The Greater Reston Living Podcast

Dulles is adding a terminal where you park at your own entrance, clear a private security line, wait in a suite and get driven across the airfield to your plane. Any traveler on any airline can use it, if they pay. Fairfax County, meanwhile, is arguing over the license plate cameras on its roads. We cover both, and Graham asks whether Northern Virginia is becoming a place where people who pay get past everyone else.

Supervisor Walter Alcorn told a Board of Supervisors committee on Oct. 20 that he would vote to end the county's contract with Flock Safety. Kathy walks through what the county runs: 84 police Flock cameras, about 120 private cameras police can search, more than 700 readers on cruisers, and a 21-day limit on keeping the data. Police credit plate readers with more than 570 recovered stolen cars and 60 missing people found since 2022. The Town of Herndon runs 10 Flock cameras of its own, so a county vote would not reach them. We also pull up the DeFlock map of plate readers around Reston and Herndon.

The Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority expects the Dulles VIP terminal to open in early 2029 and has not announced a price. We look at what Miami's private terminal charges ($1,295 a person for the shared lounge, $4,950 for a private suite) and connect it to the express lanes and toll roads drivers already pay to skip traffic.

Before the big stories: the Historic Herndon Halloween House on Spring Street, Voodoo Brewing opening near the Innovation Center Metro station, a sign permit for Grazie Nonna at RTC Next, proposed bike lanes on Glade Drive and Bowman Towne Drive, and the calendar through Nov. 14.

Get the weekly Reston Insider newsletter for openings, closings, the calendar and the stories behind the headlines in Reston and Herndon:

https://kathyandgraham.greaterrestonliving.com/?modal=signup

Links referenced in this episode:

Alcorn and Fairfax County's Flock cameras:

https://greaterrestonliving.com/alcorn-flock-license-plate-cameras-fairfax-county/

Fairfax County police plate reader transparency page:

https://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/police/real-time-crime-center-transparency

DeFlock map of plate readers:

https://deflock.me

The Dulles VIP terminal:

https://greaterrestonliving.com/dulles-airport-vip-terminal-daa-international/

Our earlier episode on the $22.5 billion Dulles rebuild:

https://youtu.be/Y8VERgBTMfc

The Historic Herndon Halloween House:

https://greaterrestonliving.com/historic-herndon-halloween-house-spring-street/

Voodoo Brewing near Innovation Center:

https://greaterrestonliving.com/voodoo-brewing-herndon-dulles-station-first-look/

Grazie Nonna and Grazie Grazie at RTC Next:

https://greaterrestonliving.com/grazie-nonna-grazie-grazie-rtc-next-reston-town-center/

Fairfax County's road restriping program (Glade Drive and Bowman Towne Drive):

https://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/transportation/roadway-restriping-program

Reston's median home price fell 10.6% in September, yet detached houses and townhouses both sold for more than they did in August. We walk through how that happens, then turn to Herndon, where buyers signed half as many contracts as a year ago and the condo median is down 19% this year.

The housing segment covers the mix of homes that sold, the 79 townhouses for sale in Reston (the most since 2017), Herndon's 59 condos for sale, and what buyers and sellers can do with all of it. Kathy explains why a listing that has sat and taken a price cut leaves room to negotiate, and why the right time to buy is when you are ready.

Before the numbers, Kathy recaps walking the red carpet at the Washington West Film Festival, where Paralympic medalist Ali Truwit's documentary opened the 15th year. Herndon's Chaatwala landed at No. 36 on the Washington Post's 40 best restaurants list. Reston Association proposed a $900 assessment for 2027, a $10 increase, and Bread Breakers invites neighbors to a free dinner at Lake Anne on Oct. 27.

Then the calendar: Halloween on the Farm at Frying Pan Farm Park, Trick or Treat Beyond Market Street at Reston Town Center, early voting through Oct. 31, the Worldgate auction on Oct. 26, and Winterfest at Brown's Chapel Park on Dec. 3 to 5.

