Reston Town Center

The Reston Town Center (RTC) is a group of offices, stores, and restaurants in Reston, Virginia.

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Line of highrises at Reston Town Center

Layout

The Reston Town Center is designed with open avenues and with wide sidewalks. It is built around Freedom Square, a medium-sized open area between the surrounding shops. The main landmark in Freedom Square is Mercury Fountain, designed by Saint Clair Cemin. Directly in front of Mercury Fountain is Market Street, and across the street is the Equity Office Pavilion. The Pavilion doubles as a covered open-air ice rink during the winter and as a concert venue throughout the rest of the year. To the left and right of the Fountain along Market Street are the One Fountain Square and Two Fountain Square buildings, respectively, with the two Freedom Centers a little further down past One Fountain Square. The center is surrounded by multiple surface and garage parking locations which are now free.

18-Story Accenture building located at One Freedom Center

Location

The Reston Town Center is located between Washington Dulles International Airport and Washington, DC, near the Dulles Toll Road. With the construction of the Silver Line of the Washington Metro subway, access to Reston Town Center should improve with the Reston Parkway station being located nearby.

History

Construction of the town center began in 1990. This first wave of construction was Phase 1, and started the center off with 2 11-story office buildings, One Fountain Square and Two Fountain Square, along with multiple smaller office buildings and a Hyatt Regency hotel. In Phase 2, the 18-story One Freedom Center (Accenture office) and 16-story Two Freedom Center were added. In Phase 3, three residential highrises were finished in mid-2006.

Today

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Construction on the South of Market (SoMa) office/retail building

The Reston Town Center serves a variety of shopping and dining. Many find the convenience of downtown shopping. The Town Center has become popular within middle school and high school students as a typical weekend hang out spot due to its outdoor atmosphere and various restaurants that have affordable menus. Stores like Victoria's Secret, Gap, Banana Republic, and Pottery Barn are few of the many stores that the Reston Town Center holds.

Notable attractions and events

• The Reston Festival
• Taste of the Town
• Northern Virginia Fine Arts Festival visit www.restonarts.org
• Reston Town Center Multiplex Cinema (13-screen)
• Equity Office Pavilion
• Mercury Fountain
• Big Bowl
• Clyde's Of Reston
• Morton's
• Broken Rock Statue in bushes by Ruby Tuesday

External links

• Reston Town Center (official page)
• Layout of Reston Town Center (official page)
• Midtown Reston Town Square (official page)
• Midtown Reston Town Center (official page)
• Map of Reston Town Center including phase 2
• History of RTC
• Satellite Image (Google Maps)
• Reston Festival homepage
• Clown Center on MySpace