Author: Jo DeVoe

Silver Diner redevelopment teed up for Arlington County Board review this Saturday

By Jo DeVoe
1/10

Longtime plans to redevelop the former Silver Diner site in Clarendon are headed to the Arlington County Board for approval.

An 11-story, 290-unit apartment building with about 16,000 square feet of retail and a 10-story, 229-room hotel with a rooftop terrace and bar are proposed for the site, dubbed “Bingham Center.”

This Saturday, the Board is set to review the plans from owner TCS Realty Associates and developer Donohoe Cos., including a request for the county to vacate portions of a public alley and street. In exchange, Arlington would receive some $1.15 million in compensation, per a county report.

The new buildings would sit on a triangular parcel bounded by Wilson Blvd, 10th Street N. and N. Irving Street, across from Northside Social. They would replace the now-closed Silver Diner, the Lot beer garden, two brick structures called “The Doctors Building,” an auto repair facility and surface parking.

The 3200 Wilson Blvd property is near the Joyce Motors site which was approved for another significant development earlier this year, as well as the Wells Fargo development site that’s currently under review.

The project comes forward two months after the County Board approved a deadline extension request from TCS and Donohoe. They asked for more time to fix “unresolved design challenges” along N. Irving Street, particularly regarding the pedestrian experience.

The duo had proposed a loading area and hotel-serving facilities along N. Irving Street, which county staff previously noted deviates from the 2022 Clarendon Sector Plan. This plan, developed in anticipation of a handful of projects, including Silver Diner, envisions a walkable, retail-studded N. Irving Street.

Members of the Site Plan Review Committee agreed. They said the loading dock would create conflicts with pedestrians accessing a proposed plaza on N. Irving Street. They also had misgivings about the bricked-over, retail-less façade on N. Irving Street.

An early suggestion from TCS and Donohoe included adding a “living green wall,” but the county and the public said this did not address the issues of missing retail or pedestrian-vehicle conflicts.

Initial, since-updated façade changes to 3200 Wilson Blvd redevelopment (via Arlington County)

Now, the county says the developers have found a solution and there are no outstanding issues.

TCS and Donohoe moved the dock to the forthcoming extension of 10th Road N. As part of the overall Bingham Center project, Donohoe will extend this one-block-long road east of the site so that it cuts through the site and intersects with Wilson Blvd.

In addition, the developers agreed to install windows into the kitchen that abuts the future “Irving Plaza,” envisioned in the Clarendon Sector Plan. The proposed green wall has been replaced with a “decorative element” intended to enhance the otherwise un-enlivened façade.

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Boxing gym and Japanese restaurant, among others, to move into new Courthouse apartment tower

By Jo DeVoe
"The Commodore" apartments in Courthouse in September 2023 (staff photo by Jay Westcott)
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A forthcoming apartment building in Courthouse already has a lineup of restaurants and fitness studios slated to move in. 

A franchise location of Rumble Boxing and a Japanese restaurant and bar called Gingerfish are among those getting in on the ground level of The Commodore, a nearly completed apartment building at 2055 15th Street N.

Over the last two years, developer Greystar has been at work building a 20-story, 423-unit building on what is dubbed the “Landmark Block.” This block, at the corner of Clarendon Blvd and N. Courthouse Road, was once home to a collection of restaurants, including Summers.

When photographed today, the building appeared nearly complete from the outside, though separate transportation upgrades — which include pavement, sidewalk, curb and gutter improvements to public streets — are ongoing. 

Work appears to be wrapping up on the building, as social media posts — playing up the apartment’s pet-friendliness — note the building is “coming soon.” Other signs of completion include the retailers that are already listed as forthcoming tenants.  

Gingerfish is “by a local restaurant group with various other concepts in the Arlington market,” according to CBRE leasing agent Jared Meier. 

“[Regarding] other tenants for the space, we are not at liberty to announce who they are, but I am excited to note that we are close to finalizing leases with an açai bowl operator, a yoga studio, and a taqueria,” he said.

A leasing map indicates a letter of intent has been or is being put forward for the one space, leaving just one listed as available.  

The project broke ground almost two years ago, projecting a fall 2023 completion date at the time. It appears developer Greystar remains largely on schedule.

