Author: Buzz McClain

Crystal City’s Executive Menswear Closing Soon

By Buzz McClain

Executive Menswear

(Updated at 3:58 p.m.) After four years of business, Executive Menswear at the Crystal City Shops will soon sell its last necktie. The store is at 2117 Crystal Plaza Arc, but not for much longer.

With all inventory reduced to 70 percent off and a sign thanking customers for “several years of business,” the shop is set to close its doors “very soon,” said an employee who preferred not to be identified. “It could be today, maybe tomorrow, but very soon.”

There were still plenty of jackets, sport coats, dress shirts, neckties and footwear on the racks on Thursday when an ARLNow reporter visited the shop.

Tech Firm Shift to Build $20 Million Hub in Crystal City

By Buzz McClain

Switch's Toby Russell and Gov. Mcauliffe at Shift

Arlington’s population of engineers and project managers will grow by 100 by 2017 as San Francisco-based disruptive technology firm Shift builds a technology operation in Crystal City.

Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe announced today that Shift will invest $20 million in its East Coast engineering center in Arlington as part of its national expansion. The announcement was made during a reception at Crystal City business incubator 1776, where the company will have its local headquarters.

Shift executive Toby Russell said the company’s disruptive technology does for the automotive industry what Airbnb does for hotels. “We use technology to make buying and selling cars easy and delightful,” he said. Consumers input information about the car they want to sell into the Shift website, get a quote, have their car picked up by a Shift employee and then receive a check when the car sells. Shift handles paperwork, test drives and price negotiations.

Shift has raised $73.8 million in two public offerings.

Russell, who is originally from Alexandria, said he would like to see the Shift “serve as a bridge between Silicon Valley and Virginia. We believe this kind of bridging is what technology expansion [in the region] needs.”

Russell added that it was McAuliffe’s visit to the firm’s California headquarters that convinced them to build the engineering center in Virginia.

Arlington County Board Chairman Libby Garvey, in presenting a key to the county to Russell, applauded the arrival of a technology company as federal spending in the region winds down.

“Arlington is in the midst of a surreal change,” she said. “Having our buildings filled with federal agencies is a thing of the past.”

Who Whacked the Trees on Washington Boulevard?

By Buzz McClain

Tree on Washington Blvd

(Updated at 5:17 p.m.) Two mature trees along Washington Boulevard at Pershing Drive were given severe trims earlier this winter, leading at least one nearby resident to call the trimming “vandalism.”

The trees in the sidewalk in front of Texas Jack’s Barbecue, Second Ascent Consignments and State Farm Insurance — until recently, home of the longtime Corner Cupboard antique shop — were subject to the harmful pruning method called “topping.” The leaf-bearing crowns and the lower limbs have been removed, leaving behind what are essentially 10-foot tall stumps.

The International Society of Arboriculture says topping is “the most harmful pruning practice known.”

Arlington County Department of Parks and Recreation told ARLnow.com they did not trim the trees and have sent letters to nearby businesses as part of an investigation.

As the county didn’t perform or approve of the cutting, the reader, who prefers to remain anonymous, considers the non-permitted trimming unlawful and the act can be defined as vandalism.

“Vandalism is a crime, and these trees are city property — their destruction is just as illegal as tearing down county street signs or spray painting a county vehicle.”

Pre-Blizzard Buying Blitz Begins at Area Stores

By Buzz McClain
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The seasonal ritual of stocking up on pre-blizzard household goods began in earnest this afternoon as shoppers clamored for bread, milk and other perishables in advance of Friday’s predicted double digit snowfall. Toilet paper, although not technically perishable, was also in high demand.

“I’ve been doing some recipe planning and planned out the week,” said Brittany Yam at Mom’s Organic Market at 1901 North Veitch Street. The mother of three from Donaldson Run was pushing a nearly full basket loaded with bread, fruit, frozen chicken strips and her daughter.

“You’re taking gamble with the snow,” she explained. “Is it going to be five inches or 20 inches? You have to take the bet and prepare for it.”

By the looks of the basket, she’s betting on a blizzard. And among other items, she’s anticipated the possibility of “cabin fever” and stocked up on baking supplies. “For baking projects, in case we get snowed in,” she said.

