Tysons (also known by its former official name Tysons Corner), a

census-designated place A census-designated place (CDP) is a Place (United States Census Bureau), concentration of population defined by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes only. CDPs have been used in each decennial census since 1980 as the counte ...

(CDP) and

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation. (At p. 178.) They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or another branch of the state (such as th ...

Fairfax County Fairfax County, officially the County of Fairfax, is a county in the Commonwealth of Virginia. With a population of 1,150,309 as of the 2020 census, it is the most populous county in Virginia, the most populous jurisdiction in the Washington ...

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...

, contains at least 18 high-rise buildings that stand or taller. Capital One Tower is currently the tallest building. Standing tall, it was completed in 2018. VITA Tysons Corner had previously held the record since 2015.

History

Development by the military and intelligence sectors in Tysons began in 1952 with the construction of a

microwave transmission Microwave transmission is the transmission of information by electromagnetic waves with wavelengths in the microwave frequency range of 300 MHz to 300 GHz (1 m - 1 mm wavelength) of the electromagnetic spectrum. Microwave signal ...

tower, known as the

Tysons Corner Communications Tower Tysons Corner Communications Tower, also known as Site E, is a classified United States military microwave tower located in Tysons Corner, Virginia. The tower is administered by the United States Army from Fort Belvoir. History The tower was c ...

, by the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary Land warfare, land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of th ...

. Built upon the highest elevation in Fairfax County, the tower relayed microwave transmissions between Washington, D.C., and government facilities near the

Blue Ridge Mountains The Blue Ridge Mountains are a Physiographic regions of the United States, physiographic province of the larger Appalachian Highlands range. The mountain range is located in the Eastern United States and extends 550 miles southwest from southern ...

to enable emergency

continuity of government Continuity of government (COG) is the principle of establishing defined procedures that allow a government to continue its essential operations in case of a catastrophic event such as nuclear war. Continuity of government was developed by the Br ...

. Tysons itself was a rural

crossroads Crossroads is a junction where four roads meet. Crossroads, crossroad, cross road(s) or similar may also refer to: Film and television Films * ''Crossroads'' (1928 film), a 1928 Japanese film by Teinosuke Kinugasa * ''Cross Roads'' (film), a ...

community until 1961, when the

Central Intelligence Agency The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA; ) is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States tasked with advancing national security through collecting and analyzing intelligence from around the world and ...

completed its

headquarters Headquarters (often referred to as HQ) notes the location where most or all of the important functions of an organization are coordinated. The term is used in a wide variety of situations, including private sector corporations, non-profits, mil ...

in nearby Langley. This spurred

defense contractors Defense or defence may refer to: Tactical, martial, and political acts or groups * Defense (military), forces primarily intended for warfare * Civil defense, the organizing of civilians to deal with emergencies or enemy attacks * Defense indust ...

to set up offices in Tysons. In 1962,

real estate developer Real estate development, or property development, is a business process, encompassing activities that range from the renovation and re-lease of existing buildings to the purchase of raw land and the sale of developed land or parcels to other ...

WestGroup received county approval to build its WestGate and WestPark office parks in Tysons which were among the first in the area. That same year, the county also approved plans for

Lerner Enterprises Lerner Enterprises is a company owned by the Lerner family that develops and invests in real estate in the Washington metropolitan area. The company has developed more than 20 million square feet of real estate. History The company was founded i ...

to build the

Tysons Corner Center Tysons Corner Center is a large shopping mall in the unincorporated area of Tysons in Fairfax County, Virginia, United States (between McLean and Vienna, Virginia). It opened to the public in 1968, becoming one of the first fully enclosed, clim ...

shopping mall A shopping mall (or simply mall) is a large indoor shopping center, usually Anchor tenant, anchored by department stores. The term ''mall'' originally meant pedestrian zone, a pedestrian promenade with shops along it, but in the late 1960s, i ...

, which subsequently opened in 1968. By the mid-1980s, the Fairfax County supervisors approved an easing of the county's height limit to allow for the construction of the never-built Tysons Tower office building at the intersection of the

Capital Beltway The Capital Beltway, designated as Interstate 495 (I-495) for its entire length, is an List of auxiliary Interstate Highways, auxiliary Interstate Highway in the Washington metropolitan area. The Ring road, beltway encircles Washington, D.C., ...

and

Virginia Route 7 Virginia State Route 7 (VA 7) is a major primary state highway and busy commuter route in northern Virginia, United States. It travels southeast from downtown Winchester to SR 400 (Washington Street) in downtown Alexandria. It ...

. By 1985, Fairfax County officials considered a plan to construct "gateways" which consisted of pairs of buildings as high as 22 stories or at key intersections along the Capital Beltway, the

Dulles Access Road State Route 267 (SR 267) is an expressway in the US state of Virginia. It consists of two end-to-end toll roads – the Dulles Toll Road and Dulles Greenway – as well as the non-tolled Dulles Access Road, which lies in the median o ...

