Author: Matt Blitz

La Coop Coffee aiming to open in Arlington Forest early next month

By Matt Blitz
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A new D.C.-based coffee shop is opening a second location in Arlington Forest.

La Coop Coffee is moving into the Arlington Forest Shopping Center on 1st Street N., just off Arlington Blvd. The announcement was first made on the coffee shop’s social media channels earlier this month.

The hope is to open in the first week of February, co-owner Juan Luis Salazar Cano told ARLnow.

It’s filling a space that’s already been built out for a coffee shop by moving into the former home of Sense of Place Cafe, which closed this past summer because of the owner’s health. It’s next to Brick’s Pizza.

La Coop opened its first location in D.C. in July 2020 and has since started selling at regional farmers’ markets, including the Lubber Run Farmers Market. They got such a following, Cano said, that when a space opened at the nearby Arlington Forest Shopping Center, neighbors started messaging La Coop’s owners about the availability.

The owners have considered Arlington locations in the past, including in Rosslyn, but never made the move. But Arlington Forest offers a “community and supportive neighbors” said Cano, leading the coffee shop to open its first store outside of the District.

Cano owns the coffee shop with his wife, Stefanie Fabrico. La Coop is noted for providing “ethically-sourced” coffee from Guatemala that pays growers and framers up to 40% above the market rate.

What makes La Coop different, explained Cano, is that they are part of the process from “plant to cup.” His father in Guatemala is part of the cooperative and is also one of the farmers they work with.

“We are part of a family of farmers,” Cano said. “We are very conscious of the struggles that farmers have all over the world.”

La Coop had some issues with its D.C. landlord in 2020, but those have since been resolved. They are “definitely thinking” about opening more locations in Arlington and across the region but, at the moment, remain focused on opening its newest shop in Arlington Forest, said Cano.

“We are always looking for community,” he said. “[Arlington] has that.”

Image via Instagram/La Coop Coffee

New urgent care clinic coming to Pentagon City, replacing a shuttered Italian market

By Matt Blitz
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A new urgent care clinic is opening in Pentagon City, filling a space that once served Italian sandwiches.

Another location of NOVA Patient Care is coming to 1301 S. Joyce Street at Westpost, the shopping center in Pentagon City formerly known at Pentagon Row. The urgent and primary care clinic provides immediate daytime care, with hours currently planned to be from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.

This will be the second Arlington location of the urgent care clinic, with the other just two miles away on S. Bell Street in Crystal City. It will be the company’s eighth clinic overall in Northern Virginia.

No word yet on when it might open, in the storefront next to Walgreens. ARLnow has reached out to both the clinic and Westpost for a timeline but has yet to hear back as of publication.

NOVA Patient Care is opening in the former location of Napoli Salumeria, an Italian market that closed about a year ago and was only open for just over a year. The urgent care appears to be retaining the distinctive bright blue doors and awning that marked the entrance of a spot that formerly served up focaccias and sandwiches.

Elsewhere at Westpost, a once-buzzy sandwich spot is opening inside of the “cube.” Local chef Tim Ma is reviving his “Chase the Submarine” concept inside the stand-alone space that housed Bread & Water until this past fall. It’s expected to open in the next few weeks.

The new CVS with the large brick wall along Wilson Blvd plans to open next month

By Matt Blitz
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The Wilson Blvd CVS with a large blank, brick wall facing the street is set to open next month.

A new CVS, on the former site of the Highlander Motor Inn at 3336 Wilson Blvd near Virginia Square and Clarendon (and next to Mario’s Pizza), is aiming to open in a few weeks, we’re told.

“Barring any unexpected delays, we plan open in mid- to late-February,” a company spokesperson told ARLnow.

What makes this CVS notable to many passersby is the nearly 20-foot-tall windowless, brick rear wall of the building facing Wilson Blvd, one of Arlington’s main commercial corridors.

When it first went up in August, ARLnow received emails from locals calling the wall an “eyesore, “unfit for the area,” and “The Great Wall of Clarendon.”

This was just the latest dust up about this particular site.

In 2016, the county sued long-time property owner and local businessman Billy Bayne about what exactly could be built on the site after he signed a lease with CVS.

That was the beginning of a multi-year legal battle that eventually led to the Virginia Supreme Court declining to consider an appeal from the county, effectively allowing Bayne to move forward with his plans to bring a CVS to the site and handcuffing the county in terms of regulation.

The court fight didn’t sit well with Bayne, who said he lost nearly $2 million while the project stalled.

“It’s not okay to do this to somebody,” Bayne told ARLnow in 2018. “There will be ramifications for this.”

(When Bayne’s Highlander Motor Inn became a Covid quarantine location in 2020, however, there appeared to be a warning of relations. County officials praised Bayne for “stepping up” in a time of need while Bayne said the deal helped him pay bills with the county being “very good” to him.)

The motel finally closed in early 2021 and was demolished later that year, but not before one final party. Then, the CVS began to be built and neighbors saw a huge wall go up. The store also has a sizable surface parking lot between the building and Wilson Blvd.

CVS spokesperson told ARLnow at the time that the wall was “included in the overall construction and design plan approved by Arlington development officials.”

But that didn’t soothe some unhappy locals or put to bed the unsubstantiated rumors that this was the long-awaited revenge against the county.

“After the long court battle with the owner of the Highlander, CVS is throwing its ‘f you very much’ by placing a blank wall along Wilson Boulevard,” one resident told ARLnow back in August. “Can’t wait for the future graffiti — I mean, community arts project!”

Billy Bayne told ARLnow that he had no say in the construction project or the wall, but he also had a few other things to say about upset neighbors, the county, and other matters.

