Downtown McLean Keeps Approving New Homes. Why Are So Few Actually Getting Built?

At the corner of Old Dominion Drive and Lowell Avenue stands The Lowell, a condominium building with 44 two- and three-bedroom homes. The Washington Post reported in December 2025 that prices started at $1.27 million. Fairfax County's development tracker shows the rezoning was approved on October 16, 2018, and lists the building as constructed in 2025. That is roughly seven years between the vote and the finished building.

Since The Signet's 123 units were finished in 2018, the county's McLean tracker has marked only two residential buildings as constructed. One is Sunrise's assisted living facility at 1515 Chain Bridge Road, completed in 2023. The other is The Lowell, the only new for-sale condominium building on the list. Everything after it is still approved and waiting, or only proposed. If you're comparing a walkable condo in downtown McLean with options in Tysons or Arlington, that gap affects your decision more than any rendering does. In this district, an approval is something a landowner holds. It doesn't commit anyone to build. And the one approved project designed as for-sale condos now has a buyer under contract who wants to build something else.

The 3,850 figure is a limit, not a construction schedule

In June 2021 the Board of Supervisors adopted a new Comprehensive Plan for the McLean Community Business Center. The county authorized the study back in April 2018. Under the old plan, downtown could hold up to 2,175 residential units. The 2021 plan raised that long-run potential to 3,850. InsideNoVa noted at the time that the number is a plan recommendation and does not grant anyone the right to build. Of that total, 3,150 units are assigned to the Center and General zones and 700 to the Edge zone.

The plan also sets a checkpoint. When 1,660 units in the Center and General zones are built or entitled, or in 2031 if that comes first, the county and FCPS will review transportation, schools and other public facilities and decide whether the maximum should change. FFXnow reported that 762 units were existing or entitled as of June 30, 2022. We added the three major approvals since then to that baseline and got about 1,052. That is our own estimate, not a county figure, and it is still about 600 units short of the trigger.

So the cap isn't what's slowing new housing. Downtown McLean has plenty of room left under it. What's missing is buildings that actually get finished.

Seven years from vote to finished building, and the current pipeline

Here is every residential item in the county's downtown tracker that isn't finished yet, plus the two applications filed since that tracker was last updated.

The four approved projects add up to 308 homes. Only one of them, the 104 units at McLean Professional Park, was approved as for-sale condominiums. Astoria was approved almost three years ago and the county still lists its site plan as under review. The plan for that project includes a pedestrian connection from Old Dominion Drive through to Elm Street and Signet Park. The Ashby conversion has been approved since early 2022, needs no exterior changes, and still hasn't been built.

If you're waiting for one of these projects, The Lowell is the only completed for-sale example of how long the process takes. It needed about seven years.

Why small office lots slow every project down

Downtown McLean's redevelopment sites are mostly aging office buildings on small parcels. Each one has its own owner and its own tenants. The housing stock around them explains why each site matters so much. According to county data cited in the Sunrise application, about 93% of McLean's existing homes are single-family detached houses. Each downtown parcel is one of the few places where any other kind of home can be built.

The Beverly & Elm approval shows how tight the sites are. Cypress Real Estate's seven-story building sits on 0.56 acres at 1368 Beverly Road. It can fit only 0.09 acres of open space on site, so the developer will pay the county to build park amenities elsewhere. FFXnow reported that the main snag was Cypress's struggle to get neighboring owners to combine their land with its parcel for a larger project. The redevelopment will also tear down the Corner House at 6830 Elm Street, built in 1934 and once owned by Charlotte Troughton Corner, one of the first teachers at Franklin Sherman School. The developer will give $5,000 for a historic marker.

Highcrest's proposal shows what a site costs before anything is built. County property records cited by FFXnow show that a Highcrest affiliate paid $4.5 million on Feb. 19 for the three-story office building at 6824 Elm Street. The records describe that price as reflecting "anticipated redevelopment." The building next door at 6816 Elm has been owned since June 2020 by a separate LLC. The combined site covers about 1.17 acres. The plan keeps about 16,371 square feet of office space so the building's current office tenant can move out during construction and come back afterward. Highcrest President Colin Dean told FFXnow the company hasn't decided whether the 115 homes will be rental apartments or for-sale condominiums. The proposed mix runs from studios to three-bedroom units.

Every project has to bring together owners, tenants and a parcel just big enough for underground parking. Highcrest's design calls for a three-level garage with 223 spaces. That is a lot of fixed cost to commit before the developer decides whether to sell the units or rent them.

The one approved condo building now has an exit plan

McLean Professional Park at 1477 Chain Bridge Road is the clearest case. In May 2024 the Board of Supervisors approved a five-story, 104-unit condominium building with a 192-space underground garage, replacing half of the office park's 12 commercial townhouses.

On Sept. 2, 2026, Sunrise Senior Living filed a rezoning application to use the same 2.8 acres for a continuing care facility with 145 independent living units. It would expand the company's Sunrise at McLean Village community next door at 1515 Chain Bridge Road. Sunrise has a contract to buy the land, but as of FFXnow's Sept. 22 report the sale hadn't closed. The application keeps the right to go ahead with the approved condo building if the purchase falls through.

The application describes the previously approved condominium product as featuring large units at price points aimed at more affluent purchasers.

That passage tells condo buyers two things. First, the only for-sale condo approval in the downtown pipeline was planned around large, expensive units, which fits The Lowell's $1.27 million starting price. Second, the approval now sits on a parcel where one approved use and one proposed use are both still possible, and which one gets built depends on whether a land sale closes. The proposed building would be about the same size and height as the condo building. The difference is the type of housing inside it.

Four status checks before you wait on a project

Anyone deciding between buying a downtown McLean condo now and waiting for something new can check where a project stands in the county's development activity tracker and the county's case records. The pipeline above points to four checks:

1. Rezoning approved. This sets the building's use and size. Astoria, Professional Park, Beverly & Elm and the Ashby conversion have all reached this stage.
2. Site plan approved. This is the engineering approval. Astoria's and Professional Park's site plans are both listed as under review.
3. Tenure decided. Highcrest hasn't chosen between rental and condo. Astoria's approval documents describe rental opportunities. A project without a decision on tenure isn't yet a source of homes to buy.
4. Land ownership settled. At 1477 Chain Bridge Road, the land sale hasn't closed and the approved condos are a fallback.

The county's tracker is undated and doesn't yet include the Highcrest or Sunrise applications, so check recent news coverage alongside it.

Frequently asked questions

Has the county raised the 3,850-unit limit for downtown McLean? We found no adopted increase. The plan calls for a review once 1,660 units in the Center and General zones are built or entitled, or in 2031, whichever comes first.

Is any downtown McLean residential building under construction right now? The county's tracker doesn't list any residential project in the district as under construction. The construction listed downtown is the Mars corporate headquarters expansion.

Do the new projects include workforce housing? Yes, for at least two of them. Beverly & Elm includes at least seven workforce dwelling units. Highcrest's application says some of its units will be designated as workforce units under county requirements.

If you're deciding whether to buy a downtown McLean condo now or wait for one of these projects, Jennifer Fang Homes can go through where each project stands and what the condos already on the market offer. If you own a home in central McLean and want to know what it's worth while this pipeline is still mostly on paper, request your free home valuation.

This article is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Consult a qualified professional about your situation.