When a 7News crew filmed the parcel at Elden and Center on Friday, October 2, part of it was behind fencing with the grass grown tall inside. The other part still had rows of parking spaces and the building at 750 Center Street, where Arts Herndon has run its ArtSpace. Mayor Keven LeBlanc stood near the lot and talked about "blight and fences and overgrown weeds" and what they do to parking downtown.
Fifteen days earlier, a Fairfax County Circuit Court judge ruled that the land stays with Comstock Herndon Venture, LC. The ruling did not say what should be built there or when. It decided one narrow question: whether the Town had a legal right to take the deed back. The answer turned on what one document from December 2020 leaves out. That is why the next chapter for this block will run on court deadlines.
What the December 2020 deed doesn't say
The Town's position has stayed the same since 2024. As Town spokesperson Brent Heavner describes it, the agreement let Comstock walk away without penalty as long as the Town kept a "Right of Reentry" to reclaim the public land. "We always agreed Comstock had the right to take their ball and go home," Heavner said, "but the Court got it wrong by letting them take ours too."
Judge Tania M.L. Saylor read the paperwork differently. Her September 17 opinion pointed to a 2020 amendment to the agreement that gave Comstock the right to exit without penalty by a set date. She paired that with the special warranty deed, which she wrote "does not state, directly or indirectly by inference, that Herndon retains a post-conveyance right of reentry to the Property." The opinion also notes that an earlier proposed deed did contain a reentry provision, and the deed dated December 14, 2020 that conveyed the property did not. Her conclusion was that the Town "is not entitled to a reconveyance of the property."
That amendment is also why the deed changed hands before anything was built. It took effect December 3, 2020, and it changed the 2017 agreement so the land could close "prior to satisfaction of conditions precedent," with those conditions to be met afterward. It also extended Comstock's right to pause construction because of market conditions and delays tied to Covid-19. The land moved first and the conditions were supposed to follow. The conditions never did.
How a 2017 agreement became a 2026 court order
The full record sits on the Town's downtown redevelopment page, which links the agreements, amendments, Comstock's withdrawal letter, and the court filings. Here are the milestones that matter:
| Date | What happened |
|---|---|
| Nov. 1, 2017 | Town and Comstock sign the Comprehensive Agreement |
| Dec. 3, 2020 | Amendment lets the land transfer before conditions are met |
| Dec. 14, 2020 | Special warranty deed conveys the parcel |
| Sept. 2024 | Revised plan cuts the arts center from 16,265 to 4,265 square feet |
| Dec. 6, 2024 | Comstock issues its Notice Not to Proceed |
| Jan. 23, 2025 | Town says it exercises its right of reentry |
| July 11, 2025 | Town files suit in Fairfax County Circuit Court |
| Sept. 17, 2026 | Final order grants Comstock summary judgment |
| Sept. 25, 2026 | Town files objections to the ruling |
The arts center line shows how the plan changed while the land sat. The 2020 amendment called for an arts center of about 16,265 square feet and a 726-space garage with at least 220 public spaces. By September 2024 the arts center was down to 4,265 square feet, alongside about 273 apartments and 17,000 square feet of retail. Three months later, Comstock's notice cited higher costs and financing challenges, a structure it called overly complicated, and conditions it could not meet by the deadline.
You may have seen the ruling described as a "motion to dismiss" decided on September 24. The Town's own project page uses that wording. The court document controls, and it says something different. The final order, dated September 17, grants Comstock's motion for summary judgment and denies the Town's.
The next clock is a court calendar
The final order gave both sides 10 days to file objections. The Town filed on September 25. The Town describes that filing as a step that preserves its options, including an appeal. Objections are not a notice of appeal, and neither FFXnow's September 29 story nor WJLA's October 2 report said a notice had been filed.
Here is how the timing works if the Town goes forward:
- Virginia's Rule 5A:6 requires a notice of appeal within 30 days after the final judgment is entered. Thirty days from September 17 is Saturday, October 17. Virginia rolls weekend deadlines to the next business day, so by our count the window closes Monday, October 19. That is calendar arithmetic, not a date any outlet has reported.
- Once a notice is filed, the Court of Appeals of Virginia says the trial record usually arrives within three months, and the opening brief is due 40 days after that.
- The court reviews the existing record for legal errors. It does not hold a new trial or take new evidence.
- The whole process usually takes about 12 months from the notice of appeal, and the judges have no fixed deadline to rule.
Because the appeals court works only from the record, the case on appeal will likely center on the same documents Judge Saylor read: the 2017 agreement, the 2020 amendment, and the December 2020 deed. If a notice goes in by mid-October, a decision would likely land around fall 2027.
What stays on the block in the meantime
The ruling lets Comstock keep control of the property "for the time being," as the Town puts it. In practice that means the lot as it looked on October 2: a fenced section, a parking section, and the 750 Center Street building.
Parking is the detail most people downtown will feel. The 2020 amendment gave the Town a no-fee public parking license on the site while the project was in planning, with the Town paying to maintain the lot. No current source says whether that arrangement still applies or what the access rules are for the spaces that remain. The mayor has said only that the fencing and the lot's condition affect downtown parking. If you run errands downtown, plan on the lot staying the way it looks now.
The cost question both sides have set aside
One issue could shape any deal even if the Town wins its appeal. A source affiliated with Comstock told 7News that under the contract, the Town would owe the costs of preparing the land if Comstock handed it back, and that Comstock is "not holding the land hostage." The Town reads the contract more narrowly. Its complaint argues that Comstock could seek those costs only if the Town asked it to pass the property and plans to a replacement developer, not when the Town simply asks for the deed back.
The September ruling did not settle that question. The Town nonsuited a separate claim about predevelopment costs in February 2026, so the order covered only whether the land must be returned. Asked about the cost terms, LeBlanc said the Town wants the land back first and that "we can talk about the other things" afterward.
Both sides' public statements leave room to talk. Comstock's September 28 statement said it remains willing "to work with officials on redeveloping a key piece of Herndon's historic downtown into a Class-A mixed-use development" and that a collaborative approach would serve everyone involved. The Town says it is preparing its appeal and will update the community as the case moves. The site has also come up in this fall's Town Council race. Six candidates, Sabrina Bruce, Yasmin Shafiq, Josif Ezekilov, Meron Yohannes, Stevan Porter and Justin Britt, signed a letter pledging to keep working to recover the property and to require enforceable deadlines in any future developer agreement.
Downtown this October, around the lot
Downtown's fall calendar goes on around the parcel. The Herndon Homecoming Parade steps off downtown at 9:30 a.m. on Saturday, October 24, with the theme "Hollywood Through the Years." The Town says road closure details will be confirmed closer to parade day. If you need something from Town Hall this fall, the Municipal Center is closed through January 2, 2027 for HVAC and entrance work. Walk-up counters have moved to Suite 100 at 397 Herndon Parkway, and public meetings to Suite 300.
Downtown businesses are watching too. Graham James of Aslin Beer Company told 7News, "It would be awesome if something was there. Something living, something residential, something that's going to draw people down here, and if more people are walking down here the more likely they're going to come in." The first date that will show where this goes is October 19, the last day to file a notice of appeal by our count.
If you own a home near downtown and wonder how the uncertainty over the Elden and Center block affects your plans, Marnie Schaar & Associates follows Herndon's downtown closely and can walk you through it in plain terms. Request a complimentary home valuation, and we'll include what we're seeing around the historic district this fall.