ARLnow.com | ARLnow.com

CorePower Yoga Studio Coming to Pentagon City

Published August 26, 2015 at 10:00AM

A CorePower Yoga studio is coming to the ground floor of the new Metropolitan Park Acadia apartment building in Pentagon City.

The company has applied for building permits at the soon-to-open building, at 1201 S. Fern Street.

This will be CorePower’s second Arlington location — it recently opened a studio in Courthouse. The company also has locations in Georgetown, Merrifield and Falls Church.

UPDATED: Large Gas Line Rupture in Aurora Highlands

By ARLnow.com

Published August 26, 2015 at 9:05AM | Updated August 26, 2015 at 10:22AM

Update at 10:05 a.m. — The leak has been stopped, according to scanner traffic. Residents who had been evacuated are being allowed back into their homes.

The Arlington County Fire Department is on the scene of a large gas leak in the Aurora Highlands neighborhood, near Pentagon City.

The leak was reported around 8:45 a.m. on S. Grant Street, between 18th and 19th Streets, a block from Arlington Fire Station No. 5.

Initial reports suggest a six-inch gas line below the street is actively leaking gas.

Washington Gas crews are on the scene and trying to figure out how to shut off the gas. Roads in the immediate vicinity are being shut down.

Fairlington’s ‘Monica the Medium’ to Premiere Tonight on ABC Family

By ARLnow.com

Published August 25, 2015 at 3:45PM

Monica Ten-Kate, a 21-year-old with ties to Fairlington, will make her big television debut tonight.

“Monica the Medium,” a new reality series on ABC Family starring Ten-Kate, will premiere tonight at 8 p.m. The show will follow Ten-Kate as she attends Penn State and navigates the pitfalls of dating, all while supposedly communing with her classmates’ dead relatives.

Ten-Kate graduated from Oakton High School in Fairfax County in 2012 but her business is registered to a Fairlington condo owned by her father.

Ten-Kate has been making the rounds promoting her series on this week on shows like The Insider and Access Hollywood Live.

Police: Man Groped and Kissed Woman After Asking for Directions

By ARLnow.com

Published August 25, 2015 at 1:50PM

Arlington County Police are investigating a sexual assault that was reported on Columbia Pike last night.

Police say a man walked up to a 31-year-old woman on Columbia Pike near S. Courthouse Road at 9:35 p.m. and asked for directions. The suspect then allegedly groped and kissed the woman before running off.

“When the victim looked down at her phone the male subject touched her inappropriately and kissed her on the cheek,” according to a police report. “The suspect is described as a Middle Eastern male in his twenties, approximately 5’4″ tall with a thin build. He was wearing a grey t-shirt and blue jeans at the time of the incident.”

Police do not believe this incident is related to a series of a half dozen sexual assaults that have been reported within the past month.

Arlington Bike Film to Premiere in Two Weeks

By ARLnow.com

Published August 25, 2015 at 12:30PM

“Arlington Passages,” a new film about bicycling in Arlington, will premiere at Arlington Cinema Drafthouse (2903 Columbia Pike) on Thursday, Sept. 10.

The film, funded by Arlington County and produced by Vancouver-based Modacity, will highlight “everyday Arlington citizens who use a bicycle as means of commuting and/or recreation.” More than 50 people answered a casting call for the film earlier this year.

The premiere will be followed by a question-and-answer session with the cast and crew. Tickets are $7.50 online and proceeds will benefit the Arlington nonprofit Phoenix Bikes.

Via Twitter, Arlington County Commuter Services Bureau Chief Chris Hamilton called the premiere “THE first hot film event of the season.”

This isn’t the only bike film recently commissioned by the county. In October 2013 the Drafthouse hosted a premiere for “BikeSwell,” a documentary “chronicling Arlington’s transformation into a more bike-friendly community.”

New Pentagon City Metro Entrance Close to Opening

By ARLnow.com

Published August 25, 2015 at 10:30AM | Updated June 29, 2018 at 2:53PM

New Pentagon City Metro entrance (2015 photo)

Entrance to pedestrian tunnel at the Pentagon City Metro station (2013 photo)

A third entrance to the Pentagon City Metro station is slated to open as soon as next month.

Arlington County is wrapping up work on a Metro entrance on the northeast corner of S. Hayes Street and 12th Street S., next to the offices of the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Transportation Security Administration, the latter of which is moving to Alexandria in two years.

The stairs-only entrance and pedestrian access tunnel connect to what is currently a set of glass doors in the station’s mezzanine. While no official opening date has been set yet, the opening is “tentatively scheduled for the end of September,” according to Arlington Dept. of Environmental Services spokesman Eric Balliet.

The entrance and tunnel was actually first built in 1984, but “for a number of reasons, was never opened to the public,” according to the county. In order to open it, the county needed to rehabilitate the tunnel, repairing lighting, electrical connections, leaks, deteriorated doors and gates, floor tiles and other 30-year-old infrastructure. The county also added security cameras, an emergency call box and new signage.

The total cost of the project is $1.3 million. The county says the expense is worth it in order to provide another entrance to a busy station next to the Arlington’s largest shopping center. The new entrance may also help accommodate a coming influx of riders from new development in the area, including a new Whole Foods.

