Staff and BAR broadly endorse concept for 140-room Liberty Hotel at Russell Branch Parkway; request more retail detailing and review of parking screening

Town staff and members of the Leesburg Board of Architectural Review on Sept. 3 gave generally positive, preliminary feedback on a conceptual rezoning and proffer amendment for a 140-room, multi-brand hotel and two retail buildings on approximately 8.5 acres along Russell Branch Parkway.

Scott Parker, senior planning project manager in the town’s Department of Community Development, briefed the BAR on the Liberty Hotel rezoning (TLZM202200041400). The concept calls for a 140-room hotel of roughly 85,625 square feet and two single-story retail buildings of about 9,438 square feet each, between East Market Street (Route 7) and Russell Branch Parkway, on the parcel adjacent to the Lowe’s and the Village at Leesburg retail complex.

Staff found the proposed building placement, orientation and massing generally appropriate for the Gateway District and noted the site’s topography will help mitigate perceived height from Route 7. Because the parking is shown between the roadway and the building — where the zoning ordinance typically requires parking behind buildings — staff flagged the need for a modification and said it could be acceptable here if the applicant screens parking with a landscaped berm and planting reflective of adjacent sites rather than a masonry wall. Staff emphasized that additional articulation, detailing and screening of service/mechanical areas should be developed at the COA/site-plan stage.

Brian Miller, representing the applicant Liberty Group, said no retail tenants have been selected yet and that the design team has been working with staff over multiple submissions. Board members praised the overall concept, said the landscape berm is preferable to a masonry wall given neighboring development, and asked the applicant to add more architectural detail to the single-story retail buildings, which board members judged as the least resolved element in the package.

Parker said staff will continue reviewing materials and will forward BAR comments to the applicant ahead of planning commission and town-council review; the project will return to BAR for COA-level review with additional detail about materials, lighting, mechanical screening and final landscaping. Board members noted the proposal appears consistent in scale with adjacent uses (movie theater, LA Fitness, Lowe’s and nearby mixed-use buildings) but requested attention to final first-floor treatment so the retail buildings do not appear “flat” at the COA stage.

No formal vote was taken; the discussion was an advisory, conceptual referral as part of an ongoing rezoning/proffer amendment process.