Author: ARLnow.com

Launched in January 2010, ARLnow.com is the place for the latest news, views and things to do around Arlington, Virginia. Started by a Pentagon City resident who has spent the past several years working in local TV news, ARLnow.com seeks to distinguish itself with original, enterprising, up-to-the-minute local coverage.

Morning Notes

By ARLnow.com
Raindrops cling to scaffolding in Ballston (staff photo by Jay Westcott)

Catholic School Enrollment Ticks Higher — “It’ll be a smaller bump up in student population than a year before, but the 41 schools in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Arlington are building on a significant uptick from a year before. Total enrollment is expected to be nearly 17,000 students when classes return Aug. 24. That’s up about 2 percent from a year ago and higher by nearly 10 percent from two years before.” [Sun Gazette]

WHS Pole Vaulter is Second in State — “Looking back at his accomplished career as a high-school pole vaulter, perseverance might have played a bigger role in Justin Delgado’s success than his raw talent in the event. The 2022 Wakefield High School graduate recently capped his prep career in the sport with a runner-up finish at the Virginia High School League’s Class 6 outdoor boys track and field state meet with a personal best jump, by one foot, of 13 feet. The first-place winning height was 13-6.” [Sun Gazette]

YHS Is Second Overall in State — “For the Yorktown Patriots, the 2021-22 high-school sports season was historic, being the most accomplished ever for the Arlington school in state-tournament competitions. As a result of three Yorktown teams winning state championships and two others placing second, the school placed second with 410 points overall in the Virginia High School League’s final Class 6 standings in the competition to finish the highest in the annual National Guard Cup trophy.” [Sun Gazette]

Chair Cristol Adopts a Kitty — From the Animal Welfare League of Arlington: “When Arlington County Board Chair, Katie Cristol, stopped by the shelter this week, she was not intending to bring home a new family member… but then she met Lorrie! Congratulations to Lorrie and the whole Cristol family!” [Twitter]

Update on Fatal Seven Corners Crash — “Preliminarily, detectives determined the driver of a 2012 Honda Civic and the driver of a 2017 Volkswagen Jetta were both traveling northbound on Wilson Boulevard. The driver of the Honda was making a lane change from the left to right lane at the same time the driver of the Volkswagen was making a lane change from right to left lane. The Honda and Volkswagen collided together which caused the Volkswagen to go off the roadway to the right into the adjacent parking lot. The pedestrian, Albert Sweat, 62, of Maryland, was walking through the parking lot in the 6200 block of Arlington Boulevard.” [Fairfax County Police Department]

It’s Monday — Rain chances, including a dinnertime storm threat, until evening. High of 82 and low of 71. Sunrise at 6:30 am and sunset at 7:55 pm. [Weather.gov]

Most-read Arlington stories of the week: August 15-19

By ARLnow.com
The U.S. Park Police helicopter over Thursday’s police incident in Lyon Park (staff photo by Jay Westcott)

This week was slow at times, news-wise, but next week appears to be shaping up to be more active.

Stay tuned for reporting on a number of important local topics. Oh, and we’ll also have polls, to keep readers engaged through end-of-summer summer vacations and back-to-school preps.

In the meantime, below are the most-read stories of the past week — excluding Friday night’s Four Courts coverage.

  1. Quick-thinking customers and first responders helped to save lives
  2. It’s Advanced vs. Amazon after delivery van towed from Buckingham apartments
  3. Seven lesser-known features of this week’s Arlington County Fair
  4. New membership program launches at several Arlington bars, providing beers and pizza slices
  5. Still unclear what led to fiery crash, but Four Courts hopes to rebuild
  6. Morning Poll: How big of a problem is cut-through traffic in Arlington?
  7. The $38 million overhaul of the new Washington-Liberty annex is nearly complete
  8. A volunteer firefighter at a going-away party helped to save lives at Ireland’s Four Courts
  9. UPDATED: Search for man with weapon closes roads in Lyon Park
  10. Police investigating gunshots fired in Green Valley
  11. Noisy utility covers that have annoyed neighbors in Ballston for years could get finally fixed
  12. ACPD investigating pair of retail robberies and a car wash gun brandishing

Speaking of Four Courts, here’s some late-breaking news from the pub, which is hoping to reopen in a limited capacity, presumably utilizing the rear section of the business that was not damaged.

Feel free to discuss these stories or anything else of local interest in the comments. Have a great weekend, Arlington!

Photos: Thursday night at the 2022 Arlington County Fair

By ARLnow.com
1/11

The clang of carnival rides, the beaming smiles of children, and the sweet smell of fried food. Yep, the familiar sights, sounds and scents of the Arlington County Fair are back.