Get the weekly Reston Insider newsletter for the calendar, openings, closings and market numbers in Reston and Herndon: https://kathyandgraham.greaterrestonliving.com/?modal=signup

Links referenced in this episode:

Reston's September housing market: https://greaterrestonliving.com/reston-september-2026-housing-market-median/

Herndon's September housing market: https://greaterrestonliving.com/herndon-september-2026-housing-market-contracts/

Reston Association's proposed 2027 assessment: https://greaterrestonliving.com/reston-association-2027-budget-900-assessment/

Chaatwala on the Washington Post's 40 best list: https://greaterrestonliving.com/chaatwala-herndon-washington-post-40-best-restaurants/

Reston and Herndon fall events: https://greaterrestonliving.com/reston-herndon-fall-events-october-november-2026/

Worldgate Centre foreclosure auction: https://greaterrestonliving.com/worldgate-centre-herndon-foreclosure-auction/

Washington West Film Festival: https://wwfilmfest.com

Bread Breakers: https://www.meetup.com/breadbreakers/

Winterfest tickets: https://www.reston.org/winterfest

Fairfax County early voting: https://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/elections/early-voting

Six Reston homeowners open their doors on Saturday, Oct. 17, for the Reston Museum's annual Reston Home Tour, and the museum's executive director, Lisa Watts, joined us for the whole episode to preview it. One home has a room built to take the wrinkles out of clothes. Another owner did nearly all of the craftsmanship himself.

Lisa sat in for our usual run through Reston and Herndon news first. We voted on the openings we're waiting for (Ebbitt House beat Dogfish Head Alehouse on our panel), said goodbye to True Food Kitchen and Haus of Urbi at Reston Town Center, and celebrated the new Shop at Potter's Union. We settled nothing in the cider donut debate between the Apple House in Linden and the Reston Farm Garden Market on Baron Cameron Avenue. Worldgate Centre in Herndon goes to a foreclosure auction on Oct. 26, and we explain why its theater, gym and restaurants are still open. A Reston native, Cyrus Rivers, sings with Yale's Whiffenpoofs in Vienna on Oct. 15.

Then Lisa walks through the Home Tour: the two non-home stops at the Wine Cabinet and the Walker Nature Center, a Kendra Scott give-back at Reston Town Center, and a free tour ticket for every volunteer docent. She also talks about the Cardboard Boat Regatta, a November program on Virginia bourbon with A. Smith Bowman Distillery, what Bob Simon said about boring buildings, and the original name of Lake Audubon.

Get the Reston Insider newsletter for openings, closings and local news every week: https://kathyandgraham.greaterrestonliving.com/?modal=signup

Links referenced in this episode: Reston Home Tour tickets: https://www.restonmuseum.org/reston-home-tour-updated-2026 Reston Museum (volunteer, membership, events): https://www.restonmuseum.org/ Reston Farm Garden Market Fall Fun Fest: https://restonfarm.com/pages/fallfest The Apple House, Linden: https://www.theapplehouse.net/ Yale Whiffenpoofs, Oct. 15 in Vienna: https://whiffs.ticketbud.com/the-yale-whiffenpoofs-in-reston Worldgate Centre foreclosure auction (our story): https://greaterrestonliving.com/worldgate-centre-herndon-foreclosure-auction/ True Food Kitchen and Haus of Urbi close (our story): https://greaterrestonliving.com/reston-town-center-guapos-mar-y-tierra-true-food-kitchen-closes/ Reston's seven founding goals (our story): https://greaterrestonliving.com/reston-seven-founding-goals/ The Bowman distillery building in Reston (our story): https://greaterrestonliving.com/a-rare-reston-redevelopment-story-preserving-the-bowman-distillery-while-reimagining-it/ Fall events in Reston and Herndon (our guide): https://greaterrestonliving.com/reston-herndon-fall-events-october-november-2026/

Brandy Melville is bringing its first Virginia store to Reston Town Center, Voodoo Brewing opens its Herndon taproom on Saturday, Oct. 24, and our data on 4,958 Reston home sales shows what happens to sellers who wait.

