Ethan Rothstein | ARLnow.com

Mazagan on Columbia Pike Opening Soon

Published March 31, 2014 at 10:00AM

Mazagan, the Moroccan lounge and hookah bar being built next to the Arlington Cinema & Drafthouse, is expected to open within the next couple of weeks.

Chef/owner Riyad Bouizar said he’s hoping to open the business April 15, but after a long, drawn-out construction and licensing process, the opening could be delayed even further. Bouizar signed the lease for the space in August and was hoping to open in December or January.

For the first month, Mazagan will only be open for dinner and late night, Bouizar said, after which it will start selling lunch. During the week, the bar and hookah lounge will be open until 1:00 a.m., and until 2:00 a.m. on Fridays and Saturdays.

“This is something new to the neighborhood,” he said. “With the movie theater right next door it’s a chance for people to get a drink afterwards.”

The private hookah lounge, Bouizar said, will be a glass enclosure in the dining room. That way hookah smokers won’t feel like they are cut off from the rest of the patrons, but the non-smokers won’t have any secondhand smoke.

Arlington Agenda (March 31-April 6)

By Ethan Rothstein

Published March 31, 2014 at 5:00AM

Arlington Agenda is a listing of interesting events for the week ahead in Arlington County.

If you’d like to see your event featured, fill out the event submission form. Also, be sure to check out our event calendar.

Wednesday

Bestselling Author Visits Child’s Play
Barstons Child’s Play (4510 Lee Highway)
Time: 4:00-5:30 p.m.

New York Times bestselling author Wendy Mass, who writes the popular Space Taxi series, to deliver a presentation, conduct a Q&A session and sign books. It’s free and no registration is required.

Thursday

House of Steep Open Mic
House of Steep (3800 Lee Highway, Suite D)
Time: 6:30-8:00 p.m.

Cherrydale tea shop House of Steep is hosting what it hopes is the first of monthly open mics for writers, performers and all creative types to perform.

Friday

Hunger is No Joke Fundraiser
Cafe Asia (1550 Wilson Blvd)
Time: 8:00-11:00 p.m.

90s cover band White Ford Bronco plays at Cafe Asia for its annual “Hunger is No Joke” fundraiser. All proceeds go to AFAC. Tickets are $30 each or $55 for two, and there will be raffles and a silent auction.

Saturday

Artisan Crafts Show
Lyon Village Community House (1920 N. Highland Street)
Time: 10:00 a.m.-4:00 p.m.

Women Entrepreneurs: Community, Accountability and Networking hosts a crafts fair for female artisans. Woman-owned food businesses will also be represented.

Shred for Bread
Little Falls Presbyterian Church (6025 Little Falls Road)
Time: 10:00 a.m.-1:00 p.m.

Little Falls Presbyterian is hosting residents looking to shred their documents for free, and soliciting food and cash donations to the Arlington Food Assistance Center.

Sunday

Doorways Fundraiser at Lyon Hall
Lyon Hall (3100 Washington Blvd)
Time: 3:00-6:00 p.m.

A fundraiser for Doorways for Women & Families, hosted by an Ohio-based foundation, comes to Clarendon. Admission is $30: there will be a DJ, and Lyon Hall will be catering hors d’oeuvres and drinks.

#Arlington Agenda

100 Montaditos Opening Monday With Free Sandwiches

By Ethan Rothstein

Published March 28, 2014 at 3:30PM

Spanish mini-sandwich chain 100 Montaditos (1776 Wilson Blvd) is opening its first Arlington location on Monday (March 31) in Rosslyn.

In honor of the grand opening, customers on Monday will be treated to a free “montadito,” a spanish sandwich with ingredients like chorizo and serrano ham, and a drink. The montaditos typically cost between $1 and $3.

If customers can’t make it on Monday — or want to avoid the lines free food usually attracts — the restaurant is offering a buy two, get one free deal until April 6, according to the Rosslyn Business Improvement District.

In addition to the montaditos, the restaurant offers beer and sangria, with pitchers of the fruity wine drink and domestic beer offered for $8.

Photo via Rosslyn BID

McDonald’s Offering Free Coffee Starting Monday

By Ethan Rothstein

Published March 28, 2014 at 1:30PM | Updated March 28, 2014 at 4:10PM

McDonald’s restaurants in Arlington and the rest of the D.C. area will be offering free coffee during breakfast time to its customers starting Monday, March 31.

The promotion, which will run for two weeks, will include a “‘Make Friends with McCafé’ sampling events at high traffic locations and transportation hubs in multiple cities across the country. The events will provide busy commuters with free McCafé coffee and a few surprises along the way, such as live musical performances, spontaneous comedy experiences and more,” according to a McDonald’s press release.

“McDonald’s has long been part of the Greater Washington, DC community, and we wanted to show our appreciation by inviting guests to start their mornings with a complimentary cup of McCafé Coffee,” area McDonald’s owner and operator Nick Nerangis, Jr. said in the release.