The county fair, which opened Wednesday and runs through Sunday, features a number of new and unique attractions this year, in addition to long-time favorites like the ferris wheel, the giant slide and the various boardwalk games.

Our Jay Westcott went last night and snapped the photos you see above.

Open houses in Arlington this weekend

By ARLnow.com

Welcome to a new round of open houses to check out across Arlington this weekend!

Currently, there are 599 homes for sale. Of those for sale, 342 are condos, 208 are detached homes and 49 are townhomes. The median sales price is $730,000 with a median list price of $715,000, according to Homesnap.

Here’s a look at some of the open houses taking place in Arlington this weekend:

  • 4082 Lorcom Lane
    5 BR/4.5 BA Single-family home
    Noteworthy: Stone fireplace, patio, custom dining room chandelier
    Listed: $1,999,900
    Open: Sunday, 2-4 p.m. (Robert Ferguson – RE/MAX Allegiance)
  • 5130 38th Street N.
    4 BR/3 BA Single-family home
    Noteworthy: Gas fireplace, fenced backyard, hardwood floors
    Listed: $1,379,000
    Open: Sunday, 2-4 p.m. (Kelly Basheer Garrett – TTR Sotheby’s International Realty)
  • 1276 N. Wayne Street #407
    3 BR/2 BA Condo
    Noteworthy: New bamboo flooring, gas fireplace, two balconies
    Listed: $865,000
    Open: Saturday, 1-4 p.m. (Eduardo Manus – KW Metro Center)
  • 862 N. Arlington Mill Drive
    3 BR/2 BA Single-family home
    Noteworthy: Expanded home, upgraded kitchen, hardwood floors
    Listed: $950,000
    Open: Saturday, 11 a.m.-1 p.m. (Jane Morrison – Keller Williams Realty)
  • 5937 2nd Street S.
    4 BR/2 BA Single-family home
    Noteworthy: Fenced backyard, patio, walk-up attic
    Listed: $798,000
    Open: Sunday, 2-4 p.m. (Natalie Roy – KW Metro Center)
  • 5818 Washington Boulevard
    2 BR/2 BA Single-family home
    Noteworthy: Attic, remodeled backyard, freshly painted
    Listed: $695,000
    Open: Sunday, 2-4 p.m. (Omar Sherzai – Long & Foster Real Estate, Inc.)

See all Arlington open house listings here.

Want your open house to appear here? You can now submit sponsored listings.

862 N. Arlington Mill Drive

* Denotes sponsored listing

862 N. Arlington Mill Drive image via Google Maps

Morning Poll: Detached homes vs. townhomes and duplexes

By ARLnow.com
Real estate sign in the Arlington Heights neighborhood (staff photo by Jay Westcott)

This Wall Street Journal article telling the story of the steep price of single-family homes in Arlington has attracted lots of local attention this week.

The crux of the story: members of the Millennial generation, many of whom first came to the area as apartment-dwelling singles, are increasingly starting families and looking to trade up to single-family homes, but a lack of supply has made it difficult for them to find something affordable in Arlington.

Still, Arlington remains an attractive place to live, particularly for the mix of suburban-style living and urban-style amenities.

From WSJ:

But many of those millennials are well paid and want larger homes than they would get in those high-rises, said David Howell, executive vice president and chief information officer with McEnearney Associates in Washington. Others are starting families or moving to Arlington for its good schools, said Mr. Howell, or for new jobs with federal agencies and Arlington-based companies such as Boeing Co. or Nestlé SA’s U.S. headquarters. There is little land for building new single-family housing, he noted. The pandemic worsened the shortage, according to Ryan McLaughlin, chief executive officer of the Northern Virginia Association of Realtors. Older homeowners didn’t downsize, he said, and others renovated houses they now hesitate to leave. Now, he added, owners also balk at trading low mortgage rates for new, higher ones.

“Single-family homes are the hottest ticket in town, for sure,” said Mr. McLaughlin. “The extraordinary price growth has left many homeowners with very expensive homes while leaving first-time home buyers wondering how they will afford to buy one.”

Despite the slowdown in the overall market, the median price for a single-family detached home in Arlington County rose by 16.5% between July 2021 and July 2022, according to Bright MLS. The average number of days homes stay on the market rose from July 2021, but only by two days to 18 days, the service reported. At the end of July 2022, there were 147 detached homes on the market in Arlington, 21 more than in July 2021, according to Bright MLS.

Of course, not everyone needs a single-family detached home. Some would-be homeowners would be happy (or happier) with a single-family attached home, like a townhouse or a duplex.