“The opening of the entryway will provide an additional access/egress point to this busy Metrorail station, one of the County’s highest ridership stations, and to the adjacent retail center, Fashion Centre,” the county said in its recent Capital Improvement Plan.

The county, not WMATA, will be responsible for ongoing maintenance of the tunnel.

Morning Notes

By ARLnow.com

Published August 25, 2015 at 9:30AM

Arlington No. 3 on ‘Walkable’ List — Arlington is the third most walkable “mid-sized city” in the U.S., according to rankings from real estate firm Redfin. The top ranked locales on the list were Jersey City, N.J. and Newark, N.J. “Many of the cities on the list are considered suburbs of the nation’s largest cities, proving that one need not live in the center of a major city in order to enjoy a walkable lifestyle,” said a press release. [Business Wire]

Income Needed to Buy a Home — Want to buy a house in the D.C. area? In order to afford the median sales price of a home in the region — $403,800 — you’ll need a household income of $86,595. The median sale price of a home in Arlington last month was $622,500. [InsideNova]

School Board Approves Salary Bump for Superintendent

By ARLnow.com

Published August 24, 2015 at 3:55PM

Arlington Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Patrick Murphy will be getting a small salary bump for the 2015-2016 school year.

The Arlington School Board quietly and unanimously approved the raise at its Aug. 13 meeting. Labeled “Superintendent Salary Adjustment,” with no associated report online, the item was approved without further discussion as part of the Board’s consent agenda.

Murphy’s annual salary will increase by two percent, from $223,242.50 to $227,707.35, as a result of the vote. Murphy oversees a school system with more than 25,000 students and a $556 million annual budget.

Charlie Chiang’s Closes in Crystal City, Uyghur Restaurant to Replace It

By ARLnow.com

Published August 24, 2015 at 3:10PM

Charlie Chiang’s has closed in Crystal City.

The Chinese restaurant, at 320 23rd Street S., has posted signs on the doors directing customers to its Shirlington location at 4060 Campbell Avenue..

“Thank you for your years of patronage!” the signs say. “We have consolidated our operations with our Village at Shirlington location — Ping by Charlie Chiang’s… Please visit us there!”

Another sign on the door says that a new restaurant will be replacing Charlie Chiang’s and will be “opening soon.”

The new restaurant will be called Amannisahan and will serve Uyghur cuisine, according to the sign. In an indication that a quick reopening may indeed be in the works, Amannisahan says it’s currently hiring restaurant managers and waiters.

Uyghur food is a blend of Middle Eastern, Central Asian and Chinese cuisines, serving dishes like kebabs and noodle soups.

Man Gropes Woman in Lubber Run Park, Sixth Such Attack in a Month

By ARLnow.com

Published August 24, 2015 at 2:15PM

A woman was groped by a man in Lubber Run Park Friday night, the sixth such attack in Arlington in a month.

Police are still not willing to say that the attacks are the work of the same sexual assault suspect, but did say “there’s potential” that it’s a serial attacker.

The latest incident happened just after 8 p.m. on Friday, as a woman was walking down a path with her young child in Lubber Run Park, near N. George Mason Drive and Barrett Elementary School.

The 27-year-old woman saw an apparently intoxicated man approach her as she tried to get back to the busy road. As he neared, she bent down to shield her three-year-old child, and the suspect groped her, according to Arlington County Police Department spokesman Dustin Sternbeck.

“The victim was able to scream causing the suspect to flee,” according to a crime report. “The suspect is described as a Hispanic male in his twenties, approximately 5’7″ tall with a medium build. He was wearing a solid grey t-shirt, black shorts, and black tennis shoes at the time of the incident.”

Sternbeck said there’s an “ongoing investigation” into this incident and attacks on July 25, July 31, Aug. 1, Aug. 8, and Aug. 13.

“From the suspect description provided there is a possibility it could be the same guy, but we’re not willing to suggest that quite yet,” said Sternbeck. “We have not identified or arrested the suspect or suspects involved in the attacks.”

ACPD is advising residents to trust your instincts, be aware of your surroundings, travel in groups if possible and to contact police immediately if you are a victim of a crime.

Huge Sports Pub With Rooftop Bar Coming to Shirlington

By ARLnow.com

Published August 24, 2015 at 10:30AM

Shirlington won’t have to go too long without a sport bar.

The Bungalow Sports Grill closed in June but a replacement is already in the works. The owners of Copperwood Tavern, another Shirlington restaurant, are planning a new sports bar called “Dudley’s Sport and Ale.”

Dudley’s will open in the 12,000 square foot Bungalow space at 2766 S. Arlington Mill Drive), but amazingly the owners also planning a big addition. The sports bar will have a 3,000 square foot rooftop bar — a first for Shirlington.

“I’ve called the Shirlington Village home for about 12 years,” co-owner Reese Gardner said in a Facebook post. “Shirlington not only needs a sports bar it also needs a rooftop bar.”

In a separate post, Gardner said Washingtion Nationals General Manager Mike Rizzo has joined his ownership team. Gardner’s company also owns a trio of D.C. bars: Irish Whiskey Public House, Orange Anchor and the soon-to-open Union Social.

Dudley’s is hoping to open early next year, according to its Facebook page.