National Landing: Where Unique Infrastructure Meets Office Repositioning

Planners are grappling with aging, obsolete office buildings; value depreciation; and impacts on the tax base and public services. This panel showcases downtown Arlington, Virginia’s ability to overcome the challenge of office building (2011 Crystal Drive) repositioning through opportune pairing with once-in-a-generation infrastructure, the Crystal City to National Airport Intermodal Connector.

National Landing, Arlington County’s premier downtown and burgeoning innovation district, is undergoing unprecedented change to capture untapped market potential while offering safe and equitable means for non-vehicular connectivity between its main street, the airport, and commuter rail — the first of its kind in the country. A diverse panel of partners provides insight into the timely execution of visionary, market-affirming infrastructure and the responding innovative future improvements to an adjacent aging office building. Discover how and why the coupled improvements transcend current demand trends with timeless, inclusive design, how they are made possible amid intentional regulatory reform, and how their impact on National Landing — from the perspectives of active partners — models post-pandemic downtown resiliency that can be replicated on a national scale.