Bailey's Gateway project canceled

5600 Columbia Pike

Foulger-Pratt has dropped plans to develop a 433-unit apartment building on the site of a vacant office building at 5600 Columbia Pike in Bailey’s Crossroads after the company failed to reach an agreement on purchasing the property from Government Properties Income Trust.

The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors had approved an amendment to the Comprehensive Plan in March to allow residential uses, as well as offices, on that site. The announcement to cancel the project was made just before the Planning Commission had been scheduled to consider a rezoning proposal on July 15.

The project, known as Bailey’s Gateway, was at the Columbia Pike/Carlin Springs Road intersection and had been hailed by county planners as critical to sparking revitalization of the aging commercial center in Bailey’s Crossroads.

Mason Supervisor Penny Gross told the Washington Business Journalshe is disappointed that the parties couldn’t come to an agreement.

Foulger-Pratt had already spent about $45,000 on fees associated with the rezoning process and much more on design, planning, and other costs. Company officials had in the past claimed that Arlington County’s rejection of the proposed Columbia Pike streetcar line was not an obstacle to the project.

The 169,000-square foot building has been vacant since the federal Defense Information Systems Agency was relocated to Fort Meade in 2011 as part of the Base Realignment and Closure process. Government Properties Income Trust has hired a broker to find another buyer.