• E-Newsletter

Preparing is caring: The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors welcomed the newly created Fairfax County Business Emergency Operations Council at Tuesday’s meeting. The council is intended to help local businesses and government officials coordinate when preparing for, responding to, or recovering from disasters that affect the community. Kiona Dyches of localdvm.com reports that information-sharing is expected to go a long way toward improving preparedness and response.

Two towers: The Board of Supervisors approved construction of a “life plan community” for residents 62 and over on Westpark Drive in Tysons. Part of Cityline Partners’ Arbor Row project, The Mather will be a 378-unit development consisting of a 27-story tower, an 18-story tower and a 3-acre park. Senior Housing News has more on the $460 million project that could open in 2023.

Plans moving forward: The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors this week approved Reston Crossing, Tishman Speyer’s mixed-use proposal to redevelop a Reston office park next to the future Reston Town Center Metro Station. As reported by Reston Now’s Fatimah Waseem, the project will replace two office buildings with seven buildings across 2 million square feet at the intersection the Dulles Toll Road and Reston Crossing. The board also approved revisions to the Halley Rise project and plans to reduce the amount of office space at the Reston Heights development on Sunrise Valley Drive.

Nuclear options: International engineering firm Bechtel, which is headquartered in Reston, is enlisting Berkeley, Calif.-based Deep Isolation to help it develop, sell and deploy a technology platform to assist government and industrial customers dispose of nuclear waste. Mary-Louise Hoffman of ExecutiveBiz reports that as part of the agreement, Deep Isolation will receive project management, engineering and financial support services from Bechtel.

Improving the taxi experience: Washington Dulles International Airport has been awarded $6.7 million from the Federal Aviation Administration to reconstruct taxiways and Reagan National Airport will get $4.9 million to million to reconstruct “aprons” where aircraft are loaded and fueled. Katishi Maake of the Washington Business Journal reports that the money is part of $3.18 billion the FAA is committing to U.S. airport improvement projects this fiscal year.

Craving peace and quiet: Open office environments aren’t for everyone. B2B research firm Clutch tells WTOP’s Jeff Clabaugh that many employees find such attempts to improve collaboration to be distracting and counterproductive. A survey found that only 28 percent prefer an open-concept floor plan. Although open-concept floor plans tend to be most cost-efficient, companies are responding, with 74 percent now offering personal spaces for employees.

A Tysons timeline: In the first of a two-part overview for Greater, Greater Washington, George Kevin Jordan offers a history lesson about Tysons and its transformation from colonial outpost to toll road intersection to farming community and, now, to a leading business center. The creation of Dulles airport, a huge shopping development and a new age of computers and communication ushered in rapid development and change in the last half century and Jordan says that metamorphosis is poised to continue.

More street pedalers: Capital Bikeshare expanded its operations to Merrifield with bicycle rental locations at the Dunn Loring Metro station, in the Mosaic District and at Merrifield Town Center. Vernon Miles of the Tysons Reporter notes that locations in Vienna and at George Mason University are coming soon, joining a network that already includes Tysons, Reston and West Falls Church.