The Panera Bread restaurant in Ballston has closed.
The Panera Bread was located in Ballston Common Mall and was previously expected to stay open during renovations before reopening as Ballston Quarter.
The store’s signage is down and the inside is vacant. The location also no longer shows up on Panera Bread’s website.
When calling the store’s phone number, an automated message states that the Ballston location has permanently closed and that their “customer’s business has been appreciated.”
No word yet on what ultimately led to the permanent closure of the store.
Rudy Panaglima discusses with Hawaii Senator Mazie K. Hirono
Rudy Panaglima delivers his speech
Rudy Panaglima (right)
Virginia Senator Tim Kaine delivers a speech
Arlington resident and 86-year-old World War II veteran Rudy Panaglima delivered a heartfelt speech on Capitol Hill Thursday morning, thanking lawmakers for a new immigration that allow Filipino veterans to be reunited with their families.
Panaglima was just 13 years old when he joined a Philippine guerrilla unit that secretly worked with the United States during World War II. Eventually, he became a member of the United States Army in the Philippines.
Filipino veterans who served for the United States during World War II received citizenship in appreciation for their service. However, many of their children were not able to.
Panaglima and his 83 year old wife Pura, have been waiting since 1995 for their two sons to come to the United States.
“We need our sons to take care of us because of our age,” said Panaglima.
Other speakers included Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine (D), Hawaii Sen. Mazie Hirono (D), Nevada Sen. Harry Reid (D) and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service Chief of Staff Juliet Choi.
“For too many years, Filipino veterans who fought valiantly alongside the United States in World War II – including many who call Virginia home – have been waiting for the promise of reunification with their families to be fulfilled,” Kaine said. “I’m so pleased that implementation of the Filipino World War II Veterans Parole Program has finally begun and that families like Rudy and Pura Panaglima of Arlington will soon be reunited with their sons who can provide them with much-needed care.”
Panaglima and his wife Pura have been living in the United States for over 21 years. Throughout the years, they have moved all around the D.C. area. However, now they currently reside along Lee Highway.
The Filipino World War II Veterans Parole (FWVP) Program, which officially took effect Wednesday, allows Filipino veterans or their spouses, whose service has been recognized by the U.S. Department of Defense, to apply to bring their children to the United States. The policy also allows the families to be together in the United States while the applications are processed.
“In a few months, my two sons will be with us in America because of this program. On behalf of the Panaglima family I would like to convey our gratitude,” said Panaglima.
The Arlington Partnership for Affordable Housing, County Board members and other elected officials and community leaders broke ground yesterday afternoon on the Columbia Hills Apartments, located at 1010 S. Frederick Street, off of Columbia Pike.
“There is dire need for affordable housing” in Arlington, said APAH President and CEO Nina Janopaul. “We’ve lost 13,500 affordable homes since 2000 so this is an opportunity in a big way to help make up for that.”
Columbia Hills will be APAH’s 15th property. Their 14th property, The Springs Apartments in Buckingham, will be welcoming residents this fall.
The Columbia Hills Apartment property is a $91 million project that includes land donated by APAH and M&T Bank, federal Low Income Housing Tax Credits and innovative “hybrid financing.”
“We are proud of the financing and are very appreciative of our partners who have allowed us to take the parking lot out of service and donate it to the new project,” said Janopaul.
Columbia Hills will be built on 1.2 acres of APAH’s land adjacent to the Columbia Grove Apartments. The property includes 10 permanent supportive housing units and 13 accessible units, serving housing needs for senior and disabled residents who cannot live comfortably in the neighboring Columbia Grove walk-up apartments.
The connecting east and west buildings will each be eight stories tall. The buildings will have a total of 229 homes, including 64 studio apartments, 27 one-bedroom units, 110 two-bedroom units, and 28 three-bedroom homes.
The committed affordable apartments are available to lower income households earning 60% of Area Median Income (AMI). There are 10 designated for households below 40% AMI and 39 for households below 50% AMI.
“Columbia Hills is one of the first projects to be developed under the Arlington County’s award-winning Columbia Pike Neighborhoods Plan and will contribute significantly to meeting the Plan’s goal of preserving 3,000 affordable homes along Columbia Pike,” Janopaul said.
The apartments are expected to be completed in the spring of 2018.
The second annual Bark in the Park event will be taking place this Sunday, June 12, after being rescheduled due to anticipated storms last weekend.
The free event will be taking place at the James Hunter Dog Park, also known as the Clarendon dog park, from 3-6 p.m.
The event will feature live music by Americana group Caroline Ferrante and the Whole Magilla, bites from the Smoking Kow BBQ food truck, and plenty of activities and goodies for human children and four-legged “kids” alike. Dog exhibitors will also be on hand to answer any pet related questions.
There is still time to enter the event’s first annual “Cutest Pooch Contest.” Dog owners can upload a photo of their pup, while any animal lover can vote for their favorites. The winning entry will receive pet- and owner-appropriate prizes.
