County officials want offices instead. They have zoned land for them because they believe they would encourage Metro usage and unclog roads in traffic-choked Northern Virginia. But county wishes have been stymied by a real estate market that hasn't seen the suburban locale as a good office site, and by protesting residents who say that tall office buildings will overwhelm their neighborhood.

"The Vienna site has been a troubled site," says Fairfax County supervisor Gerald E. Connolly, who represents the neighborhood but supports office development there. "The market simply hasn't responded."

New apartment plans would still have to be approved by the county. But while residents have hotly opposed intense development of the site for commercial purposes, including a hotel, an apartment project may be acceptable politically.