A new protected bike lane is on the way for Courthouse this month.
Workers are set to add the new lane along N. Veitch Street as it runs between Wilson Blvd and Lee Highway, in a bid to better connect the Custis Trail with both Courthouse and Rosslyn.
Construction on the protected lane is set to move in conjunction with the county’s paving work starting this month, and will require some adjustments for the area’s on-street parking. Workers have also temporarily relocated the Capital Bikeshare station along N. Veitch Street to the road’s intersection with Key Blvd in preparation for the construction.
Soon afterward, the county also hopes to retool parking along N. Troy Street as part of the repaving work, set to take place sometime in “late summer.”
In subsequent phases of this project, the county plans to extend a previously built protected bike lane between N. Oak Street and N. Quinn Street in Rosslyn, linking the neighborhood to Courthouse. Some paving work on that effort could start as soon as this month.
Clarendon Grill, long a fixture of Arlington’s nightlife, could soon be on the move.
The restaurant’s space at 1101 N. Highland Street is currently listed for lease by realtors at the Trimark Corporation, and an online listing notes that the location is “currently occupied by the Clarendon Grill but is available right away.”
“This space will go fast!” the listing proclaims, advertising the location as “the heart of Clarendon.” A realtor with Trimark declined to discuss the listing and referred questions to the restaurant’s managers.
Owner Peter Pflug did not immediately respond to a request for comment seeking clarity on whether the restaurant is shutting down or moving elsewhere. He previously told ARLnow that he’d signed a lease to remain at the location through 2022, even as high rent prices have challenged some local businesses.
The bar’s been in business since 1996, making it one of oldest establishments in downtown Clarendon.
The space was fully renovated in 2010, and has regularly hosted a full slate of live entertainment and even salsa dancing classes. The restaurant currently lists live entertainment dates throughout the month of August on its website.
Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) and Rep. Don Beyer (D-8th District) chat at Nestle’s Rosslyn ribbon cutting.
County Board member Christian Dorsey speaks at Nestle’s Rosslyn grand opening.
Gov. Ralph Northam (D) speaks at Nestle’s Rosslyn ribbon cutting.
Rep. Don Beyer (file photo)
Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) speaks at Nestle’s Rosslyn ribbon cutting.
(Updated Aug. 1, 9:15 a.m.) For Rosslyn, and perhaps Arlington itself, Nestle’s arrival could represent a bit of a breakthrough.
As the federal government’s cut back on office space and more companies shift to telework, the neighborhood has seen its office vacancy rate skyrocket over the past few years, straining the county’s finances in the process. But the packaged food giant’s decision to relocate its corporate headquarters from California to Arlington, bringing 750 jobs to a high-rise at 1812 N. Moore Street, could very well signal the reversal of that trend.
Or, at least, that’s what local leaders are counting on.
“We were in a long kind of slump,” County Board member Libby Garvey told ARLnow, reflecting on Nestle’s impact as the company officially opened its Rosslyn offices today (Tuesday). “But this is really a turning point, and I think it’s really positive.”
Garvey points out that the building Nestle is moving into was built “on spec,” without any tenants locked in before its construction, and sat vacant for years after its completion in late 2013.
But since Nestle announced last year that it’d be moving to Arlington, she’s seen a domino effect in the neighborhood. The company’s not only brought one of its subsidiaries to Rosslyn, announcing Gerber’s relocation to the area this spring, but Nestle’s arrival also helped convince the Grocery Manufacturers Association to move to get closer to the company, Garvey says.
“It just put us on the map,” Garvey said. “You just start to attract birds of a feather.”
While those businesses may very well help fill the county’s coffers, they didn’t come without a cost. The Board handed out about $4 million in performance grants and committed to $2 million in infrastructure improvements to woo Nestle to Rosslyn in the first place, earning criticism from people all along the political spectrum in the process.
Yet Garvey points out that the county’s denied relocation incentives for some smaller companies looking to come to the area in the wake of Nestle’s move, only to win their business anyway. She has full confidence in county staff to make sure that Nestle is living up to the economic benchmarks laid out in the grant requirements, noting “if there’s a problem, I assume they’ll tell us.”
“But I don’t think there’s going to be a problem,” she said.
Incentives for corporations are a touchy subject around the county these days, with much of the debate around Arlington’s bid to win Amazon’s second headquarters centered on what exactly the county’s offered the tech company to move here.