USA vs China, Women’s World Cup 1999 (photo by John Todd)
USA Women vs Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, October 20, 2006 (photo by John Todd)
Briana Scurry signs autographs at USA Women vs Mexico match. October 20, 2006 (photo by John Todd)
Briana Scurry (photo by Jennifer Packard)
This summer, Arlington resident and former U.S. women’s soccer goalkeeper Briana Scurry will be going to the 2016 Olympics in Rio — this time, as a commentator.
Scurry played in the 1996 Atlanta, 2000 Sydney and 2004 Athens Olympic games and received two gold medals and one silver medal. She was also a key member of the 1999 World Cup-winning U.S. women’s national team.
With her playing career behind her, Scurry has been living in Ballston for the past two years, when she’s not traveling to speaking engagements across the country.
“I love the hustle and bustle of Arlington,” she said.
Scurry, who served as an analyst for ESPN during the 2011 Women’s World Cup, will be traveling to Rio in August to lend her expert commentary to Olympics coverage, including offering pre-game and post-game analysis.
“Ever since I was a little girl I wanted to be an Olympian and I was very lucky to play in three,” she said.
The Olympics is always an exciting time for Scurry, even when she is not playing in it. The U.S. women’s soccer team have the opportunity to win their fourth gold medal in a row this summer, and Scurry thinks the team has a great shot in doing exactly that, despite some pivotal players currently being injured.
“Complete and total dominance would be wonderful,” said Scurry.
Scurry has had such an impact on the U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team’s program that early last year, she was selected to be a permanent part of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture’s Title IX exhibit, which will be opening on September 24.
“When they called and asked if I would be willing to be in the museum, I couldn’t even begin to describe my humility. I couldn’t believe it because that meant my passion and body of work as a soccer player was good enough to be considered as something that was helping my race. It is really humbling to know that,” said Scurry.
Before moving to Ballston, Scurry lived in D.C.’s Adams Morgan neighborhood, where she was starting her concussion recovery. In 2010, Scurry retired from her professional soccer career due to a season-ending concussion. (She currently serves as honorary captain of the Washington Spirit soccer team.)
Now an advocate for concussion awareness, Scurry will be testifying before Congress about traumatic brain injuries next week.
“It took me three years to finally find the right doctor,” said Scurry. “Now I’m an advocate because if I can go through this much trouble, as an Olympic gold medalist and athlete and I was misdiagnosed and shuffled around, I can only imagine” what others are going through.
Lilly Pulitzer signature store The Pink Palm has opened its new store in Clarendon.
The store, at 2871 Clarendon Blvd, is the company’s fifth. It opened two weeks ago, after moving to Clarendon from their now-closed McLean location. The store is located in the former Knightsbridge Trading Co. space.
“We are so excited to be in Arlington because it is in the middle of where our prime demographic is,” said Pink Palm owner Lizanne Jeveret.
The privately-owned Lily Pulitzer store carries clothes, accessories and gifts. As a signature store, non-apparel brands such as Jack Rogers and Kendra Scott are also sold.
Customers can earn points for every purchase they make with the customer loyalty program. For every $500 spent, a $20 in store credit will be rewarded.
“We focus on getting to know our customers and we have a very specific interaction with our customers,” said Jeveret.
Aside from dropping by the store, customers can also order products online. Other Pink Palm locations include Alexandria, Bethesda, Richmond and Charlottesville.
Update at 4:30 p.m. on June 9 — The match has been moved to Fairfax County. It will now be taking place Saturday, June 11 from 3-6 p.m. at Phillips Programs (7010 Braddock Road) in Annandale, according to the league.
Update at 1 p.m. on June 9 — It seems that Major League Quidditch may need a magic wand to make its Arlington match happen this weekend. Originally set to take place at Tuckahoe Park, organizers then switched the venue to Thomas Jefferson Middle School. But that location is also in doubt.
From an Arlington Dept. of Parks and Recreation spokeswoman:
Not sure about how they thought they’d play in Tuckahoe Park, which is under construction. But we got a request to use the public field at Thomas Jefferson Monday night. We let them know that field is for drop play and can’t be reserved. And with this short notice (and with all the makeup games dues to the rain last month), we don’t have a field for them. They didn’t respond back to us so I’m not clear what their plans are. I guess they will work some magic?
From Major League Quidditch’s Amanda Dallas:
We’re working on securing a field at a school in Annandale… We’re just double-checking the field is the right size. Usually our scheduling isn’t this chaotic.
(Updated at 1:15 p.m. on June 8) An athletic competition, inspired by novels about a young wizard, is coming to Arlington this weekend.
The Washington Admirals, the D.C. area’s local quidditch team, will play the Ottawa Black Bears on Saturday, June 11 at the Thomas Jefferson Community Center (3501 2nd Street S.). Tickets are free and all ages are encouraged to attend.
