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TextWorkhouse Arts Center Approved for Lorton
Fairfax County Office of Public
Affairs
12000 Government Center Parkway, Suite 551
Fairfax, VA 22035-0065
703-324-3187, TTY 703-324-2935, FAX 703-324-2010
July 30, 2004
Workhouse Arts Center Approved for Lorton
On Monday, July 26, the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors approved the rezoning request submitted by the Lorton Arts Foundation Inc. to rezone a 56-acre portion of the former District of Columbia Department of Corrections facility in Lorton to the Planned Development Commercial (PDC) District. The application property is located on the east side of Ox Road and south of Lorton Road. The Planning Commission and Architectural Review Board had both previously held hearings on this proposal and each recommended that the Board of Supervisors approve the rezoning request.
The Lorton Arts Foundation Inc. proposes to develop a mixed use arts center consisting of: art studios; art display spaces including a sculpture garden; a theater; a performing arts center with two black box performance spaces; an events center; a museum about the history of the prison and the community; a horticultural display area; and a music barn with indoor and outdoor seating. The Lorton Arts Foundation Inc. proposes to adaptively reuse the historic buildings associated with the Occoquan Workhouse constructed during the first decades of the twentieth century; including, among others, the buildings around the main quadrangle and the barn.
The Board of Supervisors also approved the demolition of five contributing structures that could not be adapted to be part of the arts center. The existing fences, guard towers and other buildings not associated with the historic workhouse will be demolished. In addition, the foundation proposes to construct two eating establishments and forty multi-family dwelling units for resident artists, performers and other people associated with the arts center.
When completed, the proposed arts center will occupy approximately 294,000 square feet gross floor area, 234,000 square feet within the adaptively reused buildings and 60,000 square feet in new construction. The site will include 40 acres of open space and over 1,350 parking spaces.
For more information regarding the zoning application, contact Peter
Braham, Department of Planning and Zoning, at 703-324-1290, TTY 711. For
information regarding the Lorton Arts Foundation, contact Tina Leone,
executive director, at 703-786-6037, TTY 711, or visit the foundation's
Web site at www.lortonarts.org.
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