, Virginia Route 7, and

Virginia Route 123 State Route 123 (SR 123) or Virginia State Route 123 (VA 123) is a primary state highway in the U.S. state of Virginia. The state highway runs from U.S. Route 1 (US 1) in Woodbridge north to the Chain Bridge across the Potomac River into ...

. County officials sought to make Tysons into Fairfax County's "new downtown." The plan also called for proposing a rooftop height limit of as the maximum height for future construction projects. In June 2010, the Fairfax County supervisors authorized a plan to transform Tysons from an automobile-dependent suburb into a "walkable city." By 2011, Tysons had of office space; higher than the metropolitan areas of

San Antonio, Texas San Antonio ( ; Spanish for "Anthony of Padua, Saint Anthony") is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in Greater San Antonio. San Antonio is the List of Texas metropolitan areas, third-largest metropolitan area in Texa ...

and

Jacksonville, Florida Jacksonville ( ) is the most populous city proper in the U.S. state of Florida, located on the Atlantic coast of North Florida, northeastern Florida. It is the county seat of Duval County, Florida, Duval County, with which the City of Jacksonv ...

. Increased high-rise construction in Tysons was further spurred by the construction and opening of the Silver Line of the

Washington Metro The Washington Metro, often abbreviated as the Metro and formally the Metrorail, is a rapid transit system serving the Washington metropolitan area of the United States. It is administered by the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority ...

, which has four stations in Tysons: , , , and . The

Capital One Capital One Financial Corporation is an American bank holding company founded on July 21, 1994, and specializing in credit cards, auto loans, banking, and savings accounts, headquartered in Tysons, Virginia, with operations primarily in the ...

Headquarters, under construction near the McLean station as of 2019, contains the tallest building in Tysons and the

Washington metropolitan area The Washington metropolitan area, also referred to as the National Capital Region, Greater Washington, or locally as the DMV (short for Washington, D.C., District of Columbia, Maryland, and Virginia), is the metropolitan area comprising Washing ...

at , and is the second-tallest non-communication structure in the Washington metropolitan area after the

Washington Monument The Washington Monument is an obelisk on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., built to commemorate George Washington, a Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father of the United States, victorious commander-in-chief of the Continen ...

(which stands ). 1775 Tysons Boulevard, constructed by Lerner Enterprises near Tysons station, is the first building in Tysons to achieve platinum status under the

Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) is a Green building certification systems, green building certification program used worldwide. Developed by the non-profit U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), it includes a set of rating ...

(LEED) building rating system and among the first in the Washington metropolitan area. Tysons has the 8th largest retail square footage in the United States with . Tysons is home to the corporate headquarters of five

Fortune 500 The ''Fortune'' 500 is an annual list compiled and published by ''Fortune (magazine), Fortune'' magazine that ranks 500 of the largest United States Joint-stock company#Closely held corporations and publicly traded corporations, corporations by ...

companies:

Freddie Mac The Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (FHLMC), commonly known as Freddie Mac, is an American publicly traded, government-sponsored enterprise (GSE), headquartered in Tysons, Virginia.Capital One Capital One Financial Corporation is an American bank holding company founded on July 21, 1994, and specializing in credit cards, auto loans, banking, and savings accounts, headquartered in Tysons, Virginia, with operations primarily in the ...

Hilton Worldwide Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc. is an American multinational hospitality company that manages and franchises a broad portfolio of hotels, resorts, and timeshare properties. Founded by Conrad Hilton in May 1919, the company is now led by Chris ...

Booz Allen Hamilton Booz Allen Hamilton Holding Corporation (informally Booz Allen) is the parent of Booz Allen Hamilton Inc., an American company specializing in intelligence, AI, and digital transformation. It is headquartered in McLean, Virginia, in the Washing ...

, and

Gannett Company Gannett Co., Inc. ( ) is an American mass media holding company headquartered in New York City. It is the largest U.S. newspaper publisher as measured by total daily circulation. It owns the national newspaper ''USA Today'', as well as severa ...

Tallest buildings

There are at least 18 completed or topped out skyscrapers in Tysons that stand at least tall, based on standard height measurement which includes spires and architectural details but does not include antenna masts.

Tallest buildings under construction or proposed

Under construction

The following buildings under construction in Tysons are expected to rise at least .

Proposed

There are numerous buildings proposed in Tysons that are expected to rise at least .

Timeline of tallest buildings

References

Explanatory notes :a. The

United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the Federal statistical system, U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and American economy, econ ...

officially began referring to the

of Tysons Corner as Tysons in Summer 2016. The name Tysons was first unofficially adopted in 2012 by the Tysons Partnership, a nonprofit association of area businesses and stakeholders. :b. An asterisk (*) indicates that the building is still under construction, but has been topped out. Citations Further reading * *

External links

*
Tysons Development Activity
{{DEFAULTSORT:List Of Tallest Buildings In Tysons Buildings and structures in Fairfax County, Virginia Tallest in Tysons Tysons Skyscrapers in Virginia Tysons, Virginia