The city of Alexandria, Virginia, has given the developer behind Amazon's second headquarters project approval to develop hundreds of new rental apartments and for-sale townhouses close to the tech giant's HQ2 campus.
JBG Smith announced Monday that it earned a thumbs-up from the Alexandria City Council for its plans to create 640 apartments and townhouses in the Potomac Yard neighborhood. The development plan also includes more than 30,000 square feet of open space and 13,000 square feet of retail.
Bethesda, Maryland-based JBG expects to begin submitting permits for the new homes in early 2026, a spokesperson for the firm told CoStar News via email.
The project is located in an area that forms the southern portion of the multi-neighborhood district known as National Landing, which was rebranded when Amazon chose Northern Virginia for its HQ2 office campus. It is also near where the owners of the Washington Capitals and Wizards considered building a new sports complex a few years ago, though the teams ultimately elected to remain in the nation's capital.
"This mixed-use development is designed to bring much-needed rental, affordable, and family-friendly for-sale housing to the neighborhood, culminating a quarter century of development in the southern portion of Potomac Yard," Taylor Lawch, co-head of development at JBG Smith, said in a statement.
JBG submitted plans for the project last year, with the total number of units evolving slightly. The approved proposal encompasses a mix of affordable and market-rate residences across four vacant parcels adjacent to the Potomac Yard Metro rail station.
In one section, the developer plans a 480,533-square-foot, seven-story building with 432 market-rate apartments. At another, it selected Alexandria-based Wesley Housing to build a 108,269-square-foot, six-story building with 88 dedicated affordable rental units that would predominantly have two to three bedrooms.
In a final section, it selected Pennsylvania-based Toll Brothers to build 120 single-family townhouses totaling 316,800 square feet.
Residential demand for the area is supported by connectivity to regional job hubs, walkable retail corridors and institutions like Virginia Tech's Innovation Campus, according to CoStar's latest multifamily report on the area.
The city's planning commission recommended earlier this month that the City Council approve the project. Some commissioners said they disliked the fact that the townhouses will have garages with room for two vehicles apiece, creating additional traffic in the densely developed area.