Officials have largely been silent on the subject, citing the fierce national competition to win HQ2 and its promised 50,000 jobs. But with other states publicly offering billions in incentives and transportation improvements, Virginia leaders have noted that the county’s surest path to luring the tech giant may be highlighting its highly educated workforce and top-ranked schools.
Steve Presley, Nestle USA’s chairman and CEO, repeatedly highlighted the quality of the school system in laying out why his company picked Arlington, and that’s the sort of feature the county’s boosters believe could prove similarly persuasive to Amazon.
“They’ll be thinking not only, ‘Can we find the qualified workers we need?’ but, ‘How do our workers feel about coming to Virginia?'” said Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) “Workforce and the education system go hand in hand. That’s what we always need to focus on to attract businesses and we need to sell the fact that we have a really good education system compared to other states. That’s a real strength.”
Gov. Ralph Northam (D) has certainly been involved in making that pitch to Amazon, reasoning “the more talent we bring in here, the more folks that follow.”
But he says there’s no telling when Arlington might know if Nestle is the biggest fish the county will land, or if there are more ribbon cuttings in its future.
“I think they’re keeping their cards pretty close,” Northam said. “I don’t know anything you don’t.”
A rendering of the expanded Virginia Hospital Center (via HDR)
A rendering of the expanded Virginia Hospital Center (via HDR)
A rendering of the expanded Virginia Hospital Center (via HDR)
A rendering of the expanded Virginia Hospital Center’s “sunken garden” (via HDR)
A rendering of the expanded Virginia Hospital Center’s planned green space (via HDR)
Arlington’s business community is urging county leaders to approve the Virginia Hospital Center’s expansion plans, arguing the project’s delays have already cost the company dearly.
The county’s lone hospital rolled out plans last fall to add a seven-story outpatient facility and a 10-story parking garage next to its existing campus at 1701 N. George Mason Drive. The County Board approved a land swap last summer to make the expansion possible, trading a parcel of land near the hospital on N. Edison Street for a property along S. Carlin Springs Road, and VHC has spent the ensuing months hammering out designs for the new buildings.
Yet some of the hospital’s plans have drawn ire from neighbors and transit advocates alike, convincing the Board to push back any consideration of the expansion until the fall.
In a letter to the Board on July 23, Arlington Chamber of Commerce President Kate Bates called that decision “very disappointing,” and urged county leaders to lend the project an “expeditious approval.”
“The hospital is doing everything it can to accommodate the requests of neighbors and to honor good planning principles,” Bates wrote. “At this point, however, the cumulative effect of additional changes needs to be evaluated within the broader context of providing convenient, high-quality, patient-centered healthcare in a fiscally prudent way for the next 50 years.”
Bates argued in the letter that the hospital desperately needs the expansion to cope with Arlington’s growing population — VHC expects it’ll need an additional 85 hospital beds over the next five years to handle the county’s growth, and could use another 130 beds over the next 15 years. The hospital currently plans to convert around 120,000 square feet of existing outpatient space to 101 new beds once it can complete the proposed expansion.
Bates adds that “patients and visitors are frequently frustrated and unnecessarily delayed by current parking constraints” at the hospital, making the roughly 1,800 parking spaces in the new garage a key element of the plan as well. However, the garage has attracted some of the fiercest opposition of any element of the project, with neighbors worried about its size and staff and activists worried that it overly encourages driving at the expense of biking or transit options.
Yet Bates points out that VHC has already agreed to shrink the garage by about 200 spaces from its original proposal, bringing down its height to about 67 feet in all.
Furthermore, she wrote that the hospital has worked with the community to add more buffers and greenery to both 19th Street N. and N. Edison Street, demonstrating “a commitment to enhance the appearance and livability of the surrounding neighborhood.”
According to a VHC presentation at a May community meeting, the hospital is planning 27,000 square feet of buffers around the hospital’s perimeter, in addition to lots of green space on the property itself. In all, the hospital hopes to build a 11,000-square-foot entry plaza with a similarly sized “welcome garden” nearby, and a 9,000-square-foot courtyard complete with a “sunken garden” of tiered planters.
The hospital will also sketch out a “master plan” for the site to give the community a roadmap for its designs on future expansion efforts, including a push to someday buy more land for the redevelopment of its older buildings and the construction of a new “central power plant.”
In all, the Chamber sees this work as plenty of evidence that the Board shouldn’t press for any additional changes from the hospital and let the expansion move ahead quickly.
