A new deli serving a wide range of food and drink is coming to Courthouse and could open as early as this fall.
The Chelsea Market & Deli will be located at 2250 Clarendon Blvd in the plaza near county government headquarters. It will replace the shuttered City Market convenience store, and be opposite Starbucks, Clarendon Nail Spa and GNC near the Courthouse Plaza apartments.
Owner Shawn Kim said Chelsea Market & Deli could be open sometime in October, depending on how permitting and construction goes. Kim said he is adding a full kitchen with a pizza oven, which could make things more complicated, and that he anticipates being open daily from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m.
The new deli will serve traditional deli food like corned beef pastrami, hot sandwiches, pizzas and salads as well as international cuisine like Jamaican food. After living in New York and being a regular at various street-corner delis and markets, Kim said he wanted to bring that back to Arlington.
“It seems like here, everything is so franchised and the food is good sometimes, but you don’t get that home cooking taste anymore,” Kim said. “I’m trying to bring that food back.”
Chelsea Market & Deli has filed an application with Virginia ABC to serve beer and wine, and Kim said it will also serve various breakfast staples like waffles, pancakes, omelets and French toast. Cheeses and other snacks will also be sold.
He added that the new eatery, which will be focused on being a carry-out market rather than a full sit-down restaurant, will try to keep prices low.
“I’ve been working in the food industry for a long time, and the need for sandwiches and pizza for a good price, it’s hard to find these days,” Kim said.
It’s been another busy week in Arlington, but before we get to our most popular stories, let’s take a look at some you may have missed.
Officials broke ground on a new affordable housing complex on Columbia Pike, a driver busted a Shirlington bus stop and the long-anticipated Stageplate Bistro is set to open in the coming weeks. Meanwhile, Adam Roosevelt is preparing to make a run at the House of Delegates and private investigation firm Trustify is adding 184 new jobs in its Crystal City office.
These were the five most-viewed stories this week:
Just feet from the demolition of the Arlington Presbyterian Church on Columbia Pike, officials broke ground Thursday (July 27) on the new affordable housing complex that will replace it.
Gilliam Place at 3507 Columbia Pike will have 173 affordable apartments, with 68 including two or three bedrooms. The ground floor of the property will contain nearly 9,000 square feet of space for retail and community use. It is named for Ronda Gilliam, a member of the church who volunteered in the community and opened a clothing donation center.
It all began in 2012 when members of the church reached out to the Arlington Partnership for Affordable Housing as they wanted to sell their property and create a space for affordable housing.
The new building will incorporate stone from the old church, which APAH board chair John Milliken said will be “instilled with the spirit and compassion that congregation embodied and will pass on to this new generation.”
And while the congregants are displaced from their original space, they have already guaranteed themselves a presence on the site after buying two plots of land for use as green space.
Derrick Weston, the church’s community organizer, said it will be designated as a sanctuary area for meditation. The church may also return to use the new building as a permanent home; during construction they are using a temporary space at the Arlington United Methodist Church (716 S. Glebe Road).
“This is our new front door. This is our front porch,” Weston said. “This is where people are going to visit and see who we are.”
The $71 million project is funded through various sources, including an $18.1 million loan from the county’s Affordable Housing Investment Fund, federal low-income housing tax credits authorized by the Virginia Housing Development Authority, private money from Capital One and Enterprise Community Partners totaling $31 million and donations from church members.
Susan Etherton, the chair of the church’s Moving Forward Team, said that the partnerships between various organizations were key in the church getting to this point.
“God gave us that vision, but without faithful partners, we would have been unable to accomplish that vision,” she said.
“Just think how much can be done when a group of well-meaning people all pull together in the same direction,” added APAH president and CEO Nina Janopaul.
The church, which was hit by a fire last year, is being demolished by construction crews. The building of Gilliam Place is expected to take about two years.
After the U.S. Senate failed to repeal the Affordable Care Act, Arlington’s congressional representatives said Republicans and Democrats should now work together to fix the law.
On Twitter, Rep. Don Beyer (D), who represents Arlington in the House of Representatives, said lawmakers must work to make health care “better together.”
A so-called “skinny repeal” fell short of the votes required to pass after GOP Sens. John McCain, Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski voted against it, defeating the measure 49-51.
