Chris Clemente

Comstock is building two of the largest ground-up projects in the D.C. area, along two newly opened Silver Line Metro stations out in the formerly far-flung Virginia suburbs of Reston and Ashburn. 

The five-phased Reston Station, the larger of the two developments, includes 7 million square feet of office, retail and apartments. Construction began over a decade ago with the excavation of an 80-foot hole covering the entire 8-acre site, which would eventually host a 3,000-space underground parking garage and bus facility. The garage became the foundation for the entire development, including the Wiehle-Reston East Metro station, which opened in 2014. 

When the project is complete — likely in 2030 — it will encompass 3,500 apartments, 3.3 million square feet of office, two hotels, and hundreds of thousands of feet of retail.

The first phase of Reston Station, completed late last year, featured 1 million square feet of office, 450 apartments and 60,000 square feet of retail. Spotify, Rolls Royce of North America, Google, Solar Winds and Qualtrics have all signed office leases so far. The next phase is already under construction and set to include a J.W. Marriott Hotel and condo tower with 250 rooms and 95 condos, along with 100,000 square feet of retail and 420 rental units. 

Separately, Comstock is also developing Loudoun Station, which is about 60 percent built. Roughly 1.5 million square feet of residential and commercial space is already complete next to the Ashburn Metro station, which saw its first Silver Line trains last November. When it’s finished in 2030, it will include 430,000 square feet of office and 1,500 apartments, plus retail and parking. The finished portions have 700 apartments, 150,000 square feet of retail (including an 11-screen AMC movie theater), an 1,800-space parking garage and 50,000 square feet of office. 

“The stuff that we build, we mostly build to keep,” said Clemente. “It allows us to be more thoughtful about how we curate the neighborhoods that we develop.” He added that all their projects aim for LEED gold, silver or platinum status, and the publicly traded firm uses a special kind of concrete that’s been injected with recycled carbon dioxide to reduce the carbon footprint of its construction materials.