Kings Crossing development on hold as ownership changes hands

It has been more than a year since the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors gave final approval for Novus Kings Crossing, a 350-unit multifamily development to be built at the intersection of Richmond Highway and Fairview Drive.

However since then the project has not moved forward, and the property is now going through an ownership change. The buyer, Fairfield Residential, intends to build on the site, according to Andrew McGeorge, a member of the company’s development team. Design of that project is still being worked on with the county, McGeorge said last month.

The current property owner is a subsidiary of Cafritz Interests, the developer who had worked with the county and residents for years prior to the project’s approval. Cafritz no longer has the property listed on their website, and did not respond to emails seeking comment. 

McGeorge said that any permitting and construction won’t begin until the sale is completed in the summer of 2019. Right now Fairfield hopes to start actual construction sometime in the 4th quarter of 2019, he said.

Four vacant buildings remain on the 5.3 acre property — a former Wendy’s, a former Pizza Hut that had been out of business since 2014, a longtime restaurant location that spent its final years as a title loan business and a martial arts school that was the last tenant to move. 

The vacant property has had chronic issues with litter, dumping and landscaping maintenance. At least seven code complaints related to the property have been filed since July 2017, according to county records.

Mount Vernon District Supervisor Dan Storck’s office has filed at least one of the complaints against the property, and in response one of the buildings was boarded up and the lot was cleaned up.

“Our office continues to work with the current and future owners of this property to keep the site clean and to advance improvements as quickly as possible,” Storck’s office told Covering The Corridor.

McGeorge said he did not anticipate the vacant buildings being cleared until it was closer to time to begin construction.