Previous bills, one which would have repealed Obamacare and another that would have repealed and replaced it with a House-approved plan earlier this year both fell short too.
Now it's time to turn the page and cast this terrible process aside.
The “skinny repeal” bill would have removed requirements that most Americans have health insurance, and that companies with more than 50 employees must offer health benefits. But the Congressional Budget Office estimated it would lead to 16 million more people without insurance in the space of a decade.
After the bill’s failure, U.S. Sen Tim Kaine (D-Va.) said in a statement that the process to improve health care must be more open and bipartisan.
“Thanks to the help of countless Americans who shared their stories and made their voices heard, we were able to stop a bill that would have taken health care away from millions of people,” Kaine said. “There is a better way. Let the public into the process. We shouldn’t be kicking millions off of their health insurance or increasing families’ health care costs. Tonight we put people over politics, and going forward we all need to work together to improve health care for all Americans.”
U.S. Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) thanked the American people for raising their concerns about Obamacare repeal, and agreed with Kaine that improvements must be made in an open way.
“Thank you to all Americans who made their voices heard. You did this,” Warner said in a statement. “It’s time to drop this partisan repeal process for good and work together on ways to improve health care for all Americans.”
A local co-op formed earlier this year to drive down the cost of home solar installation selected two providers to install the panels.
The 83-member group chose Ashburn-based Independent Solar Solutions and Sigora Solar of Charlottesville earlier this month from 10 firms after an open and competitive bidding process.
A spokesman for the co-op said the two firms were selected because of their competitive pricing, quality components and warranties available.
According to Solar Power Rocks, a firm that provides guidance on solar power for all 50 states and D.C., installing a 5-kW solar panel system on a house in Virginia can cost homeowners just over $18,000. Over the course of 25 years, the firm estimates it will have produced $16,000 in income from energy savings. Co-op members can save up to 20 percent on installation costs as they buy as a group in bulk.
The chosen installers will now develop personalized proposals for each co-op member, who will then review that proposal and decide if the panels are suitable for them. Being a co-op member does not mean a commitment to buying panels. New members are being accepted until October 1 from Arlington, Alexandria and Fairfax County.
“We’re are excited to be working with Greater Arlington residents to help them go solar at a great price” Niko Eckart, owner of Independent Solar Solutions, said in a statement.
“We’re incredibly honored to be part of this co-op and are excited to see the solar momentum build in Northern Virginia,” Jonathan Gellings, a solar analyst at Sigora Solar, added.
More than 80 people have already gone solar in similar schemes, and the current cohort said the process of finding providers was helped by working as a group.
“As someone who has considered installing [solar panels] several times over the past few years, I can say with certitude that working through the co-op was far easier than interviewing installers on my own,” said co-op member Jessica Olson in a statement. “The co-op is a great way to make an informed decision on a significant investment. We’re really excited to work with our installer and see how much I can save with my system.”
A draft plan aims to build a clearer approach for county officials engaging Arlington residents on new projects.
Staff in the county’s Office of Communication and Public Engagement put together the plan over the past four months, with the goal of enhancing the engagement process, building more trust and getting a more diverse range of participants having their say.
They met with members of the community and took feedback on the public engagement process — sometimes referred to as the “Arlington Way” — particularly around new capital projects.
A survey is now open for county residents to share their concerns on how previous processes have gone and their priorities for how public engagement can be improved. Based on staff’s preliminary sessions with community leaders, concerns have been raised about communication around projects, how costs change and the impact on nearby neighbors and businesses.
That follows a number of instances in which residents complained about a botched engagement process for projects in their neighborhoods. Examples include opposition to new baseball and softball field at Bluemont Park, which was eventually built with little controversy after a compromise was reached, and stringent opposition to the proposed relocation of Fire Station 8, which was scrapped after neighbors of the current station and the proposed new site both spoke out against it and said they were “blindsided” by the plan.
As it stands now, the draft plan would develop a template for public engagement that would better lay out the details of a project early on while also identifying stakeholders like civic associations, residents and commissions.
