Fairfax to consider up to $34 million tax break for Bailey’s Crossroads office-to-apartment conversion

By Hannah Prewitt

FAIRFAX, Va. — Fairfax County supervisors on Tuesday are scheduled to start the process for a tax break worth up to about $34 million over 10 years for the owners of three office buildings in Bailey’s Crossroads, two of which would be converted into as many as 510 apartments and live-work units.

The item, on the Board of Supervisors’ Oct. 27 agenda, asks the board to authorize advertising a Dec. 8 public hearing on an ordinance creating an “Economic Revitalization Zone” for Skyline Buildings 4, 5 and 6 at 5113, 5111 and 5109 Leesburg Pike in the Mason District. Tuesday’s vote would only schedule the hearing; the board would decide on the zone itself in December.

The board created the incentive program, called BUILD: Site Assembly and Redevelopment, in May. Under it, a qualifying project pays real estate tax on the property’s assessed value before redevelopment, but is partly exempt from tax on the added value for up to 10 years, and gets a 10 percent cut in site plan review fees, according to the board package.

The numbers

The county’s Department of Tax Administration put the 2026 assessed value of the three parcels at $36.7 million, generating $411,343 a year in real estate taxes at the base rate of $1.12 per $100. The applicants estimate the redeveloped property would be worth $340 million.

The abatement would apply to the $303.3 million difference. At the current rate, that works out to about $3.4 million a year, or a maximum of $33,966,569 over 10 years, according to the staff report. Staff wrote that because the county keeps collecting tax on the base value, the exemptions “will not reduce the General Fund.”

The zone would take effect Jan. 1, 2030, and end Dec. 31, 2039. Staff said the later start, more than three years after adoption, lines the zone up with a tax year and gives the project time to be built.

The buildings

The applicants are Skyline 4 LLC, 5111 Leesburg LLC and MTP-5109 Leesburg LLC, which own three contiguous parcels totaling about 6.52 acres in the Bailey’s Crossroads/Seven Corners incentive area.

Buildings 4 and 5 are nine-story office buildings totaling about 572,724 square feet. Land use approvals already allow them to be converted to a combined maximum of 510 residential and live-work units with at least 5,000 square feet of ground-floor shops, restaurants or other uses. Eight percent of the units would be workforce dwelling units for households earning 60 to 80 percent of area median income. Building 6, at about 1.72 acres, would be renovated and stay in office use.

The application describes Buildings 4 and 5 as “chronically underutilized office assets that have experienced high vacancy rates for most of the last decade.” It cites “elevated material and labor costs, rising interest rates, and capitalization-rate pressures” and says the incentive would help secure the capital needed to carry out the approved plans. The staff report says the three buildings are vacant or largely vacant, so the project is not expected to displace residents or businesses.

This is the second try at an incentive for the site. In February 2023, the board approved Buildings 4 and 5 for the county’s earlier Economic Incentive Program, but the conversions were not completed and neither property received tax benefits, the staff report says. The applicants would give up the 2023 approval if the new zone is approved.

The county’s Department of Planning and Development found the proposal conforms with the Comprehensive Plan, according to the report.

Also on Tuesday

The board is also scheduled to vote on advertising a Dec. 8 hearing to update the county’s financial disclosure rules for designated employees and appointees. A 2026 state law requires those filers to submit disclosure forms electronically to the Virginia Conflict of Interest and Ethics Advisory Council starting in 2028, with the option to do so in 2027, rather than to the clerk to the board.

A separate item would schedule a hearing on dividing and creating precincts in the Hunter Mill and Dranesville districts and moving polling places in the Mason and Providence districts, including the Skyline precinct’s polling place.

The meeting starts at 9:30 a.m. at the Fairfax County Government Center and is televised on Channel 16 and streamed online.

The Inquisitor is seeking comment from Mason District Supervisor Andres Jimenez, Board Chairman Jeff McKay, the county’s Department of Economic Initiatives, the Fairfax County Taxpayers Alliance and the Fairfax County Federation of Citizens Associations.