Brandy Melville is taking the space Apple left at Reston Town Center, and we talk about the brand's one-size approach. Voodoo's owner told us the opening date for the Dulles Station taproom. We also cover Abricott's new Herndon shop on Spring Street, Mountain Mike's Pizza at South Lakes Village and the end of Lakeside Asia Cafe.

Before that, we start at the Baron Cameron Cup, where South Lakes beat Herndon 48-0 in a downpour and moved to 5-0. Herndon still leads the all-time series 15-14. Then we argue about whether a bakery counts as a coffee shop and look back on 25 years of the Reston YMCA.

The fall calendar comes next: the Reston Home Tour, ChalkFest and Howl-O-Ween all land on Oct. 17, plus the Halloween house in Herndon and the SUP witches paddle on Lake Anne on Nov. 1.

We close with our analysis of 4,958 Reston home sales since January 2022. Homes that went under contract in the first week sold at a median 101.9% of their original list price. After the second week, the median slipped below list and kept falling, and a seller who starts too high and cuts in small steps can trail the market for two months.

Get the weekly Reston Insider newsletter for openings, closings and events in Reston and Herndon: https://kathyandgraham.greaterrestonliving.com/?modal=signup

Links referenced in this episode: South Lakes 48, Herndon 0: https://greaterrestonliving.com/reston-herndon-high-school-scoreboard-october-3-2026/ Coffee shops in Reston and Herndon: https://greaterrestonliving.com/coffee-shops-reston-herndon-va/ The Traveling Shepherd coffee: https://thetravelingshepherd.com Reston YMCA 25th anniversary recognition: https://patch.com/virginia/reston/reston-ymca-celebrates-25-years-fairfax-county-recognition Brandy Melville at Reston Town Center: https://greaterrestonliving.com/brandy-melville-reston-town-center/ Abricott opens in Herndon: https://theburn.com/2026/10/01/abricott-opens-new-nuts-sweets-shop-in-herndon/ Voodoo Brewing first look: https://greaterrestonliving.com/voodoo-brewing-herndon-dulles-station-first-look/ Dogfish Head Alehouse: https://greaterrestonliving.com/dogfish-head-alehouse-reston-town-center/ Fall events in Reston and Herndon: https://greaterrestonliving.com/reston-herndon-fall-events-october-november-2026/ Washington West Film Festival: https://wwfilmfest.com/ Reston Home Tour: https://www.restonmuseum.org/reston-home-tour-updated-2026 ChalkFest: https://publicartreston.org/chalkfest-2026/ Chasing the Market, what 4,958 Reston sales say about pricing: https://greaterrestonliving.com/reston-home-pricing-days-on-market-chasing-the-market/

Reston has hosted a film festival for 15 years, and it gives 100% of its net box office to charity. We finally caught up with it.

The Washington West Film Festival runs Oct. 8 to 12, mostly at LOOK Dine-In Cinemas at Reston Town Center. We preview the opening night documentary, Stronger Than You Think, about swimmer Ali Truwit, who survived a shark attack and made the 2024 U.S. Paralympic team a year later. We also look at A Mosquito in the Ear and at Jimmy, the Jimmy Stewart film that closes the festival on Oct. 10 after a tribute to Robert Duvall.

In Herndon, a Fairfax County Circuit Court judge ruled for Comstock on Sept. 17 in the fight over downtown's five acres at Elden and Center streets. We play Mayor Keven LeBlanc's video response and walk through what comes next, including the town's Oct. 19 appeal deadline.

We open with Voodoo Brewing's license approval at Dulles Station, three new restaurants in Reston and Herndon, the Herndon Municipal Center's three-month closure, and a fall calendar with Vertical Horizon at Rocktoberfest, Halloween on the Farm at Frying Pan Farm Park, the witches paddle on Lake Anne and the Reston Holiday Parade.