Throughout, the county would look to use a range of tools to communicate “early and often” about a project, including on signs, its website, newsletters, emails and postcards among others. Staff would also make an effort to show how feedback from the community influenced a project, and show a wider range of opinions on a project, including when briefing the Arlington County Board.
The plan would also look to establish a “common set of ground rules” for in-person and online discussions, all to encourage “civil dialogue and respect.” An engagement boot camp is mooted for spring or summer next year for staff, civic associations and commissions.
To increase the diversity of participants that get involved in public dialogue about county projects, staff recommended partnering with organizations to engage with “hard to reach” communities, and establishing liaisons to help out. There will also be an effort to ensure diversity on county boards and commissions.
The newest addition to the Ballston restaurant scene is set to open Monday, August 7.
Stageplate Bistro at 900 N. Glebe Road will begin a limited lunch service that week from 11 a.m.-4 p.m., with a view to ramping up to full dinner service soon after.
The eatery had been planning to open as early as May, but after needing some additional permits and some finishing touches to the design, it is almost ready to go.
General manager Mary Marchetti said that she anticipates dinner service starting soon thereafter, once any kinks have been worked out.
“I didn’t want to put a box around it and have people be disappointed,” she said.
Marchetti operates the restaurant with her husband and executive chef Nelson Gonzalez. The pair have been involved in providing catering to bands and artists and their traveling road crews for years, and are bringing that experience to Stageplate Bistro.
The eatery on the first floor of the Virginia Tech Research Center is the successor to Backstage Bistro Cafe near Dulles International Airport, which closed last October. Backstage also hosted a catering company that specialized in events and providing food for touring entertainment acts.
“On the road, it doesn’t matter if you’re a bus driver or the talent, everyone is a VIP,” Marchetti said.
That VIP treatment at Stageplate includes the service, which is intended to be as personal as possible, and various small details, according to Marchetti. For instance, filtered still water will be offered free of charge and at various temperatures. Marchetti said that variation in temperatures leans on their experience working with singers and dancers: while the former generally want room temperature water, the latter usually want chilled.
The food at Stageplate will be American and Mediterranean-inspired with some subtle tweaks. Instead of serving pizza, Stageplate will serve Turkish pide, a street food version of pizza that can be filled with various different ingredients.
Guests can also expect pasta, sandwiches, soups and salads, all made from scratch, while the bistro’s signature cocktail is a sangria wine slush. In the evenings, the menu will have various rotating entrees depending on which in-season ingredients come in fresh that day.
On Sundays, Stageplate will host a “live-action” buffet brunch where chefs prepare food in front of customers. They also plan to have live music on those days, featuring a rotation of gospel, jazz, Motown and the hits of Frank Sinatra.
The restaurant will have around 125 seats indoors, 28 outside on the patio and nine at the bar, while the back area can be hired out for small events and functions of no more than about 50.
And after work on the restaurant that began late last year, those involved with Stageplate are excited to get open and share their food creations with the world.
Local representatives in the U.S. Senate and U.S. House of Representatives sharply criticized the Senate’s vote Tuesday (July 25) to begin debate on repealing the Affordable Care Act, known as Obamacare.
The Senate voted 51-50 — with Vice President Mike Pence called on as a tie-breaker vote — to open debate on repeal, with three possible plans to be discussed in the coming days.
Those plans are the Senate’s own plan to repeal and replace Obamacare; a 2015 House bill that would have repealed the law; and a bill that passed the House earlier this year.
U.S. Sens Mark Warner and Tim Kaine (D-Va.) both released statements strongly condemning the vote on the Senate floor.
Kaine said:
“As one of my colleagues has said, not a single one of us came to the United States Senate to hurt people, but that is exactly what Republicans have set in motion with today’s forced vote on a secret bill. For many of my constituents in Virginia and millions of people across America, this bill likely means losing insurance or paying much more for health care.
“I spent Friday volunteering at the RAM Clinic in Wise County, where thousands of people had traveled far from their homes–many of them sleeping in their cars and outside in the heat–to get care. The magnitude of the need was heartbreaking, and the message from these families was clear: ‘help us, don’t hurt us.’ As the wealthiest and most compassionate nation in the world, we must make our health care system better, not worse, for these families. We have to do our jobs to protect the health care of the kids whose parents who have been writing to me and asking Congress to stop this heartless bill.