“We are anticipating first move ins for The Commodore in early October,” said Allison Rynak, the director of marketing communications for Greystar.

Meier also expects retail tenants could move in next month. The new restaurants and fitness gyms could be open for business next spring or summer, he said. 

Meanwhile, work continues on another Greystar project a few blocks away. What was once a Wendy’s will become an apartment tower, ground-floor retail and a plaza at 2025 Clarendon Blvd. The two projects realize a significant part of the county’s vision for the neighborhood.

‘Coming soon’ sign out for new Chinese dim sum restaurant in Clarendon

By Jo DeVoe

1/2

A restaurant in Clarendon has hung up the ever-elusive promise of a “coming soon” sign.

It is one sign of progress for two Asian restaurants taking up residence next to each other on the 3200 block of Washington Blvd, in a retail strip that includes a pizza place and O’Sullivan’s Irish Pub.

The “coming soon” sign advertises the impending arrival of Tiger Dumpling, a Chinese dim sum restaurant. A construction permit for the space was filed last winter.

Meanwhile, a liquor license is now “pending” for Japanese restaurant called Izakaya 68, set to occupy a space next door to Tiger Dumpling. This restaurant is modeled after informal Japanese bars serving drinks, snacks and small plates.

Both restaurants are owned by the Ivea Restaurant Group, which lists these locations as “coming soon” on its website. The group runs a number of Asian-inspired restaurants across the region, including Ballston’s Gyu San, which opened this summer.

Neither Ivea Restaurant Group nor the permit holder listed on permits posted in the window of Tiger Dumpling returned requests for updates on when the pair of eateries would open.

Ivea Restaurant Group previously told ARLnow they were aiming for a summer 2023 opening for the pair of restaurants.

Tiger Dumpling and Izakaya 68 are set to replace Utahime and La Finca, which closed in 2020 and 2021, respectively.

These restaurant spaces have seen considerable turnover over the years, and were once home to European pub Park Lane Tavern, ‘Top Chef’ contestant Katsuji Tanabe’s Le Kon and a cajun seafood-and-sushi place, Asiatique.

Carlin Springs Road clocks another crash near Kenmore Middle School

By Jo DeVoe

The crash on S. Carlin Springs Road on Thursday, Sept. 14, 2023 (courtesy anonymous)

Yesterday morning, while Arlington Public Schools students were on their way to school, two cars were involved in a crash on S. Carlin Springs Road.

Around 7 a.m., police were dispatched to the intersection of Carlin Springs and 5th Road S. for reports of a crash resulting in property damage, says ACPD spokeswoman Ashley Savage.

“Upon arrival, it was determined the drivers of the two involved vehicles were traveling north on S. Carlin Springs Road when the vehicles collided, causing one vehicle to strike a utility pole and street sign,” she said. “No injuries were reported.”

The sign struck instructs turning vehicles to yield to pedestrians.

This stretch of S. Carlin Springs Road is notable for its narrow sidewalks and little or no pedestrian buffer. The road, which includes walk zones for Carlin Springs and Campbell elementary schools and Kenmore Middle School, has a history of crashes as well as a smattering of improvements.

In the last five years, the site of yesterday’s crash has seen a handful of crashes that sustained at least $1,500 in property damage or resulted in injury or death, according to data Savage shared with ARLnow. There were two last year, four in 2019 and two in 2018, but no recorded crashes in the intervening pandemic years.

A crash at S. Carlin Springs Road and 5th Road S. on Sept. 10, 2022 (courtesy anonymous)

Zooming out, on S. Carlin Springs Road between Route 50 to 8th Road S., there have been several crashes over the years, including near Kenmore Middle School.

Since 2013, there have been four severe crashes on this stretch of S. Carlin Springs Road: two at 1st Street S. in 2013 and 2021, one at 3rd Street S. in 2022, and one at 5th Street S. in 2016.

Last year, several intersections within this stretch saw 1-2 crashes each, according to a county report.

One of those last October involved a young cyclist and driver proceeding through a green light. After this crash, some in the community re-upped their calls for a safer S. Carlin Springs Road. They said local families have described unsafe conditions for years, leading to a 2018 study of the road that generated some short-term changes in 2020 and 2021.