At the Safeway at 3713 Lee Highway at Maywood, all the shopping baskets were in use at 1:30 p.m. Meanwhile, at the Giant Food at 3115 Lee Highway in Lyon Village, the lines to the cashiers were prohibitively lengthy, snaking a distance down the aisles and creating a mournful pallor over the customers.

Things were calmer at Westover Market at 5863 Washington Boulevard, but the frequent customers also concentrated on the essentials, particularly the T.P. and bread.

Owner Suki Hicks said in 10 years, “we never close–not for snow or rain or anything. We will stay open.” As for the store’s well-known wall of beer, “and we’re never going to run out of beer,” she said.

Hicks adds that the popular fire pits in the adjacent Westover Beer Garden will be burning as well, no matter what the weather.

New Consignment Shop Gives Life to Used Adventure Apparel

By Buzz McClain
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It’s hardly camping weather, but Lisa Peregory, owner of the new Second Ascent Consignment shop at 2757 Washington Boulevard, says business has been as brisk as the temperatures in the two months since the store opened.

The store specializes in casual clothing, outerwear and footwear for men, women and children, as well as specialized gear for camping, hiking, paddling and climbing, sold on a consignment basis. Customers bringing in clothing receive 45 percent of the sale price when the item sells. For items over $150 the split is 50-50.

Customers can peruse popular brands such as North Face, Patagonia, Columbia, Arc’teryx and REI in the store.

The idea for reselling adventure gear came to Peregory last summer while volunteering for the Turtle Island Preserve girls’ primitive camp in North Carolina. The lifelong Arlington resident decided then to abandon a 34-year career in intellectual property and open the shop.

So far, the adventure in adventure gear is paying off in sales and consignments.

“We’ve been really well received by the neighborhood,” Peregory said. “People come by to see how we’re doing and tell us we’re a wonderful addition to the neighborhood. And some come by with their dogs for a dog treat.”

‘Text-to-911’ Service Moves Closer to Launching

By Buzz McClain

911Arlington County and the City of Falls Church residents are getting closer to being able to text emergency messages to dispatchers at the 911 call center in Arlington.

County staff members are being trained this week on the long-awaited “text-to-911” capability and the service is nearly ready to go, said Office of Emergency Management spokesman John Crawford. “The only thing we’re missing is an exact launch date,” he said.

The technology was unveiled in 2010 during a press conference with then-FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski and county officials. Refining the technology and coordinating implementation with other regional emergency systems delayed the launch.

Callers to 911 will be able to text SMS messages if their mobile phone carrier and their data plans allow SMS texting. Older phones, particularly the “flip” phone variety, most likely will not work with the system. Photo and video transmission capability will be launched later.

Even after the texting option is available, OEM still prefers old-fashioned phone calls. “The motto we’re using is, Call if you can, text if you can’t,” said Crawford.

Texting in emergencies is useful for those who are deaf and hard of hearing, unable to speak in an emergency or in a situation where calling is unsafe, such as an “active shooter” scenario.

Fairfax County Emergency Services began the service last September.

McAuliffe Presents Columbia Hills Apartments with $750,000 for Affordable Housing

By Buzz McClain

Gov. Terry McAuliffe, photo by Jon Grant

Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe announced a $750,000 award to the Arlington Partnership for Affordable Housing (APAH) today during a ceremony at the Arlington Mill Community and Senior Center in south Arlington.

The funds, said APAH president and CEO Nina Janopaul, will go toward the construction of Columbia Hills Apartments, a new 229-apartment building scheduled to begin in May at South Frederick Street and Columbia Pike. The building will be erected in the parking lot of Columbia Grove Apartments, another APAH property.

“There are multiple financing tools, and this is an important piece of it,” Janopaul told ARLnews.com. “These funds will make [rents] more affordable for our residents and give us an opportunity to do a better job” of providing affordable housing.

Eleven nonprofits throughout the commonwealth received funding from the $6 million Virginia Housing Trust Fund Competitive Loan Pool during Tuesday’s ceremony. Along with two Richmond organizations, APAH’s $750,000 was the most granted to a regional housing nonprofit.

“On behalf of all the citizens of Virginia, I thank you,” McAuliffe told the audience in a fifth floor conference room at Arlington Mill. “Think of all the lives you have helped.”

