Along Jefferson Davis Highway in Alexandria, Va., construction is already under way for luxury townhomes on Potomac Yards. The massive empty space is part of 7.4 million square feet of planned development for residential and commercial space to revitalize the area.
“This is an economic incentive to the city in terms of generating new tax revenue base,” said City of Alexandria Mayor Bill Euille. “More importantly, the success of this new development is dependent on having a new Metro stop.”
The proposed Metro stop would be on the Blue and Yellow lines between Old Town Alexandria and Crystal City, something many residents say is needed in the area.
“It’s kind of restricting and most of your travel would have to be done by car, so it would be great to have a Metro,” said Alexandria resident Aoife Mannion. “I think the neighborhood really needs it and hopefully it will boost property prices as well in this market.”
The city said the Potomac Yards Metro Station would cost $240 million to complete in the vacant space next to Target. A portion of the funds would come from a special tax district made up of homes near the project. But some of the residents on the other side of the tracks in Potomac Greens don’t think it’s fair only some residents should have to pay.
“I’m pretty upset about it because we only moved in last year,” said Alexandria resident Ros Curtin. “We didn’t know about it when we bought our home that only certain people would have to pay and only certain people at the beginning of the community don’t have to pay for it. So it feels a bit unfair to us to be honest.
“Hopefully the issues people will be concerned about is the quality of life, the impact in terms of noise, the existing parks open space, transportation road services and impacts alike.”
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If approved, the station won't be finished until 2016 at the earliest, the city said.