Intersections with several crashes, pull-out of S. Carlin Springs Road added by ARLnow (via Arlington County)

Parts of S. Carlin Springs Road are in what the county calls an “equity emphasis area,” for its high population of people of color and households with lower incomes.

The county uses this designation to evaluate transportation upgrades and ensure these areas — where crashes occur twice as frequently — receive proper attention through Vision Zero.

As part of Vision Zero — the county’s effort to eliminate pedestrian deaths and serious injuries by 2030 — this spring, the county lowered speeds from 25 mph to 20 mph on parts of S. Carlin Springs Road within 600 feet of access points for Kenmore, Carlin Springs and Campbell.

To catch the attention of drivers, the county also added more visible crosswalks, signage and street markings.

Last winter, Arlington added rapid flashing beacons at a mid-block along 7th Road S., between Carlin Springs and S. Jefferson Street, which the county says is “on a critical path” for students walking to these schools.

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Amid declines in non-fatal overdoses, local addiction treatment options for youth are taking hold

By Jo DeVoe

Parents and community members march at Wakefield High School after 14-year-old student Sergio Flores died of an overdose (staff photo by Jay Westcott)

Bucking statewide trends, Arlington County may be seeing opioid overdoses trend down this year.

So far this year, Arlington registered 44 overdoses with Narcan — a brand name for the opioid-reversal drug naloxone — deployed in 35 instances. Of the overdoses, eight involved juveniles, all of whom received Narcan.

That marks a 31% decrease this calendar year in total opioid overdoses, compared to other Virginia jurisdictions still seeing increases, says Emily Siqveland, the opioids program manager for the county.

That is the good news, to be taken with a more sobering projection that Arlington County is not seeing a similar decline in fatal overdoses. As of this time last year, Siqveland says Arlington had the same number of fatal overdoses as it does now: 15.

Arlington County has been significantly affected by the opioid epidemic wreaking havoc on the country and the region, where the Inova health system estimates some 32% of adults have a family member or friend with an addiction. In response, the county has joined lawsuits against pharmaceutical companies linked to the opioid crisis, putting settlements toward treatment.

It was the January 2023 death of 14-year-old Sergio Flores after overdosing at Wakefield High School, however, that threw a spotlight on the use of pressed pills among young people and a lack of local treatment options for them. His passing prompted a surge in activity and conversations within Arlington Public Schools, the county and the broader community.

Eight months later, some of that work is coming together.

Percent change in naloxone distribution versus overdoses over the last year (courtesy Emily Siqveland)

Works in progress

The hyperlocal focus on young people dovetails with findings from Inova that younger generations are particularly touched by addiction. It found 32% of Gen Z and 39% of Millennial survey respondents reported having a family member or friend with an addiction.

APS has hired one substance abuse counselor and is finalizing paperwork for the other, says Darrell Sampson, the school system’s executive director of student services. This would bring the total number of counselors to eight serving the division.

This year, the Dept. of Human Services and APS are preparing to station four county therapists in the high schools. To date, 320 high school students have family consent to carry Narcan in school.

“With the additional substance abuse counselors, we’re able to expand supports to middle schools,” Sampson tells ARLnow, noting insufficient support for 6-8th graders was a concern in the community. “We want to try to keep [kids who are experimenting] from blowing up into a more full-blown addiction or using even more concerning substances.”

In June, several years after closing down its juvenile treatment program, National Capital Treatment & Recovery (NCTR) — formerly Phoenix House — debuted its new adolescent intensive outpatient program this summer.

As of yesterday (Thursday), NCTR has admitted 13 patients and has had to turn away referrals from outside the county, which it cannot accept at this time, NCTR Chief Clinical Officer Pattie Schneeman tells ARLnow.

“I anticipate the referrals will increase now that school has started, because that is often where we start seeing the needs surface, i.e. when it interferes with school attendance, etc.,” Schneeman said.

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Schools were in the hot seat during County Board candidates forum this week

By Jo DeVoe

Arlington County Board candidates at the Committee of 100 forum on Wednesday, Sept. 13, 2023 (via Arlington Committee of 100/Facebook)

Arlington County Board candidates say they would like more coordination and transparency from the School Board when it comes to annual budgets and long-term plans.

The discussion arose last night (Wednesday) during an Arlington Committee of 100 candidate forum.