“This is about what’s right and wrong. This is about who we are as Senators. This is about what thinking, feeling, breathing, believing human beings in positions of leadership will do to help people, not hurt them. Americans–healthy and sick–need us to get this right, but Republican Senators got it wrong with today’s vote. In the coming days, I hope we’ll change course, move to a more open process, and get back to helping people.”
Warner added:
“Today’s vote will have very real and disastrous consequences for millions of Americans. The only question is how many people will be harmed, since Senate Republicans voted to move forward on a bill no one has yet seen but which we already know will raise costs and kick millions off their health insurance, including millions of children, elderly and disabled Americans who depend on Medicaid.
“There is still time for reasonable Republican senators to abandon this partisan process. It is long past time for Republicans to sit down with Democrats and work on a bipartisan solution that actually improves our healthcare system.”
U.S. Rep. Don Beyer (D), who represents Arlington in the House, had not released a written statement as of the time of writing. On Twitter, Beyer also criticized the vote, and the uncertainty surrounding the Senate’s next steps.
This is really happening. No GOP Senators know what they are about to vote on.
The new fast-casual pizzeria &pizza is aiming to open in the late fall in Ballston, its first shop outside a mall or airport in Virginia.
The build-your-own-pizza restaurant will move into 3924 Wilson Blvd, next to Freshbikes near the intersection with N. Quincy Street. It will occupy more than 2,000 square feet of space in the building, facing Wilson Blvd and across the parking lot from Gold’s Gym.
Guests can expect &pizza’s signature customizable oblong pizzas with unlimited toppings using local ingredients and no artificial flavors.
“We pride ourselves in creating neighborhood shops built for the neighborhood and supporting local, like-minded brands doing big things – whether that’s in downtown D.C. or Arlington,” said Michael Lastoria, co-founder and CEO of &pizza, in a statement. “We are so grateful to have grown this quickly, and directly attribute our growth to the DMV community’s support over the last five years.”
More from an &pizza press release:
&pizza, the beloved Washington, D.C.-based pizza brand, announces a new shop opening in Virginia this fall. The anti-establishment establishment will soon be serving up its signature oblong pies in the Ballston section of Arlington at 3924 Wilson Boulevard.
Occupying 2,123 square feet, Ballston will be &pizza’s sixth shop in Virginia. Other Virginia locations include a Tysons Corner shop slated for opening in October, Springfield Mall and multiple airport locations at both Dulles and Reagan. The first standalone shop in Virginia outside of mall or airport, the Ballston location will deliver the full &pizza experience in a way suburban Virginia has never seen before.
Each of &pizza’s outposts celebrates oneness, unity, and inclusion. “We pride ourselves in creating neighborhood shops built for the neighborhood and supporting local, like-minded brands doing big things – whether that’s in downtown D.C. or Arlington,” said Michael Lastoria, co-founder and CEO of &pizza. “We are so grateful to have grown this quickly, and directly attribute our growth to the DMV community’s support over the last five years.”
&pizza has made their critically-acclaimed pies, unlimited toppings and commitment to community the new type of pizza shop. They have successful track-records in both urban and suburban communities, choosing to always focus on creative food, hyper-local design and charitabe giving. With shops in Adams Morgan, Tysons Corner and New York City’s Astor Place also slotted to open this fall, &pizza continues its trek as one of the fastest-growing pizza brands on the East Coast.
&pizza has also signed a lease at 401 Morse Street NE slated for a 2018 opening. More information to follow.
// THE MENU + THE BRAND
&pizza prides itself on serving up experiences in addition to fresh pizza. Guests have the opportunity to craft their own individual pie with unlimited ingredients or choose from eight signature pizzas with bold and unique flavor combinations such as the Maverick (meat lovers), the egg-topped Farmer’s Daughter (breakfast with a kick), and the Gnarlic (more than a white pie). The brand works with Little Giants (local producers) to create innovative menu offerings that span a variety of food and beverage categories, including craft &SODA and small batch &TEA. &pizza is all about cleaner labels – using local produce and no high fructose corn syrup or artificial flavors. They also have a variety of gluten-free, vegetarian and vegan offerings.