Get the weekly Reston Insider newsletter for openings, closings and events in Reston and Herndon: https://kathyandgraham.greaterrestonliving.com/?modal=signup

Links referenced in this episode: Washington West Film Festival schedule and tickets: https://wwfilmfest.com/schedule-tickets/ Voodoo Brewing first look: https://greaterrestonliving.com/voodoo-brewing-herndon-dulles-station-first-look/ Big Greek Cafe coming to North Point: https://www.ffxnow.com/2026/09/21/big-greek-cafe-to-open-location-in-restons-north-point-village-center/ Navarasa by Biryani Grill: https://navarasa.restaurant/ Mezeh Mediterranean Grill coming to Village Center at Dulles: https://theburn.com/2026/09/16/new-mezeh-mediterranean-grill-headed-to-herndon/ Herndon Municipal Center closure: https://greaterrestonliving.com/herndon-municipal-center-closes-october-2/ Rocktoberfest at Reston Town Center: https://www.restontowncenter.com/calendar-events/rocktoberfest Halloween on the Farm: https://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/parks/frying-pan-park/halloween-farm/ Reston Holiday Parade: https://www.restontowncenter.com/calendar-events/reston-holiday-parade-tree-lighting Herndon v. Comstock ruling: https://greaterrestonliving.com/herndon-comstock-ruling-downtown-five-acres/ Last episode's Herndon v. Comstock segment: https://youtu.be/7HHCelmQEi8?t=845

Fairfax County counts more than 150 companies doing space-related work, and a long run of them sits between Reston and Chantilly. Blue Origin and Scout Space are on Edmund Halley Drive, HawkEye 360 flies more than 30 satellites from the Town of Herndon, and five contractors with space businesses keep headquarters in Reston. The past year added more: Umbra took a Reston office, Anduril is building out floors at Reston Town Center, Booz Allen and Amentum are moving headquarters here, and a defense company called GRVTY filed for a sign on an office tower near Route 28. We map all of it and talk through why so much of this work cannot be done from home.

Before the big story, we cover the week in Reston and Herndon: where the Gilmore Girls would live if they moved here, our new guide to Reston's 55 miles of trails, and seven openings coming to Reston before the end of the year, including Kinship Wine + Wares at Lake Anne, Ebbitt House at Reston Station and Dogfish Head Alehouse at Reston Town Center. We also update the Town of Herndon's court fight with Comstock over five downtown acres, now headed to a Final Order on September 25, and the Board of Supervisors vote that keeps crossing coverage at South Lakes High School through June. Then a fall calendar: the Reston Multicultural Festival, Rocktoberfest, the Reston Home Tour and the Herndon Homecoming Parade.

Get the Reston Insider newsletter for local news, events and new episodes: https://kathyandgraham.greaterrestonliving.com/?modal=signup

Links referenced in this episode:

GRVTY and the space companies of the Dulles corridor (our post) https://greaterrestonliving.com/grvty-herndon-sign-permit-dulles-corridor-space-companies/

Reston Trails guide https://greaterrestonliving.com/reston-trails-guide/

Where the Gilmore Girls would live (Instagram) https://www.instagram.com/p/DdRpXiaEW6r/

Herndon v. Comstock backstory (our post) https://greaterrestonliving.com/herndon-comstock-trial-downtown-five-acres/

Town of Herndon downtown redevelopment and litigation page https://www.herndon-va.gov/businesses/economic-development/herndon-downtown-redevelopment-project

Reston Multicultural Festival https://restoncommunitycenter.com/things-to-do/events/reston-multicultural-festival/

Rocktoberfest at Reston Town Center https://www.restontowncenter.com/calendar-events/rocktoberfest

Reston Home Tour https://www.restonmuseum.org/reston-home-tour-updated-2026

Herndon NatureFest https://www.herndon-va.gov/departments/recreation/special-events/naturefest

Herndon Puzzle-Palooza https://www.herndon-va.gov/departments/recreation/special-events/puzzle-palooza

Herndon Homecoming Parade https://www.herndon-va.gov/departments/recreation/special-events/homecoming-parade

A 16-year-old was struck by a car walking to South Lakes High School on the morning of September 1. By that evening, Fairfax County had crossing guards back at all ten high schools where they had been cut. The restoration is temporary. The Board of Supervisors takes up the carryover package on September 15, and that vote decides whether the guards stay.