Candidates were asked if they support increasing the share of tax revenue the county transfers to Arlington Public Schools to, among other reasons, further tackle Covid-era learning loss. They were also asked how they would promote sustainable growth in Arlington County with an eye toward how that impacts the school system.

In their responses, Democratic candidates Maureen Coffey and Susan Cunningham hinted at closer scrutiny of the budget but pointed to a different issue they would to address: county-school coordination. Independent Audrey Clement and Republican Juan Carlos Fierro, meanwhile, said it may be time to revisit how much money the schools receive.

Every year, the county transfers money to APS, which it uses to fund most — around 75-79% — of its annual budget. The percent of revenue shared has remained fairly constant in the last two decades.

The table below shows the percentage of local tax revenue that allocated to the County and APS since 2008 (by ARLnow)

The dollar amount transferred, however, has risen steadily in the last three budgets after more modest upticks between 2017 and 2020.

The amount Arlington County transfers to Arlington Public Schools annually for its budget since the 2017 fiscal year (via Arlington Public Schools)

Given the recent increases, Fierro says it is time to study the county’s revenue share to APS, which currently sits at 46.8%.

“That, plus the allowance we have to give to Metro, is a lot for Arlington County,” he said. “We have to find a way to study how we can try to lower that amount, but of course, the quality has to be the same.”

Fierro contrasted the rising contributions to APS with the county’s budget surplus, suggesting residents may be over-taxed. At the close of each fiscal year, the county puts surplus, or “closeout funds,” toward a variety of expenses, a practice that has its critics, who say it should instead help stave off tax increases.

“It’s a lot of money,” he said. “One of my radical ideas is that this money goes back to taxpayers. We’re living in challenging times.”

Clement said she agreed.

“We are really imposing a huge tax burden on our residents,” she said. “I believe it is unsustainable because it’s over twice the rate of inflation and I think we ought to look at ways to streamline our budget, not ways to increase it.”

Clement further argued against increasing the budget for APS, citing falling enrollment projections over the next decade.

“I understand that the greatest problem facing our schools is the achievement gap, which grew significantly during Covid,” she said. “I don’t think throwing more money at that particular problem is going to solve it.”

Coffey and Cunningham were modest in their suggestions to review county transfers to APS but said they were open to that conversation.

Like Clement, they said the main issue county leaders need to address regarding the school system is poor coordination. They argued this can lead to redundant spending and service gaps.

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NEW: At long last, Astro Beer Hall to open in Shirlington next Tuesday

By Jo DeVoe

1/6

(Updated at 3:10 p.m. on 9/15/23) The long-anticipated Astro Beer Hall will open next week in Shirlington, serving decadent donuts by day and “astronomic” sandwiches and apps late into the night.

Ahead of the Tuesday opening, owners Elliot Spaisman and Peter Bayne are running around, making finishing touches on the 14,000-square-foot, galactic-themed space, while the team trains and awaits deliveries.

“We’ve got a lot going on over here,” Spaisman tells ARLnow.

The Village at Shirlington location is the second for the hall, which debuted in D.C. in 2019. The owners are bringing over some famed foods — including fried chicken sandwiches made with savory doughnuts — and debuting new bites. There will also be arcade games and, eventually, billiards.

The beer hall, with a sprawling 140-seat patio and adjacent coffee shop, took over the old Capitol City Brewing Co. space at 4001 Campbell Avenue, which closed five years ago. The Tuesday opening caps off two years of work in the midst of Covid and supply chain and permitting issues, the co-owners say.

The owners say they’re more than ready to open their doors.

“There’s a million pounds off my shoulders. It’s been such a whirlwind and a beast to get this thing open,” Bayne said. “It was so frustrating along the way, so to get to this moment where we can have a beautiful spot we can open up, feels so good.”

He and Spaisman opened the first Astro Beer Hall location all of four months before Covid lockdowns. While the location is faring well now, Bayne said the downtown D.C. scene is still stifled post-pandemic and he is excited to come to Arlington, which he says is “where it’s at.”

“This is nice because it’s a dense residential area in Shirlington with commercial and offices, a nightlife strip, and a ton of great options around us,” Bayne said. “It’s a hub people want to go to on a Friday or Saturday. It’s a little bit of something for everyone.”

