Tysons Corner

Tysons Corner is a census-designated place in Fairfax County comprised of parts of McLean and Vienna.

History
During the 19th century the region around Tysons Corner was originally known as Peach Grove and was later called Tysons Crossroads after landowner William Tyson, a Marylander who had purchased the tract from A. Lawrence Foster in 1852.

Prior to 1963 the area around Tysons Crossroads (then renamed Tysons Corner) remained undeveloped and site for only a few stores including the general store at the corner of Route 7 and Route 123 (the current site of the Tysons Corner Center).

In 1963 Fairfax County approved plans for the ambitious Tysons Corner Center shopping mall. This followed the completion of the Virginia section of the Capital Beltway, constructed in 1961 directly adjacent to the future site of the mall.

When the Tysons Corner Center was completed in 1968 it was the fourth largest mall in America, and the largest enclosed mall in the country at the time.

By the late 1980s Tysons Corner had evolved from being a retail hub to a major commercial office center for technology firms and the federal consulting industry. In 1991 Joel Garreau’s book Edge City discussed the emergence of Tysons Corner as a powerful economic center in the growing Northern Virginia suburbs.

During the late 1990s and early 2000s the concept for Tysons Corner was expanded and deemed the Office Park on Steroids. Loose zoning regulations and vague design guidelines for new development created a massive influx of development but a lack of the traditional urban elements and variance of uses associated with dense development.

In September 2008, the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors endorsed the recommendations to transform Tysons Corner from the office park vision to a complete urban environment. At the heart of the new comprehensive plan for Tysons Corner was the approval of four new metro stations where high density mixed use development would be focused. The new vision for Tysons Corner included a four decade long transformation that encompassed everything from architectural specifications to creating a consistent schedule for street features such as trashcans and benches.

The comprehensive plan recommendations were created over a multi-year span via coordination with advocacy groups including Citizens for A Sustainable Tysons, a campaign by Fairfax environmentalists, Coalition for Smarter Growth, the Sierra Club, and the Audubon Naturalist Society.

In September 2011 the first new rezoning project, Spring Hill Station, received partial approval for portions of the proposed project including the first high-rise residential structure approved under the new Comprehensive Plan, Ascent Tower by Greystar. Construction of Ascent Tower began in March 2012.

In September 2012 the first full rezoning approval was granted to the Capital One rezoning along Dolley Madison Boulevard, containing the company’s headquarters.

In October 2012, the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors voted to approve the recommendations set by a special Tysons Corner infrastructure committee to determine the financial structuring necessary to provide pedestrian, bike, road, and transit infrastructure improvements in-line with the ultimate vision for Tysons Corner.

Economy
==== Fortune 500 Headquarters in Tysons ====

Business
Tysons has evolved from its origins as a retail center for Northern Virginia to a corporate and technological hub. In 2012 there are over 1,200 technology companies with offices in Tysons. Tysons also has a growing health sector including companies such as Sunrise Assisted Living which is headquartered within the city, as well as Kaiser Permanente which opened its new medical campus in August 2012.

Business News March 2012

 * Kapsch TrafficCom Announces Tysons Corner Their North American Home

Business News September 2012

 * LMI to Anchor New Tysons Corner Development as New Corporate Headquarters

Business News November 2012

 * Spanx Billionaire Sara Blakely Opens First Retail Store in Tysons Corner
 * Hyatt Regency Hotel coming to Tysons Corner

Infrastructure
Even before Tysons Corner existed, infrastructure was its single largest guiding principal. The concept for Tysons Corner, created by John T. "Til" Hazel, would have never been dreamed up had the beltway not been constructed in 1961. At some point during the late 20th century Tysons Corner being a major hub for Federal communication, with a hidden world of telecommunication ducts that have been speculated to be the main culprit in delaying metro expansion to the city for decades.

Road Network
Tysons Corner has three defacto bypass highways which encircle the city. Interstate 66 connects areas of central Fairfax and Northern Virginia to the Tysons region and bypasses the city to the South. The Dulles Toll Road, Route 267, connects areas of northern and western Fairfax and Loudoun County to the Tysons region and bypasses the city to the North. The Beltway, I495, connects the Washington Metropolitan region to the Tysons region and bypasses the city to the east (though a significant portion of Tysons Corner exists inside of the Beltway. The Dulles Toll Road corridor has become a significant technological center in Virginia including thousands of tech firms from Tysons Corner to Ashburn.

The main thoroughfares of Tysons Corner are Route 7(Leesburg Pike), Route 123(Dolley Madison Boulevard), and Route 684(International Drive). Based on the Tysons Corner Comprehensive Plan, approved by the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors in June 2010, these three corridors are to become Boulevards. These roads currently experience the most congestion in the city. Much of the future plans for Tysons Corner consider the relationship between these main urban thoroughfares and the ultimate grid of streets in an attempt to maintain and improve commuter conditions for these three roads.

The future Tysons will take the current isolated and disconnected local road network and create a cohesive grid with consistent evenly spaced blocks creating a more complete urban network.

Bus Network
The primary bus centers in Tysons Corner are the Tysons Transit Center located on Jones Branch Drive and the Bus stop at Tysons Corner Center. Several bus lines are routed through these two Bus Centers connecting areas of the city, connections to the existing WMATA Metro-rail stations, and providing service to the Northern Virginia region. Bus service providers include WMATA, Fairfax Connector, as well as several private entities.

In September 2012 Fairfax County and Virginia Railway Express announced Bus Rapid Transit would be available from popular VRE stations to Tysons Corner via the new 495 Express Lanes.