JBG Companies take a proactice approach
By Claire Compton
The JBG Companies, relatively new to the Reston area, has been recognized for its good business practices with a 2008 Best of Reston award.It's impossible to please everyone, but Marion Myers, who nominated JBG for the award, believes the company has been exhaustive in seeking
community input during its projects' public processes. Myers, head of Myers PR in Reston, began working with the company in the initial stages of its Reston Heights development project to connect the company with the neighborhoods it was impacting.
“It showed me that rather than going after the fact to try to make things better, they thought proactively," she said.
Myers was also impressed with several JBG initiatives and commitments that were at home in Reston, including a history of transit-oriented development, green building practices and affordable housing.
The Reston Heights development will reserve 12 percent of its residential units for workforce housing. John Schlicting, a managing
director with JBG, said the practice goes beyond simple philanthropy and is good for the economic health of the region.
“People that work for us and in our restaurants and hotels need affordable places to live," he said. "If we can't house those workers within reasonable commuting distance it puts a burden on the transportation network.”
The company has sponsored the Best of Reston at the Strategic Partners level for the past two years, which is a donation of $25,000. The
money raised by the Best of Reston benefits Reston Interfaith's affordable housing programs.
JBG has been concerned with creating and maintaining a healthy transportation network since the company was founded in 1960, well before the transportation issue rose to a fever pitch in Northern Virginia.
Schlichting said the majority of JBG's developments, which have been for the most part inside the beltway, are built near Metro stations. JBG arrived in Reston with its purchase of the Sheraton in 2000. The Reston Heights development has been planned for easy access to the
proposed Reston Parkway rail station. Although the entire project may be scrapped, Schlichting said the company has no plans to change its
course.
“We believe the rail to Dulles is so critical for this region that it has to happen," he said. "We have not started developing contingency plans, we don't believe it's not going to happen."