That seems to be the plan with Astro Beer Hall, too.

There will be a coffee shop open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., serving baked goods, compliments of a doughnut-frying robot, and Compass Coffee beverages.

Over in the beer hall, patrons can watch sports from what Spaisman says is “a massive amount of TVs.” They can play classic arcade games such as skee ball and Ms. Pacman and, in the coming months, billiards in the basement.

Once it is beer o’clock — as early as 11 a.m. on the weekends but 4 p.m. on Mondays — the hall will start serving snacks, sandwiches and salads for lunch, happy hour and dinner.

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Crystal Drive was closed for several hours yesterday due to utility company accident

By Jo DeVoe

Cleanup crews on Crystal Drive tending to oily water that flooded the road on the afternoon of Wednesday, Sept. 13 (via Arlington County)

Part of Crystal Drive was closed for several hours yesterday after a utility worker inadvertently pumped oily water onto the road.

The Arlington County Fire Department, including its hazmat unit, was the first to respond to the scene in Crystal City for initial reports of an “unknown amount of gas in the roadway,” according to scanner traffic.

Crystal Drive was closed in both directions between 15th and 23rd Street S. according to an Arlington Alert message sent out shortly before 2 p.m.

Responders then called in Arlington’s Dept. of Environmental Services, and its sand truck, to handle cleanup, per the scanner. The cleanup crews could be seen near 20th Street S. and Crystal Drive on live camera feed.

DES spokeswoman Katie O’Brien told ARLnow Wednesday evening that oily water had flooded the road.

“A contractor for Pepco, pumping water out of an old electrical transmission vault, accidentally released oily water into the roadway,” she said. “An absorbent and sand was placed on the roadway to contain the oil and prevent slipping. The contractor is working to clean the area.”

The road reopened around 7:30 p.m.

Pepco, of course, serves customers in D.C. and suburban Maryland, not Virginia. It does, however, have communication and power transmission lines in the Crystal City area, according to O’Brien.

County Board, community leaders recommend tweaks to strengthen draft Plan Langston Blvd plan

By Jo DeVoe

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After 11 years of work, started by a group of residents and picked up by Arlington County, a planning document guiding the development of Langston Blvd could soon get teed up for final approvals.

Plan Langston Blvd outlines how to encourage private development on the corridor to make it walkable, bikeable and flood-resilient. Less dense neighborhoods transition to “activity hubs” developed with privately owned public spaces and apartment buildings as tall as 15 stories, with units affordable to a broad range of income levels.

The county is preparing to publish a request to advertise Planning Commission and County Board hearings on Plan Langston Blvd next month. Before taking this step, the county amassed more public input this summer, following the release of a draft plan in June, and held a work session with the plan’s champions in the community and Arlington County Board members yesterday (Tuesday).

These recently published comments spanned flood mitigation, transportation planning, building heights and historic preservation, among other topics. Compared to more divided comments last year, generally about two-thirds of respondents said they are “comfortable” or “very comfortable” with the plan’s policy proposals.

During the work session, however, two longtime champions said the plan needs to be a stronger vehicle for securing affordable housing, building transportation improvements, supporting small businesses and fighting climate change. County Board members echoed some of these concerns, as well.

“A goal of the plan should be to create and retain community-serving retail and to incentivize and plan for publicly accessible parking like was done in Alexandria and Bethesda,” Langston Blvd Alliance Executive Director Ginger Brown said. “To create the community’s vision for inclusive neighborhoods serving commercial nodes, we need to support small businesses while simultaneously increasing affordable housing.”

Brown said the plan should rely on county-nonprofit partnerships, not developer contributions, to add affordable housing on Route 29.

Regarding building heights, an issue that has split residents in the past, Brown said concerns about height are compounded by the plan’s “weak commitment” to bus transit and street safety improvements. She called for bus departures every 10 minutes, more north-south routes and money set aside soon for transportation safety upgrades.

“Many stakeholders are very nervous about the density envisioned in the plan,” she continued. “Ten, 12 and 15-story buildings on the… corridor feels like a lot of change [with] lots more cars and traffic.”

County staff told the Board there are not enough riders to justify suggestions from residents, from dedicated bus lanes to 10-minute headways, predicating changes on ridership increases.