But those are in shorter supply. The number of townhouses currently on the market is less than half the number of single-family detached homes, according to Redfin data. On the other hand, townhouses and duplexes are, on average, considerably less expensive than single-family detached homes, which have a current average sale price of just over $1.2 million, according to Redfin.

Arlington’s missing middle housing initiative may end up changing zoning to allow for more townhouses, duplexes and other smaller-scale multi-family housing types, but for now the reality is that there’s more to choose from if you were interested in detached homes on one end of the spectrum or condos in larger complexes on the other.

Given the WSJ story about the popularity of single-family detached homes, and the on-going missing middle debate, we were interested in finding out the housing preferences of readers if you take price out of the equation.

If all other things were equal, including price, what would be your preferred home type (detached or attached) and location type (a more leafy, suburban setting, or a more urban setting with amenities like restaurants and transit nearby) within Arlington?

Morning Notes

By ARLnow.com
A construction crane moves a building element at a site along N. Glebe Road in Ballston (staff photo by Jay Westcott)

Arlington Housing Costs Still Rising — “The District of Columbia continued to lead the pack with an average per-square-foot sales price of $543, down from $555. Falls Church also reported a small decline, dropping 1.2 percent from $432 to $427. All other jurisdictions were up from July 2021: Arlington’s average per-square-foot sales price of $473 rose 4.2 percent from $454; Alexandria’s average of $410 was up 0.7 percent from $407.” [Sun Gazette]

Single-Family Homes Are in Demand — “Home sales may have belly-flopped in July, but the average sales price of a single-family home just kept on pushing into record territory in Arlington, according to new sales data. Will that be a symbol of the ‘new normal’ in local real estate – fewer sales, higher prices – or is it something of a bacchanalian feast before a significant correction approaches? Only time will tell.” [Sun Gazette]

Acquisition for Local Company — “Defense contractor AeroVironment Inc. (NASDAQ: AVAV) has made its first acquisition since relocating to Arlington from California last year. The company, a leading supplier of small unmanned aerial vehicles to the U.S. military, said Wednesday it has acquired Planck Aerosystems, a privately held San Diego company that provides navigational technology for drones and other unmanned aircraft systems.” [Washington Business Journal]

It’s Friday — Partly cloudy throughout the day. High of 86 and low of 68. Sunrise at 6:27 am and sunset at 8:00 pm. [Weather.gov]

Attempted carjacking reported near Crystal City Metro station

By ARLnow.com

A driver was nearly carjacked in a parking garage about a block from the Crystal City Metro station.

The incident happened around 10:20 p.m. last night (Wednesday) on the 200 block of 18th Street S.

“A patrol officer was flagged down by the victim who reported an attempted carjacking,” Arlington County police said today in a crime report. “Upon arrival, it was determined the victim was in his parked vehicle when the suspect approached his passenger side door. The suspect demanded the victim unlock the car door and had what appeared to be a possible firearm in his pocket.”

Despite the would-be carjacker potentially having a gun, the driver drove off it — and was able to successfully flee. He then saw two additional suspects.

“The victim drove away at which time he observed two other possible suspects flee the scene on foot with the first suspect,” said ACPD.

No one was hurt. Police say they are still investigating.

The last reported carjacking in Arlington happened last month along S. Fern Street, also in the Crystal City area.

UPDATED: Search for man with weapon closes roads in Lyon Park

By ARLnow.com
1/3

Update at 2:25 p.m. on 8/19/22 — Arlington police have released additional information about this incident in Friday’s daily crime report. A 34-year-old man was arrested and a knife — not a gun — recovered from the scene, ACPD said.

ASSAULT AND BATTERY (Significant), 2022-08180122, 2400 block of Washington Boulevard. At approximately 1:22 p.m. on August 18th, a plain clothes officer was in the area when he observed the male suspect allegedly brandish a weapon during a dispute with another individual. Additional officers responded to the area and located the suspect who refused to comply with the offices’ commands and fled the scene on foot. Officers canvassed the area, located the suspect in the unit block of N. Bedford Street and took him into custody without incident. During the course of the investigation, a knife was recovered. No injuries were reported. Saul Leal, 34, of Arlington, VA was arrested and charged with Assault and Battery. He was held on a $1,000 bond.

Earlier: Police have a suspect in custody after a man allegedly seen with a gun ran from officers in the Lyon Park area.

Officers and at least one K-9 unit on the ground, as well as the U.S. Park Police helicopter in the air, were looking for the man, who reportedly brandished a weapon at an officer along the 2400 block of Washington Blvd, near the Route 50 ramps, and then ran off.

After a search of the area, a suspect was taken into custody without incident, according to scanner traffic.

