RESTON INSIDER
This week on…
The Greater Reston Living Podcast
GRVTY, a defense company that works in space, spectrum, and cyber, filed for a sign near Route 28 last week, and that sent us counting its neighbors. Fairfax County has more than 150 companies supporting space missions, and a long run of them sits between Reston and Chantilly: Blue Origin, Scout Space, HawkEye 360, BlackSky and five contractors headquartered in Reston. Five more landed in the past year. Seven openings are also lined up across Reston before the end of the year, from a Lake Anne wine shop to a Reston Station dining room with 125 seats on the patio. We read permit filings and restaurant leases the same way, because both change a commute or a walk to dinner.
You can watch the full episode or jump straight to the sections that interest you using the links below.
Quick hits from the top of the episode
Reston Association's 55 miles of paths carry six named routes
Our new trails guide lays out Reston Association's 55 miles of paths, including six named routes from the 1.43-mile Green Trail near Lake Anne to the roughly five-mile Purple Trail, the only one without a printed brochure. Every trailhead lot is free. Most of the four lake loops wind through the neighborhoods around each lake rather than hugging the shoreline.
The Reston Multicultural Festival marked 25 years at Reston Town Center on Saturday, with three stages and free admission. Rocktoberfest follows on October 10 with Vertical Horizon headlining, and the Reston Home Tour opens seven private homes on October 17. Tickets are $40, and buying in person at the Reston Museum skips the online fee.
We also moved the Gilmore Girls cast into Reston and Herndon houses. Lorelai got Lake Anne, and the comments sent Emily and Richard to Great Falls.
Watch the trails and Gilmore Girls segment, or skip to the fall events rundown.
Seven Reston openings before the year is out
Kinship Wine + Wares celebrated its grand opening at Lake Anne Plaza on Saturday, and it runs a Wednesday Wine Down tasting from 5 to 7 p.m. Ebbitt House, from the Clyde's group, targets October at Reston Station with a dining room of 260 to 275 seats and a 125-seat patio. Dogfish Head Alehouse is also aiming for October at Reston Town Center.
Mpanadas plans a spot on Sunrise Valley Drive just west of Wiehle Avenue, which gives Reston a second empanada shop alongside Empanadas de Mendoza at North Point. Andy's Pizza takes over the Mod Pizza space at Plaza America after Mod's last day on September 30. The Big Greek Cafe has filed paperwork for North Point Village Center, though the company has not confirmed a deal. Reston Hospital Center also opened a dedicated open-heart surgery center on September 14, a $15 million project with 35 new employees, according to the Washington Business Journal.
Watch the Reston openings segment.
Downtown Herndon's five acres get a Final Order date instead of a trial
The three-day trial between the Town of Herndon and Comstock never started. On September 4, the judge removed the trial date and said a written decision on the summary judgment motions will settle the case. The court plans to enter its Final Order on Friday, September 25.
The dispute covers about five acres at 770 Elden Street, where Comstock's abandoned plan called for apartments, retail, a 761-space garage, and an expanded arts center. The town wants the land back and a ruling that it owes nothing. Comstock says the town owes it several million dollars in predevelopment costs. Our Instagram comments ranged from "bring back the festival" to "bring back the Ice House."
Watch the Herndon v. Comstock segment.
South Lakes keeps its crossing coverage through June
The Board of Supervisors unanimously approved $707,908 on September 15 to cover 11 crossings at 10 high schools, South Lakes among them, through June 30, 2027. Chairman Jeff McKay said uniformed police officers and private contractors will staff the crossings. In a separate vote, the Board set up a working group on school transportation safety that reports into next year's budget.
South Lakes students and parents wore reflective vests in the stands at last week's football game, and a group of students spent Tuesday at the Government Center for the vote.
Watch the crossing guard update.
The Big Ideas
Five space and defense employers picked Reston or Herndon addresses in the past year, and GRVTY is the newest
GRVTY works in space, spectrum and cyber for national security customers. Arlington Capital Partners formed it in 2025, and it announced a Tysons headquarters with 200 new jobs in February. Last week it filed for signs at 2551 Dulles View Drive near Route 28, where county records show it has cleared about 40,500 square feet on the top two floors. The address says Herndon, though the building sits outside town limits, about a mile from the Innovation Center Metro station.
Umbra, which builds radar satellites, committed $6.75 million to a 20,000-square-foot Reston office with more than 100 jobs in February. Anduril pulled build-out permits for two floors at One Freedom Square this month. Amentum opens a 45,000-square-foot global headquarters at 1900 Reston Metro Plaza in early 2027, and Booz Allen moves its global headquarters to Reston Station that fall.
Blue Origin has run an engineering office at 2001 Edmund Halley Drive since 2022, with Scout Space next door. SpiderOak moved to Reston Town Center in 2023. HawkEye 360 flies more than 30 satellites from Springpark Place in the Town of Herndon and raised about $416 million in a May IPO, and BlackSky leases space at Dulles Corner. SAIC, CACI, Leidos, General Dynamics and Peraton all keep headquarters in Reston, each with space contracts. Down Route 28 in Chantilly sit the National Reconnaissance Office and the Aerospace Corporation, which moved its headquarters there from California in 2024.
Much of this work happens inside secure facilities, so employees cannot work from home. The office address sets the commute, and a "Herndon" mailing address can mean the Town of Herndon, Dulles Corner or Dulles View near Route 28. For anyone relocating for one of these jobs, drive the commute at rush hour before writing an offer.
For current residents, more required office days put more cars on Route 28 and the Toll Road. Our full post and map list every company and address.
Watch the space race segment.
Why we're watching this
The Washington region lost 103,900 jobs in the year ending in January, and the space and defense employers along the Toll Road kept signing leases and filing permits anyway. A tower that sold for $100 million and then for $31.5 million now has a tenant asking for its name on the facade.
We track the permits because they show up before the press releases. When a company clears two floors, the commutes, the lunch spots and the housing searches follow.
Subscribe and follow along
Follow along each week to keep up with the stories, debates, and local changes shaping Reston and Herndon. New episodes drop weekly.
A quick note from us
If a new job along the Dulles corridor has you weighing Reston against Herndon, or you want to know how a Route 28 commute compares from different neighborhoods, reply to this email. The same goes if one of these openings has you thinking about a specific street near Lake Anne or Reston Station. No pressure either way.