“Transit demand will continue to be monitored and the bus service levels will be adjusted to meet that demand,” county planner Natasha Alfonso-Ahmed said.

Echoing a majority of survey respondents, Sandi Chesrown, vice chair of the citizen group dubbed the Plan Langston Blvd Community Forum, said the plan should clarify public and private investments in stormwater mitigation. The road cuts through some flood-prone neighborhoods, such as Waverly Hills.

“Let us be grateful for Arlington today, but let us recognize the Arlington of tomorrow and the impact of climate change. It is now and it is bigger than all of us,” she said.

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Public review of four major redevelopment projects could start up this fall

By Jo DeVoe

1/9

Arlington County expects to accept a handful of major development applications this month, teeing them up for public engagement down the road.

The four pending projects span Pentagon City and Crystal City to the south and Rosslyn and Courthouse to the north.

Apartment buildings figure into all the proposals, though two developers are mulling a mix of office or hotel uses, too. Of those in the queue, two are straightforward, single-phase apartment projects while two are far-afield, multi-phase redevelopments with details still to iron out.

First up, between Rosslyn and Courthouse, sits the future home of an apartment building by D.C.-based developer the Fortis Cos.

Fortis proposes demolishing the existing National Science Teachers Association headquarters at 1840 Wilson Blvd, and surrounding restaurants, to construct an apartment building with 188 units and about 12,000 square feet of retail space. It purchased the properties at the start of this year for $14 million and filed its application, complete with new renderings, this summer.

Next up, in Crystal City, JBG Smith proposes to build a 7-story tower with 370 apartments and about 3,300 square feet of retail or equivalent space on land dubbed Block W, located at 2451 Crystal Drive.

The site is bounded by Crystal Drive, a National Airport access road, and railroad tracks, and is currently home to a gravel parking lot, an off-ramp from the access road and a small, JBG-owned workout park.

The off-ramp would be removed for construction, as envisioned in the Crystal City Sector Plan, but JBG Smith will be keeping adjacent sand volleyball courts.

Heading to Pentagon City, two developers are taking steps forward on long-standing redevelopment plans.

The first, plans from Brookfield Properties to redevelop the old TSA headquarters at 601 and 701 12th Street S., marks progress after a years-long pause. Brookfield held off on advancing these plans while Arlington County was developing the Pentagon City Sector Plan, approved last year.

Now, Brookfield proposes carving up the land, dubbed 12th Street Landing, into three bays. It is mulling either apartments, condos and an office building, or a apartments and a hotel, per filings with Arlington County.

To keep its options open, it asks Arlington County to approve the overall “density and intensity consistent with the maximum allowed by the [Pentagon City] Sector Plan,” the materials say.

More concrete details would be approved with a later site plan application, the letter to the county said.

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Construction on apartments next to Ballston Harris Teeter set to wrap up this year

By Jo DeVoe

1/4

New apartments along N. Glebe Road in Ballston are nearing completion.

Developer Southeastern Real Estate Group, LLC tells ARLnow construction on the residential redevelopment, near the Harris Teeter store, should be done in the next couple months.

Construction work on the apartments began in 2020. Although the units at the complex, dubbed URBA, are not quite finished, people are already signing leases, says Southeastern Vice President Mary Senn.

“Our first phase at URBA is currently in lease up,” she said.

The full redevelopment project is far from over, however. The next phase, of three, includes more apartments and a roughly 0.6-acre public park.

Senn says this phase will start “next summer.”

After that, a temporary parking lot will become the third apartment building: a 227-unit residential building ground-floor retail and below-grade parking.

Arlington County approved the redevelopment of 600 N. Glebe Road back in 2019. The proposal includes three residential buildings, with a total of 732 units, a new Harris Teeter and 77,575 square feet of ground-level retail.

There will also be below-grade parking garages, with 942 parking spaces total. Southeastern will also extend the existing N. Tazewell and N. Randolph streets into the site.

It is too early to tell whether this grocery store could potentially become a Piggly Wiggly, as the Washington Business Journal reported is a possibility after an ownership change of 10 local — but so far unidentified — Harris Teeter stores.

The site plan of the new Harris Teeter and adjacent apartment buildings, marked up to indicate phases (via Arlington County)

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