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VIENNA, VA-MetroWest, a 56-acre mixed-use development, has won approval from the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors. With site review, permit applications hurdles and other necessary procedures ahead, MetroWest developer Pulte Homes anticipates breaking ground on the project about a year from now.

Sited in the city's Providence District, MetroWest will consist of about 13 buildings containing 2,250 apartments and condominiums, as much as 300,000 sf of office space and 100,000 sf of ground-level retail space. Details on precisely how many of the units will be townhomes, condos or rentals have not been divulged; about 400 will be set aside as seniors housing. Pulte is also constructing a community center that will be donated to the county, and will spend millions on infrastructural improvements.

"For such districts as Providence, the past growth idiom of detached residential separated from both employment centers and retail no longer serves everywhere," Kenneth A. Lawrence, planning commissioner for the Providence District, wrote in his March 15 motion to approve MetroWest. Linda Q. Smyth, Providence District supervisor, adds that many residents are eager to have a live-work-play environment. "People have been saying for a long time that it would be nice if they had a restaurant they could just walk to," Smyth tells GlobeSt.com. "There's nothing in the way of support retail, so people are looking forward to having that within walking distance. We're hoping it will give us that town center focus."