The McDonald’s in Arlington are located at:

1823 N. Moore Street
4834 Lee Highway
5009 Wilson Blvd
40 N. Glebe Road
Ballston Common Mall (4238 Wilson Blvd) food court
5005 Columbia Pike
3013 Columbia Pike
Fashion Centre at Pentagon City (1100 S. Hayes Street) food court
2620 Jefferson Davis Highway

Open Houses in Arlington This Weekend

By Ethan Rothstein

Published March 28, 2014 at 12:30PM

The forecast calls for rain this weekend, but it’s house-hunting season so strap on some rain boots and visit some open houses.

See our real estate section for a full listing of open houses. Here are a few highlights:

1301 S. Walter Reed Drive
1 BD / 1 BA condominium
Agent: Peter Dallman, Long & Foster Real Estate
Listed: $270,000
Open: Sunday, March 30, 1:00 to 4:00 p.m.

2100 Lee Highway
2 BD / 1 1/2 BA condominium
Agent: Steve Wisemiller, Re/Max Allegiance
Listed: $419,500
Open: Sunday, March 30, 1:00 to 4:00 p.m.

851 N. Glebe Road
2 BD / 2 BA condominium
Agent: Katie Wethman, Keller Williams Realty
Listed: $624,900
Open: Saturday, March 29, 1:00 to 4:00 p.m.; Sunday, March 30, 1:00 to 4:00 p.m.

1814 24th Street S.
3 BD / 2 full, 2 half BA townhouse
Agent: Susan Cahill-Tully, Long & Foster Real Estate
Listed: $829,000
Open: Sunday, March 30, 1:00 to 4:00 p.m.

2805 N. Somerset Street
4 BD / 4 1/2 BA single family detached
Agent: Kristen Wohlschlegel, Keller Williams Realty Falls Church
Listed: $932,000
Open: Sunday, March 30, 1:00 to 4:00 p.m.

4400 35th Street N.
6 BD / 5 1/2 BA single family detached
Agent: Charlotte Gregory, Long & Foster Real Estate
Listed: $2,143,000
Open: Sunday, March 30, 1:00 to 4:00 p.m.

#open house

Special Election Predicted to See Record Turnout

By Ethan Rothstein

Published March 28, 2014 at 11:15AM

This year’s special election on April 8 could see record voter turnout, and not just for a special election.

Arlington’s unofficial election prognosticator, Treasurer Frank O’Leary, expects the special election to draw between 35,000 and 37,000 votes, dwarfing the previous record for a special election — 21,624 votes, set in 2003 — and rivaling the odd-year election records of 2011 and the constitutional amendment year of 1999.

“The natives are clearly restless,” O’Leary said in an email. “This fervor may reflect disgruntled voters responding to [John] Vihstadt’s energetic efforts to torpedo the aquatic center and derail the streetcar. Similarly, it may arise from the equally energetic efforts of the newly-minted ACDC Chairman — Kip Malinosky (who cannot afford to lose his maiden effort) and a determined Democratic candidate — Alan Howze — who has rapped his knuckles on thousands of voters’ doors.”

O’Leary is projecting about 2,750 absentee votes will be cast, compared with the 2011 general election that saw 2,248. Along with Democrat Howze and Republican- and Green-endorsed independent John Vihstadt, independent Stephen Holbrook and Independent Green candidate Janet Murphy are also running.

“Turnout resulting from this tempestuous mix,” O’Leary wrote, “will be further enhanced by the later-than-usual voting date of April 8, coupled with an extra hour of sunlight at day’s end.”

Police Sponsoring HS, MS T-Shirt Design Contest

By Ethan Rothstein

Published March 28, 2014 at 10:15AM | Updated March 28, 2014 at 10:43AM

The Arlington Police Beneficiary Association is asking Arlington middle- and high-schoolers to design a T-shirt for Police Week in May.

Students are asked to submit designs for the theme “Honoring the Fallen By Remembering Their Sacrifice,” by Friday, April 4 at 3:00 p.m. Designs are asked to be drawn in marker — with no more than four colors — on a sheet of letter paper. The winning designs will be printed for shirts during Police Week, May 11-17.

The grand prize for the contest is $100 gift card, a press release with the winner’s name and school in it and a free T-shirt with the winning design. Each school’s School Resource Officer will be collecting the submissions, which will be printed on the back of black and/or blue shirts.

County to Unveil Rosslyn ‘Bikeometer’

By Ethan Rothstein

Published March 27, 2014 at 3:30PM

Several Arlington County officials will be on hand next week to unveil a high-tech “bikeometer,” on the Custis Trail in Rosslyn.

The bikeometer will be on the trail near the intersection of Lee Highway and N. Lynn Street — known as the “Intersection of Doom” — with electronic displays counting “passing bicyclists in real time and cumulative daily, monthly and year-to-date counts,” according to an Arlington County press release.

