Red Fox Plans Tallest Residential Tower in Alexandria, Va.

A Washington, D.C.-area developer wants to build an apartment tower in Alexandria, Va., that could ultimately become the city’s tallest residential building. 

Red Fox Development filed plans with the city to construct a building at 2425 Mill Road that could host up to 775 apartments and 40,000 square feet of commercial space, according to the Business Journals, which first reported the news. The 31-story project was initially proposed last year, though with eight fewer floors. Architecture firm Cooper Carry is designing the tower.

Plans call for staggered levels to the tower, one of which would feature 1.5 acres and include amenities like an open lawn, a pool, pickleball court and a dog park, per the Business Journals. 

The project is just north of Interstate 495 on roughly 3 acres of undeveloped land near Carlyle Crossing, a sprawling 1.7 million-square-foot development in the works from Stonebridge, and near the Eisenhower Avenue Metro station. Stonebridge acquired the Carlyle Crossing land from the Hoffman family in 2018, with construction beginning on that project the following year. 

Red Fox is under contract with the Hoffmans to use the 3-acre parcel for the Mill Road tower, Red Fox President Adam Peters told Commercial Observer, though price and terms of the contract were not immediately clear. Provided the project is approved, Peters said he expects the land purchase and the beginning of project construction to occur at roughly the same time. 

Peters said that he hoped the project would bring “a lot of eyeballs” to Alexandria, and that a residential tower of such scale could bring vitality to local businesses. The project could receive approvals from the city by the end of 2025, he added, with construction beginning in late 2026 or early 2027. 

Alexandria, and Northern Virginia in general, have become a hotbed of development and investment activity in recent years. Paradigm Development, for example, is currently trying to win entitlements for a 12-story condo building not far from Red Fox’s proposed project. Paradigm had originally intended to use its lot — adjacent to two other residential towers that it built in 2014 and 2022 — for a nine-story hotel development, but switched up its plans last spring. 

American Real Estate Partners is meanwhile converting an office building at 1101 King Street in Old Town Alexandria into 200 residential apartments, for which it received a nearly $88 million construction loan in early 2024. That project is expected to open later this year.

Nick Trombola can be reached at ntrombola@commercialobserver.com.