Sen. Tim Kaine tours Herndon, where redevelopment awaits

Have your architects on standby: A major redevelopment opportunity in the heart of downtown Herndon is about to open up.

Before her tour of the town Friday morning with Sen. Tim Kaine, Herndon Mayor Lisa Merkel told me that she will soon open up one-on-one discussions with firms that may interested in redeveloping 111,000 contiguous square feet of town-owned property, including 500 linear feet fronting the Washington & Old Dominion trail.

This will not be a competitive RFP, Merkel said.

The land, along Station and Center streets across from Town Hall, includes a couple of municipal parking lots and the building currently occupied by ArtSpace Herndon. It is master planned for mid-rise mixed-use, a shared public-private parking garage and a 12,000 to 15,000-square-foot arts center.

So if you, Washington-area developers, want to get into this game, I would suggest calling Merkel directly, at least until the town’s new economic develoment director, Dennis Holste of Margate, Fla., starts work in a couple months.

In the meantime, take a look at the slideshow of Kaine’s visit to Herndon. He’s been making the rounds of Virginia towns. "I know almost every Dairy Queen there is in Virginia," he noted during the tour.

“The great thing about local government is you can see it, touch it, feel it,” added Kaine, Virginia’s former governor and Richmond’s former mayor. “It’s tangible.”

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