Residents should expect to see continued police activity in the area, though the response is now being scaled down. Nearby Long Branch Elementary School was placed in “secure the school mode” during the search, according to scanner traffic. Some roads were also blocked during the search.

https://twitter.com/MichieIV/status/1560317514046914562

An early look at our most-read stories of the year so far

By ARLnow.com
Bear spotted in Arlington in June (photo courtesy Animal Welfare League of Arlington)

Most of the time we save our most-read stories of the year countdown to the end of the year.

But it’s the summer news doldrums, we’re short-staffed, a planned story fell through, and, well, just like that week between Christmas and New Year’s we need to fill some space. Hey, it happens.

It’s not that we don’t have anything to report, it’s just that the things on our coverage calendar will take more time and since our founding in 2010 we’ve stuck to a cadence where we publish throughout the day on weekdays, not leaving large gaps between stories.

So, that’s a very meta way to set up an early look at our most-read stories for the year. For whatever reason, despite robust readership in 2022, the total view numbers for the top stories are noticeably lower than previous years. Whether that’s a product of Facebook algorithms or otherwise, it’s hard to say at this point.

We’ll give you the view numbers at the end of the year (stay tuned), but as it stands today here are the five most-read stories of 2022 so far:

  1. Bear spotted casually walking around Arlington today (June 6)
  2. Anonymous threat prompts lockdown, evacuations at Yorktown High School (Feb. 10)
  3. Two arrested after incorrect order leads to violence at local McDonald’s (Jan. 25)
  4. U.S. Marshal Service, ACPD on scene of fatal leap from building (March 25)
  5. A bunny has apparently infiltrated the Pentagon (Feb. 14)

Morning Poll: Should delivery vehicles be towed if improperly parked on private property?

By ARLnow.com
1/4

An Amazon van was towed from an apartment complex on Tuesday. This was the second time we’ve noted one of the company’s delivery vehicles getting towed.

It raises a question: should delivery drivers get special treatment and a blind eye turned to violating a given property owner’s parking rules, or should the rules apply to them too?

In the latest case, tow company Advanced Towing told ARLnow that Amazon’s van was parked in a fire lane — and, indeed, we spotted “no parking, fire lane” signs on the property.

Fire lanes are there for a reason, but the flip side of the argument is that delivery drivers have a tough job to do and only stay in one place for a brief period of time, making it less likely that they’ll end up getting in the way of something important.

So what do you think? For the purposes of this poll, we’ll set aside the issue of delivery drivers blocking lanes on public streets and instead focus on those on private property.

Morning Notes

By ARLnow.com
A plaza between buildings in Ballston, including Salt Line’s outdoor patio space (staff photo by Jay Westcott)

Arlington Real Estate in WSJ — “Buying a single-family home in Arlington, Va., is a study in patience… With persistence and perseverance, these families were able to buy a house in their favorite Washington, D.C., suburb.” [Wall Street Journal]

Record Low Tax Delinquency — “Treasurer Carla de la Pava announced that the delinquency rate for taxes on real estate and personal property had fallen to 0.161 percent, down from 0.177 percent a year before and the lowest not just in county history but perhaps the lowest ever among any jurisdiction in Virginia history – and maybe more. ‘I would be shocked if it was matched anywhere in the U.S.,’ de la Pava said, praising her ‘dream team’ of staff.” [Sun Gazette]

Welcome from APS Superintendent — Arlington Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Francisco Durán has released a video message for families returning to Arlington schools soon. [Vimeo]

WWII Airman’s ANC Burial — “A U.S. Army airman killed during WWII and unaccounted for until earlier this year will finally get a proper burial, according to the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency. The remains of U.S. Army Air Forces Staff Sgt. Adolph ‘Leonard’ Olenik were identified earlier this year. He’ll be laid to rest Wednesday, Aug. 31 at 1 p.m. at Arlington National Cemetery.” [Patch]

Dracula at Synetic — “Arlington-based Synetic Theater has announced plans for a ‘Vampire Ball’ to celebrate both Halloween and its upcoming production of ‘Dracula.’ The Oct. 28 event will provide ‘everything you need for a spooktacular night,’ the troupe said. ‘We’re talking Dracula-themed cocktails, dancing, physical theater, spooky Georgian remixes and more.'” [Sun Gazette]

It’s Thursday — Clear throughout the day. High of 84 and low of 64. Sunrise at 6:26 am and sunset at 8:01 pm. [Weather.gov]

‘To Sail Around the Sun’ Returns to the Kennedy Center — Company E, Washington, DC’s leading contemporary repertory dance company, will return its catered-to-kids performance of ‘To Sail Around the Sun’ to the Kennedy Center on National… [Press Release]

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