The bikeometer is the first of its kind on the East Coast and sixth in the nation, according to BikeArlington. The data will be used in future planning for cyclists in the area in addition to providing “a highly visible, engaging and fun view of the volume of bike usage on the Custis Trail in Arlington.”

Arlington County Board Chair Jay Fisette will be on hand, along with League of American Bicyclists President Andy Clarke, on Tuesday, April 1 at 10:00 a.m. to unveil the bikeometer.

Photo via BikeArlington

Massive ‘Graffiti-Style’ Mural Coming to Crystal City

By Ethan Rothstein

Published March 27, 2014 at 2:30PM

Crystal City will soon be home to Arlington’s largest mural.

The Crystal City Business Improvement District has commissioned a 215-foot-long, 2,500-square-foot mural to be painted on the Crystal Drive side of the vacant office building at 1851 S. Bell Street.

The “graffiti-style” mural will be painted by the No Kings Collective beginning April 1. According to Crystal City BID President Angela Fox, several artists will paint different parts of the mural during the times when the streets of Crystal City are busiest — during the work day, farmer’s markets, food truck Thursdays and 5K Fridays.

“It’ll just turn into a very vibrant wall like you’ll see in Miami’s Wynwood Art district,” Fox told ARLnow.com. “It’s colorful, it’s bright, it’s experiential. You’re going to watch the evolution of it going from a primed white to all sorts of colors.”

The painting process will take about three-to-four weeks, Fox said, and the mural could be continuously changing until the building is ultimately torn down, to be replaced with a 730,000-square-foot skyscraper.

Photo via Google Maps. Disclosure: Crystal City BID is an ARLnow.com advertiser

Office Building Planned to Replace Courthouse Wendy’s

By Ethan Rothstein

Published March 27, 2014 at 1:30PM | Updated March 27, 2014 at 1:59PM

(Updated at 2:00 p.m) The Wendy’s fast food restaurant at the intersection of N. Courthouse Road, Wilson Blvd and Clarendon Blvd appears likely to be replaced by a 12-story office building in the coming years.

Carr Properties submitted a preliminary site plan to the county’s zoning division yesterday outlining its plans for the 12-story building with about 6,800 square feet of ground story retail. The building — called 2025 Clarendon Blvd — will replace the Wendy’s at 2038 Wilson Blvd and the Wells Fargo bank at 2026 Wilson Blvd. The plan calls for the Wells Fargo to occupy some of the ground floor retail space in the new building.

The office building will have 233 underground parking spots with entrances to the lot built on a cut-through street. The parcel is on almost 25,000 square feet of land area, and the building will have about 181,275 square feet of floor space for office uses.

Carr Properties also designed a small plaza at the main intersection with benches and plantings for shade. As part of its community benefits package for additional density, it’s proposing either making a public art contribution or incorporating art into the plaza. Other parts of the community benefits package include: plans for the building is planned to be LEED Gold-certified; undergrounding the utility lines and improving the streetscape along Wilson and Clarendon Boulevards.

The Courthouse Sector Plan Addendum calls the site a “major gateway” and calls for a “focal feature” at the main intersection when the Wendy’s is ultimately redeveloped. The application says the building fulfills that goal with the building’s “unique glass column that will serve as an iconic architectural feature in Courthouse.”

The building’s north-facing side — which looks out over parts of the old brick Colonial Village complex — includes a set-back from the street and a “stucco-type” design to bring it more in line with the look of that block. To the east of the planned building, two new apartment buildings are also under construction, which are planned to also include ground floor retail.

Moran Proposes Raise for Federal Workers

By Ethan Rothstein

Published March 27, 2014 at 11:15AM

Rep. Jim Moran (D-Va.) is co-sponsoring a bill in the House of Representatives that would give federal workers a 3.3 percent pay increase for 2015.

The Federal Adjustment of Income Rates Act (FAIR Act), if it passes, would represent the biggest wage increase for federal workers since the 2008 recession. Moran co-sponsors the bill with Fairfax County Rep. Gerry Connolly (D), who introduced the legislation, Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.), John Tierney (D-Mass.) and other House members.

Moran said in a press release announcing the legislation that the attrition in the federal workforce has increased 35 percent since 2009. In 2013, earnings grew in every industry except for civilian federal workers, whose earnings fell $6.7 billion according to the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Economic Analysis.

Federal workers were granted a 1 percent pay increase last year, the press release said, but that lagged behind a 1.5 percent growth in inflation.

“Federal workers deserve to be compensated for the vital role they play in the lives of millions of Americans,” Moran said. “These are the men and women finding lifesaving cures at NIH, catching criminals, supporting our troops, and protecting the environment. They have bills to pay and families to support. After three years of pay freezes and too many furloughs, they’ve earned this modest, decent raise.”

After the jump, you can read Moran’s full press release: (more…)