$5M In County Funding Aimed At Herndon's Downtown Redevelopment

Herndon VA

13 December, 2021

2:57 PM

Description

HERNDON, VA — Herndon Town Council will consider a resolution at its Tuesday night meeting to sign a memorandum of understanding with Fairfax County in order to receive $5 million in capital construction funding for the Herndon Downtown Redevelopment Project. Last October, the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors accepted the town's request for $5 million in funding from the county's Economic Opportunity Reserve Fund. Since then, town representatives have worked with county staff on the provisions of the memorandum of understanding governing the transfer of funds. Back in 2017, the town entered in an agreement with Comstock Herndon Venture to redevelop nearly five acres of town-owned land into a mixed-use project that would include hundreds of apartments and thousands of square feet of retail space. The council also approved an ordinance that would allow Comstock to buy the land from Herndon. Comstock plans to build a complex that would include 281 apartments, 17,600 square feet of retail space, and an 18,000-square-foot Arts Center in addition to a 761-space parking garage, according to a statement from the town. In 2018, supervisors approved a request from the town for $1,200,000 from the county's Economic Opportunity Reserve to go toward the capital construction costs for the redevelopment project. Because everything had been put on hold due to the pandemic, none of the allocated funds had been spent. To address the cost increases caused by the delay, the town council approved the expenditure of an additional $5 million of its own money to make sure the project was completed. This brought the total amount allocated by the town for the project to $17,850,000. The town then submitted a request to the county for an additional $5 million contribution. The memorandum of understanding council members will consider includes the following provisions town representatives hammered out with county staff: Affirms the County's previous commitment of $1,200,000 for the Project; Commits the County to contribute $5,000,000 in additional funding from the Fairfax County Economic Opportunity Reserve Fund for the Project distributed in five payments of $1,000,000 per year; The first $1,000,000 payment will be upon certificate of occupancy for the first residential unit, with the remaining payments to be made on an annual basis. Details the process for payments. Once the first multifamily residential unit as part of the redevelopment project is delivered, the county will begin making payments to the town. All of the residential units are expected to be delivered at the same time and completed in a single construction phase, according to the town staff's report. In the event that a work stoppage of 180 days occurs after delivery of the first residential units, future county funding will be suspended and it will be at the county's discretion when payments would restart. Starting in FY 2024, the $5 million from the Fairfax County Economic Opportunity Reserve will be paid to the town over a five-year period