Left to right: Maurice Jones, Virginia Secretary of Commerce and Trade; Nina Janopaul, APAH President/CEO; Gov. Terry McAuliffe; John Milliken, APAH Board Chairman; and Mike Chiappa, APAH Real Estate Associate; Photo by Jon Grant

High-Profile Local Real Estate Firms Merge to Create Top-Volume Optimé Realty

Optime Realty Team

Optimé Realty
1600 Wilson Blvd, Ste. 101
Arlington, VA 22209
Tel: 703-459-9863

It didn’t take long after the merger of two high-profile Realty firms into one powerhouse brokerage to become a dominating force in regional — particularly Arlington — real estate.

Last year Rosslyn-based Optimé Realty sold more volume in Northern Virginia — more than $220 million — than any other realty team combined, says Dan Lesniak, founder of Orange Line Living. That accounts for 369 homes bought and sold in the market with the Keri Shull Team, headed by prominent realtor Shull.

About two-thirds of those transactions were in Arlington, he says.

The success of the firm, Lesniak says, stems from strength of the experience of the dual leadership of “combined teams that were young and growing, and we added to that.”

Optimé Realty, he says, optimizes on the proven systems and entrepreneurial ideas that he and Shull shared. The success stories — of which there are many — are the result of “a combination of innovative marketing, great people and hard work.”

Says Shull, “Our team does an excellent job of anticipating the needs of both buyers and sellers and thinking way outside the box to solve their problems, often before they even experience them.”

Innovations in marketing also can’t be overlooked, particularly the risk reversal program that assures home buyers that their existing home will be sold. New construction of more spacious, feature-rich homes replacing existing older dwellings also account for many of Optimé’s sales, for homeowners and construction firms. “We span the whole range, really,” Lesniak says.

Opitmé also works to find properties in advance of their market placement so clients have an inside track when it comes to beating the listing.

The two firms have a combined staff of 36, with three new hires in the last month. At the forefront of the brokerage are two standouts, Amy Harasz, the 2015 top sales person, and Elizabeth Rea Landeros, the top-listing agent last year.

They and the other representatives of the company have mastered the quirks and trademarks of Arlington real estate. For buyers, Lesniak says, “things can be more challenging because the inventory is pretty low. But it helps to be educated on different neighborhoods, be specific on what you want and make sure you have your paperwork into the leader and are pre-approved.”

This is key, he says, because in Arlington’s fast-paced market, “things do come up with competing buyers, so you want to be able to close quickly so there are no surprises.”

As for sellers, Arlington is famous as a “sellers’ market” where the buyers have to do the cutthroat dirty work to outbid the other party. Still, Lesniak says, “sellers need to get the house in its best shape and properly stage. We’ve seen similar homes go on the market at the same time, and the one that gets sold or gets the best price is the one with the best presentation.”

The preceding was a sponsored local business profile written by Buzz McClain for ARLnow.com.

Atlas Home Inspection: Decades of Experience to Give Home Buyers Peace of Mind

Atlas Home Inspection

Atlas Home Inspection
703-304-3925
[email protected]

A home inspector needs to be knowledgeable in everything between the foundation of a house and the roof. They need to be willing to cram into creepy, dark crawl spaces looking for compromising cracks, and they often need to climb onto dangerously high roofs to check chimney masonry at the topmost point, something many home inspectors decline to do.

Ed Snope, the sole proprietor of Arlington’s Atlas Home Inspection, has been doing all those things, and everything in between, for three years. His business is the culmination of more than 30 years in all aspects of home building, beginning when he was a teenager learning the fine points of landscape construction with a contractor.

“We built retaining walls, decks, patios, that sort of thing,” Snope says. “I learned about grading and how to control water flow outside of a home, which is one of the most important issues I deal with as an inspector.”

Snope says his skills and interest in home construction “always led from one thing to another. People would ask, ‘Can you fix this?,’ and that led to home repairs.” The handyman career led to high-end house painting–which requires more knowledge and skill, not to mention effort, than most house painting–and that led to historic restoration, which found Snope expanding his knowledge about wood preservation and historically accurate construction methods.

Once he bought his own 1930s Cape Colonial in North Arlington, Snope spent his time restoring his own home, after which he decided to give home inspection a try. “It’s a good way to wrap up all my experience in one package,” he says.