“Since the initial VHC project application, the hospital has made more than 100 modifications to the design in an effort to address issues raised by county staff and community stakeholders,” Bates wrote. “The Chamber respectfully requests that the Board prioritizes this effort and approves the VHC site plan application so this important project can move forward.”
Both the Planning Commission and the County Board are set to hold public hearings on the project in September.
A rendering of changes in the Four Mile Run valley as part of the proposed parks master plan (via Arlington County)
Jennie Dean Park rendering, with field alignments approved by the County Board
Rendering of the renovations to Jennie Dean Park, with field alignments previously approved by the County Board (Image via Arlington County)
With a key bit of planning work on the Four Mile Run valley in Nauck wrapped up, the county is pushing ahead with the development of additional design guidelines for parks and other features in the area.
The County Board approved a “policy framework” for the area in May, sketching out general goals for the remainder of the planning process. Chiefly, the work is focused on the redevelopment of Jennie Dean Park, the evolution of pedestrian and cycling options along roads like S. Four Mile Run Drive and the promotion of the arts industry in the area.
In the framework, the Board endorsed one plan for the redesign of Jennie Dean to account for the county’s plans to someday acquire WETA’s building in the area (3620 27th Street S.).
The Board expects to approve a plan calling for two planned baseball and softball fields to be aligned closer to S. Nelson Street, with new basketball and tennis courts on the site of the WETA building, even though it attracted some fierce pushback from some in the Nauck community. Now, the public will get another chance to weigh in on the design, including the county’s plans to add a new “gateway” to the park near the Weenie Beanie on S. Four Mile Run Drive.
The plans also include details on how the county might manage stormwater in the area moving forward, and future tweaks to features throughout Shirlington Park. The area’s dog park, however, won’t see big changes under the proposed plans, after the Board declined to move forward with any reduction in size for the park.
The Board expects to vote on a final parks plan in September, and could sign off on the area plan in November.
An Arlington man is now facing decades behind bars after a jury convicted him of murdering his roommate last year.
A Circuit Court jury found 29-year-old Heber Amaya-Gallo guilty of one count of second degree murder on Thursday (July 26). The jury recommended a 36-year sentence for the killing, but a judge will have the final say on the matter.
Prosecutors alleged that Amaya-Gallo strangled 55-year-old Michael Wiggins after an argument between the two roommates became physical on Jan. 30, 2017. The pair lived in a home along the 5100 block of 7th Road S. in Arlington Mill.
Amaya-Gallo was initially charged with first degree murder immediately after the killing, but the jury would ultimately agree to convict him on a lesser charge following a four-day trial last week.
“The jury’s verdict and sentence of 36 years in prison reflects this community’s abiding belief that crimes of violence against vulnerable victims will not be tolerated,” Commonwealth’s Attorney Theo Stamos said in a statement. “The defendant’s actions in choking to death a person who provided him with a home, food and friendship were cruel and heartless. We thank the jury for giving this case the attention and seriousness it deserved.”
Amaya-Gallo is set for a sentencing hearing in Circuit Court on Oct. 12.
MedStar Capitals Iceplex (via Monumental Sports and Entertainment)
Kettler Capitals Iceplex
Capitals Development Camp Fan Fest at Kettler Capitals Iceplex (file photo)
The Kettler Iceplex in Ballston, home of the Stanley Cup champion Washington Capitals, is getting a new name.
MedStar Health is taking over as the practice arena’s corporate sponsor, according to a press release from Monumental Sports and Entertainment, the company controlled by Caps owner Ted Leonsis. Effective immediately, the arena will now be known as the MedStar Capitals Iceplex.
The Caps hold their practices in the 137,000-square-foot facility, adjacent to the new Ballston Quarter development, and it’s also home to office space for the team’s staff and executives with the Washington Mystics, the WNBA team owned by Leonsis.
Kettler, a local real estate developer, has sponsored the arena since shortly after it opened atop the Ballston public parking garage in 2006. Even though its name will soon no longer adorn the building, the company “remains a very significant partner of ours,” according to MSE spokeswoman Kate Bedingfield.
She added that work to outfit the building with MedStar signage, both inside and outside, will “get underway soon.”
MedStar will also become the naming rights sponsor for the new practice facility planned for Southeast D.C. to serve the Washington Wizards and the Mystics, as well as for the “new, top-of-the-line esports training facility adjacent to Capital One Arena” that’s home to Leonsis’ esports team.
