A trio of townhomes is hitting the market at the site of a former duplex destroyed in a house explosion in December 2024.
An open house for the townhomes will take place on Aug. 15 on the 800 block of N. Burlington Street, developer J. Alex Wilson told ARLnow. Wilson lives nearby in the Bluemont neighborhood and will be moving into one of the new homes.
Both available townhomes are listed for $1,899,000. Located in a cul-de-sac off of Bluemont Junction Trail, they’re five-bedroom units. One has five bathrooms, and the other has four and a half.
Since the property was already zoned for a duplex, the new townhomes don’t rely on Arlington’s Missing Middle zoning change (which allows for the development of up to six-unit multifamily properties in previously single-family neighborhoods). However, Wilson, an independent developer, has featured prominently in the ongoing Missing Middle lawsuit.
His appeal is the reason the Virginia Court of Appeals effectively put the Expanded Housing Options (EHO) back on the books in Arlington last summer. That litigation is currently under consideration in the Virginia Supreme Court — although Wilson is no longer actively involved in the lawsuit for reasons related to the outcome of other litigation, as well as the cost.
While the lawsuit is due for oral hearings in the Virginia Supreme Court this fall, Wilson’s attorney notified the court late last month that they would not be filing a response brief or making further arguments.
“I don’t have any skin in the game,” Wilson told ARLnow. “I haven’t taken on any new EHO projects because it’s still all up in the air. I was … so close to bankruptcy and losing everything that I’ve built over the last 10 years, I was like, I am not trying to fight anymore.”
The new townhouses
The former duplex on Burlington Street was engulfed in a fireball the evening of Dec. 4, 2023 after a resident — 56-year-old James Yoo — poured gasoline throughout the basement and apparently sparked the blast during a standoff with police. The explosion killed Yoo and largely destroyed the duplex, which was ultimately razed.
Wilson watched the incident unfold that night firsthand, capturing a video of the explosion from his roof. He said he later got in touch with the owners of the other half of the duplex, offering any assistance that he could provide in rebuilding or navigating the development process.
“If you do plan to rebuild, I’d be happy to help you and work with you on that, or if you plan to not rebuild, I’d be happy to take the land,” Wilson recalled saying.
The homeowners originally approached the Arlington Board of Zoning Appeals about an attempt to rebuild in October 2024. However, Wilson said the homeowner later got in touch about selling his portion of the property.
Wilson ultimately negotiated the purchase of both halves of the duplex property and found a way to arrange three townhouses in the 10,500-square-foot footprint.
“I knew I could get three out of it,” he said. “It took some very creative layouts and designing of the townhouses, but we got it done.”
Listings for the townhouses describe amenities such as a “walkable expansive roof terrace/balcony with city views,” a partially fenced backyard and an “enormous basement” with a full bath and closets.
“They’re super cool — like, 10-foot ceilings, really nice amenities — they’re like single-family houses, but in a townhouse setting,” Wilson said.
The lawsuit
Wilson, an independent developer, said he filed his appeal because he had already invested heavily in two EHO projects when a circuit court judge ruled against Missing Middle changes in September 2024. Wilson feared that he would be financially ruined if he couldn’t find a way to complete the projects and sell them.
“I would have been done,” he said. “I would have been completely ruined, very quickly, if that had occurred — so I had to fight it.”
Wilson said the main reason he is now taking a step back is because of a separate court ruling that he received, supporting his vested rights at two other townhouse projects at 5041 and 5043 25th Street S. and 1223, 1225, and 1227 N. Quincy Street.
Both of the 25th Street properties sold for around $1.2 million, according to property records.
“I don’t want to go to the Supreme Court, and fight at the Supreme Court, and have to pay my attorney to fight at the Supreme Court,” Wilson said. “We were successful with the vested rights, so I … got my projects protected. So as far as I’m concerned, I’m OK.”
Nevertheless, Arlington Neighbors for Neighborhoods, the anti-Missing Middle group financing the lawsuit against the county, was quick to declare Wilson’s withdrawal from the proceedings a major win.
“Facing a very likely loss in the Supreme Court of Virginia, Wilsons Ventures has essentially given up its claim that it should have been allowed to intervene in the EHO case after the trial was over and the judge ruled EHO void,” Jay Hamilton, a representative for that organization, wrote in a press release.
The lawsuit in the Virginia Supreme Court is ongoing, and plaintiffs most recently filed a 51-page brief on July 29.
As a developer, Wilson said he still supports EHO — largely because the zoning changes make it financially feasible to redevelop single-family homes as anything other than bigger, more expensive single-family homes. However, he says he sympathizes with some homeowners’ grievances.
“I’m not going to lie, if I was living in a nice, big, single-family house up in Country Club Hills or, you know, Cherrydale, or some of these nicer, big single-family subdivisions, and you put a six-unit apartment building right next to me, I wouldn’t be very thrilled about it either,” Wilson said.
Still, he sees some version of Missing Middle as “a necessity.”
“To be able to do duplexes or triplexes … in these lots, I think brings a lot of versatility,” Wilson said.