His reputation has spread among Northern Virginia Realtors — the primary source of referrals for most home inspectors–rapidly, and after his first year his business doubled. “Things are going in the right direction,” he says.

First-time home buyers — and that includes those of cozy condos as well as vast McMansions — can be forgiven if they’re not sure what a home inspection entails, or why to even bother with one.

In short, once you make an offer on a house, the buyer needs to be certain there are no structural surprises to deal with once the sale closes. A home inspection report will detail everything the buyer needs to know about the house’s and the appliances’ deficiencies and strengths. If a problem is significant, the buyer may be able to negotiate with the seller to repair it or pay for the repair before closing.

“You will know by the end of an inspection if you want to proceed [with the purchase],” Snope said. “Most of the time I recommend the buyer ask for some money off as opposed to having the seller fix things. They might do it on the cheap and it may still need to be fixed by the buyer later.”

Snope also instructs the buyer on how to operate the house — “I show them shut-off valves, safety disconnects, how to operate the equipment” — as well as pointing out major or minor defects. “I’m looking for safety issues, proper installation and energy efficiency,” he says.

The one thing he hears from his clients more than others, he says, “is that I’m a lot more thorough than people expected. If you see my reviews [on Angie’s List, Yelp and elsewhere] you always see the word ‘thorough.'”

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Startup Monday: Yellowstone Solves Communications Problems for Large Groups

By Buzz McClain

Startup Monday header

Editor’s Note: Sponsored by Monday Properties and written by ARLnow.com, Startup Monday is a weekly column that profiles Arlington-based startups and their founders, plus other local technology happenings. The Ground Floor, Monday’s office space for young companies in Rosslyn, is a Metro-accessible space featuring a 5,000-square-foot common area that includes a kitchen, lounge area, collaborative meeting spaces and a stage for formal presentations.

When Christopher Doorley was looking for a content management system (CMS) to help build a mobile application for a large membership-based client, he couldn’t find anything that fit the bill.

So, like any innovative entrepreneur, he decided to build one in-house.

The original client — a large union — liked it, and soon others were asking for something similar, including firms and nonprofits that were much smaller than those of the unions. “They said they loved what we did for the [bigger firms] and asked if we could do it for them,” Doorley says.

Christopher DoorleyAfter adapting the subscription-based platform to accommodate cost-effectiveness scales, the CMS has proven to be so successful with only word-of-mouth marketing that Doorley, CEO and co-founder, has spun it off into its own business, Yellowstone Technologies. The platform, after development at Crystal City’s 1776, is ready for launch this week.

Yellowstone — the work-in-progress codename for the project eventually stuck — answers a vast number of needs for membership-based organizations, of which there are many. Nonprofits, churches, sports groups, clubs, Scout troops and the like with dozens or hundreds of members have the same needs as Yellowstone’s other target clients: international and national organizations with hundreds of thousands of members.

“The goal is to make it cost effective and affordable to all of them,” Doorley says. “We don’t want to have to differentiate between a running club with 25 people and a local diocese that has a couple of dozen chapters and tens of thousands of members.”

Yellowstone helps organize and disseminate the valuable communications an organization requires to keep everyone — or segmented fractions of everyone — in the loop and on the same page. It also frictionlessly interfaces with existing products, such as Google Groups, iCal and various tools used by nonprofits.

Even existing blog posts, photos, calendars, newsletters and other materials are sent to mobile devices in a readable format.

As for other products that do similar things, Doorley points out that Facebook Groups and Google Groups, for example, “are tools that facilitate digital communities. We’re trying to build tools that facilitate in-person communities.”

A church is a good example, and Yellowstone is conducting trials with Arlington churches. One communications director, Doorley says, complained that no one was reading the church newsletter, the main organ for communicating to the congregation. “She sees [Yellowstone] as a replacement for their newsletter,” Doorley says. “They hope to make it useful and get it to where people are.”

One area union is already using Yellowstone, and even in the beta testing stage it’s a hit.

“This application is probably the most essential thing we need in communicating,” says Korey Hines, the secretary and treasurer of the Annandale-based Communications Workers of America Local 2222.

Hines noticed that the national CWA was using a nifty mobile application — Yellowstone, as it turns out — and asked for a version for his own chapter. “I liked the layout and the fact they customized it for our mission,” he says. “They weren’t just giving us a product and walking away.”

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