Detours available during the Custis Trail construction near Rosslyn (photo via @arlparksrec)
Entrance to the Custis Trail (photo via Google Maps)
A section of the Custis Trail running alongside I-66 near Rosslyn is set to close for the next month.
Starting today (Monday), workers will start repairing the trail as it runs between N. Adams Street and McCoy Park to make it a bit more hospitable to cyclists. Construction is set to last through Aug. 24.
Specifically, Arlington’s Department of Parks and Recreation and its contractors will focus on “a series of bumps, or undulations, on the trail surface near the pedestrian flyover bridge over I-66,” according to a blog post by Bike Arlington program manager Erin Potter.
“This part of the Custis Trail is too narrow (between a retaining wall and I-66) to allow repair work to happen while the trail is open,” Potter wrote.
The county plans to post signs for detours for both pedestrians and cyclists near the closed section of the trail. Walkers and runners will be redirected down N. Adams Street and then along Lee Highway to bypass the construction, while bicyclists have their choice of three different options.
Bike Arlington has full details on the detours posted on its website.
The Custis Trail was open this morning, but the N Adams-McCoy Park closure will start soon.
Longtime Arlington diner Linda’s Cafe has officially closed its doors, clearing the way for work to start on a new Bob and Edith’s location at the Lee Highway site.
Linda’s, located at 5050 Lee Highway, served up its last meal yesterday (Sunday), after it spent the last two decades at the location. Staff briefly posted a banner saying “Thank You Arlington” prior to the shop’s closing.
Greg Bolton, the owner of the Bob and Edith’s chain, hopes to eventually transform the small restaurant into his third diner in Arlington. County property records show a company he controls purchased the land for $1.1 million.
Ryan Brown, Bolton’s attorney, told ARLnow last month that the new Bob and Edith’s could open in the next “six to nine months.”
Some new bike lanes and other road improvements could soon be on the way for N. Woodstock Street as it runs between Lee Highway and N. Glebe Road.
County officials are circulating some new designs for the road, which primarily runs through the Waverly Hills neighborhood, ahead of some paving work kicking off later this summer.
The county currently has a community survey open on possible designs for the retooled street, including the addition of bike lanes in each direction and some new traffic calming measures to bring down speeds on the road.
Officials also plan to add new, high-visibility crosswalks where the road meets both 20th Road N. and N. Glebe Road, as the county embarks on the wholesale replacement of brick crosswalks in favor of reflective plastic markings.
The work also calls for the removal of several “outdated medians” to help facilitate the construction of the bike lanes, without requiring any change in on-street parking or traffic patterns.
“Adding bike lane markings rather than having un-utilized pavement (previously occupied by medians) will also serve as a traffic calming measure to keep vehicle speeds low and encourage safer movements,” the county wrote in the survey.
The survey is set to close to respondents tomorrow (July 31).
The National Park Service is warning drivers about severe traffic backups on the GW Parkway starting today (Monday) and running through the fall, as rehab work on the Windy Run Bridge gets going.
Workers have spent the last few weeks removing guard rails and center curbs, as well as doing some paving work, in order to prepare for work on the bridge, located in northeast Arlington near the Woodmont and Riverwood neighborhoods.
Starting today, the NPS plans to reduce the parkway from four lanes down to three, and expects to:
Lower the work zone speed limit to 35 miles per hour
Direct all traffic into three narrow travel lanes
Shift travel lanes to accommodate rush hour traffic
The NPS plans to always keep one lane open in each direction, reversing the third lane as needed to match the direction of traffic in the morning and evening rush hours on weekdays.
That means the reversible lane will run northbound from noon to 8 p.m. and run southbound from 8 p,m. to noon. On Saturdays and Sundays, the reversible lane will only run southbound.
“Drivers should expect a lower speed limit, narrower lanes and a substantial police presence until this fall,” park superintendent Alexcy Romero wrote in a statement.”We need to shift traffic so that workers can safely rehabilitate the road surface of Windy Run Bridge.”
The bridge was built back in 1959, and the NPS plans to “restore the bridge deck by removing and replacing its top layer” in order to extend its life.
While work on Windy Run should wrap up before the year is out, the NPS also warns that “all of the bridges and roadway on the northern part of [the parkway] will also soon need maintenance work.” The NPS recently closed a public comment period on some of that planned work, and expects to release more details in the coming months.