Kathy and Graham cover that first, then work through a week of Reston and Herndon news. A comment thread about living in Reston too long turned up Uptons, Roy Rogers, the Safeway at Lake Anne, gravel-lot carnivals at Reston Town Center, and a horse going through the McDonald's drive-thru at McTacoHut. Reston-based Thompson Restaurants took over L'Auberge Chez François in Great Falls, with Executive Chef Jacques Haeringer staying on. Davidson Hospitality Group replaces Crescent Hotels and Resorts as operator of the JW Marriott Reston Station on October 1, and the two hosts dig into whether Reddit's pessimism about it holds up. Herndon Police host an e-bike safety session on September 9, part of a regional push along the W&OD Trail. EYA's 57 townhomes at the Bowman House are through final approval with a spring 2027 groundbreaking.

Then the main event. Isaac Newton Square phase one is fully approved. The Board of Supervisors signed off on Block N3 on August 25, swapping a second apartment building for 24 back-to-back townhomes on the Wiehle Avenue corner. Graham walks the whole northern site: 488 homes across four blocks, 143 townhomes and a 345-unit apartment building, three parks with preserved willow oaks, a 10-foot trail along Wiehle, and a planning commission chair who is worried about the opposite of what most Restonians worry about. Kathy raises traffic, Graham makes the case for what a connected grid does to walkability 15 years out, and neither of them pretends the answer is obvious.

Get the weekly newsletter for Reston and Herndon news, development updates, and what is happening around town. https://kathyandgraham.greaterrestonliving.com/?modal=signup

Links referenced in this episode:

Isaac Newton Square phase one, block by block (our full write-up) https://greaterrestonliving.com/isaac-newton-square-phase-one-fully-approved-block-by-block/

FFXnow: New management to take over JW Marriott Reston Station hotel https://www.ffxnow.com/2026/09/03/new-management-to-take-over-jw-marriott-reston-station-hotel-no-disruptions-expected/

FFXnow: New regional initiative brings e-bike safety events to W&OD Trail https://www.ffxnow.com/2026/09/03/new-regional-initiative-brings-e-bike-safety-events-to-wod-trail/

Herndon Police programs and events https://www.herndon-va.gov/departments/public-safety/programs-and-events

EYA at the Bowman House, our write-up https://greaterrestonliving.com/bowman-manor-reimagined-eyas-boutique-townhomes-blend-history-and-modern-reston-living/

Fairfax County pulled the crossing guards from nine high schools this year. South Lakes was one of them, and the first two weeks of school have gone about how you would expect on a five-lane road at dismissal.

We walk through the video Hunter Mill District School Board representative Melanie Meren filmed at the South Lakes Drive crossing: cars turning through the crosswalk, students cutting diagonally across the road, four directions of traffic locked up at once, and one student who nearly gets clipped. We cover where the decision came from, why the county calls it data-driven, why parents are asking when that data was collected, and what happens when supervisors take the carryover package back up on September 15.

Before that, the new rules for Friday night football at Fairfax County schools. Clear bags only, in two specific sizes. Backpacks, purses, fanny packs, outside food and drinks all stay in the car. And middle schoolers can no longer be dropped off to find their own way in, which changes the routine for a lot of Reston and Herndon families. Ticket prices held steady at seven dollars for adults and five for students.

We also get into North Point Village Center picking up Sweat440 and Robeks, the closing of Meanwhile Coffee in Herndon after a short run at Woodland Park Crossing, Lidl signing for the old Whole Foods space at Plaza America, whether Reston actually has too many grocery stores, why Summer Restaurant Week skewed so heavily toward the big rooms, and the Reston Multicultural Festival hitting 25 years on September 19.

Kathy joins from Long Beach Island, New Jersey, which explains the view.

