The Washington Post reports the 'urban vision' is in question. "In Fairfax County's official vision for Tysons Corner, thousands of people live clustered around the Metro stops planned there. But in the reality of developers' blueprints, a different Tysons is emerging, one with a population smaller than what county leaders have in mind."

"A developer has decided to reduce the number of homes planned for the sliver of open land between the two Tysons malls. The plan approved three years ago called for Lerner Enterprises to build 540 condominiums, but the company now says it will build as few as 300 pricier ones."

"At stake at Tysons is Fairfax's fundamental philosophy about growth. The county hopes for mini-cities, complete with high-rises, where people can live, work, shop, eat and find entertainment without getting into a car. But the shift to fewer, costlier units at such a prime location near the Tysons Metro highlights how precarious the county's plan is."

"Lerner's managing director of construction, Peter M. Rosen, said the company is considering going with fewer, larger units because it isn't sure it can sell a higher number of smaller units. Under the initial scenario, the units would have averaged out to about 1,000 square feet; they are double that now. At current rates, the smaller homes would be priced at about $500,000, and Rosen expressed doubt about whether units of that size could have sold out at those prices."

"'We respond to the market,' he said. The company would be willing to build more and smaller units, he said, but only 'if you guarantee my market.'"

"To critics of the county's plans for Tysons, the change to more limited and luxurious housing undermines the county's claim that new housing at Tysons will benefit many rank-and-file employees there. 'The canard of 'Oh, we've got all these workers coming, and we need to provide housing' is disproven when the county allows this to get through,' said Laurie Genevro Cole, a Vienna Town Council member. 'Nobody's saying no to growth. We're saying growth should serve a purpose. We don't need hundreds more multimillion-dollar units.'"