// ABOUT &pizza:
Founded in 2012 in Washington, D.C.’s historic H Street NE corridor, &pizza set out to create a different kind of pizza shop – one where experience is the focal point, and every shop reflects the culture and people of its neighborhood. &pizza quickly became a part of the fabric of its local D.C. communities with its strong sense of social mission as a champion fighter in the battle for a living wage for its tribe, local food partnerships as a way to create a twist on classics, and in turn, with the signature ampersand tattoos that are now proudly worn by nearly 100 guests and members of its devoted Tribe of employees.
Evidence of their disruptive success can be found in the organizational culture of its employees, its rapid expansion and numerous recognitions. The brand was recently named Business Insider’s “Most Popular Pizza Chain” in Washington, D.C. and took home wins in 7 different “Best Of” categories by Washington City Paper – including “Best Pizza.” With the opening of &pizza in New York’s NoMad neighborhood in June 2017, Buzzfeed declared that “The Next Generation of Pizza Is Descending Upon New York.”
&pizza currently has 22 shops across Washington, D.C., Baltimore, Philadelphia, and New York, with additional locations opening soon in Adams Morgan in D.C., Tysons Corner in Virginia, and Astor Place in New York.
Political newcomer Adam Roosevelt said he knew at the age of 13 years old that he wanted to run for the Virginia House of Delegates.
He grew up in Norfolk, Va., in what he described as a “ghetto” neighborhood that struggled with gangs and poverty.
But at 13, he was inspired after meeting a local woman named Mrs. Bell, who spent her life donating money to the needy and taking trips to Africa to feed the hungry.
The 25-year-old began by serving in the U.S. Army, which included two tours in Afghanistan and a stint at NATO. He filed to run for the 49th District of the House of Delegates earlier this year on a platform he calls “Let’s Secure Virginia,” focusing on education, transportation, small business and veterans’ affairs.
The Pentagon City resident faces the task of trying to unseat Del. Alfonso Lopez (D), a three-term incumbent who also serves as Minority Whip for the Democratic caucus. The district includes neighborhoods along Columbia Pike and near the Pentagon, as well as parts of Bailey’s Crossroads and Seven Corners in Fairfax County.
If elected, Roosevelt said one of his major priorities would be improving education in the district. With a focus on science, technology, engineering and math (STEM), as well as encouraging more students to study medicine, he said he wants to help young people be competitive in the job market.
And to help do that, Roosevelt said he would be open to adding more charter schools and vouchers, which would provide government money redeemable for tuition fees at a non-public school. He said the growth of such schools helps encourage competition.
“It forces our teachers to have to get more certifications and get more education, and we’re going to start providing a system there that by competitive nature allows for higher quality and it allows our parents to have the opportunity to say, ‘I want my son to go to that school, I like the curriculum, that school’s doing very well,'” Roosevelt said. “It forces the other schools to compete now, and I think that’s healthy.”
Roosevelt now works as a contractor in cybersecurity and intelligence for the Department of Homeland Security. He said that helping small businesses grow is another priority, by reducing the corporate tax rate from 6 percent to 4 percent for small businesses and working with Arlington County to make the Business, Professional and Occupational License (BPOL) tax less burdensome.
Also on Roosevelt’s agenda is improving transportation, which he said should be invested in wisely, and be made as reliable as possible.
“I’m big on cutting down on waste, fraud and abuse,” Roosevelt said. “Our contracting processes are causing us to purchase things that are too much money, like $1 million for a bus stop. We could have bought a few bus stops, we could have had three full-time employees under a small business and we could have had some more labor there.”
A Thai restaurant in Ballston shuttered late last week.
Tara Temple at 4001 Fairfax Drive closed Friday, July 21. It offered a variety of Thai foods including noodles and curries, as well as what it called a “sizable menu” of Japanese options. The restaurant offered a carry-out option, as well as delivery after 5 p.m. on weekends.
It was located on the ground floor of the Quincy Street Station office building, next door to fellow tenant Cafe Tirolo.
As of Monday, tables and chairs had been removed from the restaurant while materials from inside the kitchen were being brought out for removal. The eatery’s patio was still intact, but with items from inside starting to pile up nearby.
Calls to the restaurant’s main phone number went unanswered.