Get the weekly newsletter We send the local stories, openings, closings, and dates worth knowing before they show up in your feed. https://kathyandgraham.greaterrestonliving.com/?modal=signup

Wegmans opened at Halley Rise in 2023, and from the street not much has happened since. The parking lots stayed parking lots. Part of the reason is that the original developer sold, and this month the new owner filed a plan for everything that comes next.

WS Development, a Massachusetts company, paid $42.7 million in July 2025 for the undeveloped parcels and the existing office buildings at Halley Rise. Their revised application keeps the approved 4.1 million square feet intact and moves the pieces around: more housing pushed toward the Reston Town Center Metro station, a large share of the office space shifted south, two office towers on Block D, a 1,504 space garage placed entirely underground, 841 residential units across Blocks G and H, a hotel of up to 200 rooms, and roughly five acres of open space anchored by a green with a performance stage and a food and beverage pavilion.

We go through it block by block, including which existing things disappear to make room.

Before that, Kathy and Graham dig into the July numbers for Reston, and they run opposite to what people expect from a slow market. Detached homes are going under contract in 9 days at a median of $1.1 million. Townhouses take 13 days at $709,000. Condos take 26 days at $391,000 and Reston condo inventory has climbed to three months of supply, a level this area has not seen in years. Rising condo fees and a homebuyer whose average age is now 40 are both part of the explanation.

Also in this episode: a penthouse at the JW Marriott Residences at Reston Station sold for $10.9 million, breaking the Virginia record that the same building set in April, and Kathy finished the Public Art Reston scavenger hunt.

Get the weekly Reston Insider newsletter for local news, development updates, and events across Reston and Herndon:

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LINKS REFERENCED IN THIS EPISODE

Our previous episode on Reston Crossing, the neighboring development:

https://youtu.be/tlwRKlZ17_I

Halley Rise revised plan coverage from FFXnow:

https://www.ffxnow.com/2026/08/12/halley-rise-developer-proposes-tweaks-to-office-park-plans-for-reston-neighborhood/

Reston penthouse sets the Virginia condo sales record:

https://www.ffxnow.com/2026/08/06/reston-penthouse-breaks-virginias-record-for-a-condo-sale-price-with-10-9m-deal/

Public Art Reston 2026 Scavenger Hunt, cards due August 23:

https://publicartreston.org/scavenger_hunt_2026/

Halley Rise official site:

https://halleyrise.com/

Dulles has been running mobile lounges since 1962. They were supposed to be temporary. Sixty-four years later, a $22.5 billion plan finally retires them, along with most of the rest of the airport, and the ripple effects land squarely on Reston, Herndon, and the Dulles Corridor.

Graham and Kathy break down the Dulles transformation plan: more than five million square feet of new or renovated space, the replacement of Concourses C and D, Concourse E opening later this year with fourteen new United gates, an extended AeroTrain, a new central walking tunnel, a much larger customs facility, and a proposed parking garage of roughly 32,000 spaces. The Saarinen terminal facade survives. The two-year timeline that got announced does not survive contact with the construction schedule, and we explain why most of this work does not start until 2027.

We also get into the underlying master plan math: Dulles moving from about 27 million annual passengers today to roughly 45 million by 2045, using the existing runways, with gate counts climbing from 130 toward 154 by 2040. Then the local question. What does doubling an airport do to Route 28 and Innovation Station, to the Herndon-Monroe corridor north of the toll road, and to Reston, which has already been absorbing a decade of this pressure?

Before that, Fairfax County Public Schools is rolling out new student ID cards for the 2026-27 year. Every student wears one through the school day. Bus riders tap on and tap off. The cards carry a photo, name, school, a QR code, and the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. We talk about the friction it adds, the independence it takes away, and the case for it that changed how we were thinking about it.

Plus, the Cardboard Boat Regatta returns to Lake Anne Plaza on Saturday August 8, and you told us which Reston and Herndon intersections you hate most.

Get the weekly Reston and Herndon newsletter, with every event large and small, the news of the week, and what is actually being built near you:
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