Reston



Reston is a Planned Residential Community (PRC) in Northwest Fairfax County. It takes its name from the initials of its original developer, Robert E. Simon, Jr.. The Reston Association is the homeowner association (HOA) that manages Reston.

History
Reston was originally the vision of Robert E. Simon. Jr., who founded the community in 1964 after buying A. Smith Bowman's Sunset Hills Farm in 1961 from the Lefcourt Realty Corporation with money derived from his family's sale of Carnegie Hall.

However, Simon's vision was bigger than his bankroll, and in the same year as its founding, Simon was forced to sell a significant portion of the project to Gulf Oil. Gulf did not share Simon's vision, and took control of the project in September, 1967, forcing Simon out completely in October.

Gulf then proceeded to develop Reston along a more conventional suburban model, as opposed to Simon's original "New Town" concept. One aspect of Gulf-Reston's takeover of the project was cost-reduction measures that threatened the operations of the Reston Music Center, a local cultural organization, and sparked the creation of the Reston Community Association.

In 1978, Gulf sold the remaining 3700 acres of undeveloped land in Reston to Mobil Oil, and in 1980 completed divesting itself of Reston by selling the last of its holdings to a local group.