According to the team roster, the Admirals consist of 28 players and a head coach. The team competes in Major League Quidditch, a national league with a regular season that runs from June 1 to August 30. Sixteen teams are divided up in four geographic divisions — North, South, East and West.
Quidditch, for those who are unfamiliar with the sport invented by author J.K. Rowling and featured in her Harry Potter novels (and movies), is described as a competitive, co-ed and semi-contact sport that’s a mixture of dodgeball, rugby and tag. Major League Quidditch rules call for teams of a half dozen players running around a field with brooms between their legs, trying to score points on a field utilizing a series of balls and hoops.
Quidditch is played by “thousands of athletes all over the world,” according to a CBS News profile of the sport that aired in April.
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.
Bee Keeping*
Aurora Hills Branch Library (735 18th Street S.)
Time: 6:30-7:30 p.m.
Find out what the buzz is about and help save the honeybees! Learn all about bee keeping with the nonprofit Northern Virginia Beekeepers Association. This event is free to attend. For more information call 703-228-5715.
Attend a viewing and discussion of the TED Talk “Gaming Can Make a Better World” by game designer Jane McGonigal. Ms. McGonigal asks: What if we could harness this gamer power to solve real-world problems?
Print media is no longer king. We receive more and more of our information through technology and on a 24/7 basis. How are these changes impacting timeliness and quality of the information we receive? The Arlington Committee of 100 will hear from representatives of RestonNow.com, Nextdoor.com, the Washington Post and Arlington County. The event is free and open to the public.
The Village at Shirlington is hosting live music every Thursday evening through Labor Day. This week will feature a performance by urban folk rockers Justin Trawick and The Common Good.
Bike for up to 23 miles at a leisurely pace for a tour of notable historic sites in Arlington. The all-day circuit includes stops in Clarendon, on Fort Myer and at the Abingdon Plantation historical site at National Airport. Sponsored by Center Hiking Club. $2 for nonmembers.
Bring friends and family and a picnic to join your neighbors for a free outdoor summer concert series, each second Sunday evening of June, July, and August. Performing this Thursday are the Arlington Jazz Collective and Yorktown Jazz Band.
Local wine and cheese retailer and restaurant Cheesetique opened its third location today in Ballston, at 800 N. Glebe Road.
“This is our biggest physical location, so I am very hopeful the model will work for us,” said store owner Jill Erber. The original location opened 12 years ago in Del Ray and the second location opened in Shirlington, at 4056 Campbell Avenue, five years ago.
The Ballston menu is identical to the other two locations. The cheese shop carries cheeses and charcuteries from all over the world, for retail sale or for dining in. Dine-in menu items include mac and cheese, grilled cheese, salads and hearty sandwiches.
“Everything on the menu is intended to feature the cheeses,” said Erber.
The wine and beer list is selected to pair with the cheeses. One unique feature about the new location is that there will be a full bar, which will be opening later this year.
For this week only, Cheesetique will only be serving lunch from 11-3 p.m. Next week, the restaurant will start its normal hours, serving lunch and dinner from 10 a.m.-11 p.m.
Nearly two weeks of continuous single tracking between East Falls Church and Ballston, on the Orange and Silver Metro lines, begins tomorrow (Saturday) morning.
Major travel disruptions are expected during Metro’s maintenance “surge,” dubbed “SafeTrack.” WMATA General Manager Paul Wiedefeld, along with Arlington County Board members Libby Garvey and Christian Dorsey, held a press conference this afternoon at the East Falls Church Metro Station to discuss preparations.
Metro riders can seek commuting alternatives such as carpooling or telecommuting. Free shuttle buses between Ballston and East Falls Church and Ballston and West Falls Church will be offered during the project. Additional Capital Bikeshare stations are being installed at the East Falls Church station in preparation for the work.
The single tracking will last for 13 days, ending on Thursday, June 16.
According to Wiedefeld, the worst impacts on the Orange and Silver lines will be west of Ballston. Orange Line trains will run only every 18 minutes between Vienna and Ballston, while Silver Line trains will run every 18 minutes. Additional trains will be placed in service east of Ballston.
The biggest effects will be felt during rush hour — riders are being told to expect “extreme crowding and delays” in each direction.
“Remember, the reason we are doing this is to make the system more reliable and safer,” said Wiedefeld.
The track work is just the first of numerous SafeTrack projects planned over the next year, many of which will impact Arlington riders.
Signs are up for a new pizza restaurant on Columbia Pike.
1000 Degrees, a quickly-expanding New Jersey-based pizza chain, will be opening “soon” on the ground floor of the Pike 3400 apartment complex. Interior construction appears to now be underway.
1000 Degrees has over 100 locations nationwide. The business is based around $7.99 personalized pizzas which are cooked in two minutes.
Customers can build their own personalized pizzas or choose from 15 neapolitan flavors including margherita and tuscan chicken. Breadsticks, wings and build your own salads are also offered.
The restaurant has yet to announce an official opening date. The Arlington location’s Facebook page was last updated on March 31.
