was built in 1983 and is the oldest in Metro’s system, has only been partially open to the public since 2015. About 350 spaces in the upper levels are completely blocked off. It is one of three garages at the station.

A large development is tentatively planned for vacant area bordering the south end of the station, and it’s unclear if that future development will influence the new design of the North Kings Highway side of the station. That project will be the third phase of a redevelopment that began last decade when Stout & Teague, a local real estate company, purchased roughly 60 acres of land adjacent to the  station. The first two phases saw the completion of 50 townhouses and the Courts at Huntington Station apartments, as well as Mount Eagle Park.

Neel Teague said Thursday he was surprised by Metro’s announcement about the demolition, and has no insight yet as to what they are planning for the reconfiguration.