Unique Vienna condo development to deliver first homes this year

A residential development that promised to introduce a new housing option to the Town of Vienna is getting closer to welcoming its first occupants.

Under construction since early 2024, The Grove on Park condominiums at 133 Park Street NE are on track to deliver their first completed units by the end of this year, likely in late November, according to The Mayhood Company, which is managing sales of the homes.

Construction is projected to finish in the first quarter of 2025 for the other 18 units, along with a refurbished sidewalk along Park Street, new streetlights and an undergrounding of electrical power lines.

The development, which replaced the Vienna Courts offices, consists of 12 three-story buildings with two condos each — one on the second floor and one on the third. The ground floors have two-car garages and private elevators for both units.

Resembling single-family townhouses from the front, the building designs are “really unusual” for Northern Virginia, The Mayhood Company Vice President Kami Kraft says.

“It’s the first time something like that has been built in Northern Virginia, to my knowledge,” she told FFXnow, comparing the condos to “urban ranch” homes seen in the southwestern U.S. “… The best part about it is, unlike a townhouse, all of the living is on one floor, which gives you light and air and windows on all four sides of the condominium, which is very unusual.”

Approved by the Vienna Town Council in December 2022, the Vienna Courts redevelopment was slightly downsized from builder Bukont Homes’ original pitch for 30 units across 15 buildings.

In response to concerns about a lack of open space on the site, the developer agreed to drop three buildings from its plan, reduce the size of the remaining buildings and eliminate three of the 19 proposed visitor parking spots.

With fewer units available to sell, Bukont Homes also backed off a commitment to install geothermal heating and air-conditioning systems and rooftop solar panels for all of the homes. The geothermal systems proved infeasible “from a cost perspective,” but the homes will be “solar panel-ready” for any owners who want to add those as a power source, Kraft said.

The units will also come with radon pits that can pump out the radioactive gas from under the basements if it’s ever detected in the ground.

According to Kraft, sales have been going well, with buyers already secured for 16 condos, including five of the six expected to finish construction in November. The sixth unit — a 2,400-square-foot condo with three bedrooms, three-and-a-half bathrooms and a den — will be staged as a model to show prospective residents.

The units come in four different layouts that range from 1,800 to 2,800 square feet in size, not including the garages. They all have two or three bedrooms with a den.

While The Grove on Park was conceived for older adults and empty-nesters looking to downsize, the condos have attracted families and younger, professional workers as well.

“I’ve had a fair number of younger professionals too, that want to be in a more hip location within the town, but they don’t want to do any maintenance,” Kraft said. “So, the condo is a lot more attractive than, say, a small, single-family house.”

Detached single-family houses constitute 82.2% of Vienna’s residential units, as of the town’s 2015 comprehensive plan , which is currently getting updated . Town leaders have started pushing for more housing options , approving cottage-style duplexes on Courthouse Road that are now complete and the mixed-use Vienna Market townhomes .

However, demand for housing continues to outweigh supply, resulting in most new construction selling for over $2 million, and the average assessed value exceeding $1 million, according to the town’s 2024-2025 budget .

The Grove is only marginally less pricey, with units starting at $1.67 million and reaching up to $1.82 million. A $450-per-month condo fee covers maintenance, management, water and insurance, and most buyers have been adding about $40,000 in optional features, according to Kraft.

The most popular upgrades have been the addition of a wine fridge for the kitchen, a matte lacquer for the cabinets and an electric fireplace.

Still, the development fills a need in the town for smaller homes “for people that want to downsize without downgrading and want to be on one level,” Kraft says, and they’re conveniently located near the town’s main commercial corridors of Maple Avenue and Church Street.

According to Kraft, Steve Bukont, the owner of Bukont Homes, is open to replicating the concept of large, one-story, duplex condos elsewhere, but finding another appropriate site in the Town of Vienna will be challenging.

Nearly all land in the town is zoned for single-family-only residential development, even after the adoption of a zoning code update that permitted taller buildings along Maple Avenue (Route 123), among other changes .

“Because the sales have gone so well, there are definitely opportunities to do more of this within the town and within the area, but the zoning has to be just perfect,” Kraft said. “…You couldn’t do it if you were on Church Street, by way of example, because it’s basically multi-family, and you’re then within the single-family residential district. So, it has to be a site that’s within a block of [Route] 123 in order to make it work.”