“CVS can do whatever they want. This is not the People’s Republic of China. Who do [locals] think they are telling local businesses what to build?” he said. “If people think they can tell CVS what to do, I must be missing something. Does CVS tell them what they can put on their front lawns?”

He continued, blasting the county for not being “business-friendly” and reiterated that he still felt personally attacked by the county for its multi-year legal fight with him.

“This isn’t revenge, but I do think what [the county did to me] was personal,” he said. “I blame [the wall] on Arlington not working with CVS. I call them the ‘socialist government of Arlington.’ And CVS is just trying to do good for the neighborhood.”

After 70 years, Arlington Chess Club still king of local scene as membership grows

By Matt Blitz
Arlington Chess Club members in November 2022 (photo courtesy of Arlington Chess Club)

Membership in the seven-decade-old Arlington Chess Club has increased by more than 40% since prior to the pandemic.

The club has seen an influx of new members since coming back to in-person play in August at Mt. Olivet United Methodist Church, near Ballston, president Adam Chrisney told ARLnow. The club has been around since the 1950s, which likely makes it the oldest chess club in the D.C. area.

There are now nearly 225 members of the Arlington Chess Club, a 40% increase since early 2020, according to Chrisney. During the regularly-scheduled Friday night meet-ups at the church, 30 to 35 people on average show up. That number, though, has reached 60 a few times recently.

At the club’s monthly weekend tournaments, held at the Marriott Residence Inn in Ballston, participation is up “at least 20%” since those also returned in late summer.

The increased numbers mirror national trends, with chess’s popularity reaching heights not seen in 50 years.

Chrisney believes the renewed interest is related to two factors: folks increasingly taking up chess online, but then seeking out in-person play opportunities, and the streaming success of The Queen’s Gambit.

In the early days of the pandemic, people were sitting at home with not much to do. So, they went online to get their chess fix.

“Online chess was an activity that saw a huge amount of participation,” Chrisney said. “And I think people, once they got out [more], realize there were face-to-face opportunities to play chess.”

The Queen’s Gambit, meanwhile, which reached its zenith of popularity in the pandemic’s early days. The Netflix hit demonstrated that chess could be “sexy and cool,” Chrisney said.

The Arlington Chess Club was founded in 1954 by Col. John D. Mattheson, per the club’s website. It’s believed to be the oldest continuous club in the region and widely considered the strongest in terms of standard of play.

“The club has also produced more than its fair share of Virginia State Champions,” reads the website.

Chrisney is actually the only third president of the club in its nearly 70-year history. Despite its longevity and sterling reputation, the club does face long-term challenges. A permanent and affordable venue and a multi-member active board that runs operations are the two things that Chrisney believes the club needs to remain viable.

As much as he enjoys being the club’s president, it’s a volunteer position that requires a serious commitment. Plus, he misses playing.

“I used to be one of the more active players in the D.C. metropolitan area and [now] the amount I play is about 10% of what it used to be,” Chrisney said. “I want to get back to playing.”

Another long-term goal of the club is to get more age and gender diversity. While Chrisney didn’t have exact numbers, about 20% of the club is under the age of 18. That used to be a bit higher prior to the pandemic.

For years, the club was known as a place for young players “on the rise” to come to hone their skills.

“We probably see a larger quotient of prodigies than the other clubs,” Chrisney said.

Additionally, Chrisney would like to make a push to attract more female players with chess still being “mostly… a male activity.” He estimates less than 5% of club members are women.

He cited Chess Girls D.C., the non-profit that encourages more young women to play chess, as a potential future partner that could bring in more players to the club.

While a permanent venue, a more distributed volunteer workload, and added diversity in membership are all goals, Chrisney said there is no lack of interest in the Arlington Chess Club.

“We have been going strong since the 1950s,” he said. “And there’s no sign of dissipating.”

Our Mom Eugenia’s Shirlington outpost is looking to start serving next month

By Matt Blitz
Great Falls-based Greek restaurant Our Mom Eugenia is set to open in Shirlington (staff photo by Matt Blitz)

Our Mom Eugenia is hoping to opa next month in Shirlington.

The popular, family-owned and Great Falls-based Greek restaurant is looking to finally open its new 3,604 square-foot space at 4044 Campbell Avenue by mid-February, a restaurant manager told ARLnow. It’s moving into the former location of Aroma Indian Cuisine and next to RAMMY award-winning CHIKO, which opened in late 2021.

Our Mom Eugenia’s Shirlington opening has been delayed due to the familiar refrain of waiting on county permits. Initially, it was set to open in the fall of last year, then by the end of 2022, and, now, in February 2023.

ARLnow reported in May that the restaurant was expanding its local presence with a new Shirlington eatery.

This will be the restaurant’s third location, with the original in Great Falls and a second location in the Mosaic District that opened in 2020.

The restaurant is named after its co-owner Eugenia Hobson, a native of western Greece and a long-time local chef who cooked at several notable D.C. area Greek restaurants including Nostos in Tysons. She opened her own restaurant with her two sons in Great Falls in 2016.

The menu is full of traditional Greek dishes, including Greek salad, spanakopita, lamp chops, saganaki (fried cheese), pastitsio (Greek lasagna), dolmades (stuffed grape leaves), and grilled octopus.

Besides Our Mom Eugenia, Shirlington is expecting several other high-profile openings this year. Jeni’s Ice Cream is looking to start scooping by early spring while the two-level beer-and-coffee venue Astro Beer Hall has not yet revealed an expected opening timeframe.

A pet urgent care is hoping to fetch an early spring opening in Buckingham

By Matt Blitz
New animal urgent care set to open in Buckingham in April (staff photo by Jay Westcott)

(Updated at 6 p.m.) A new urgent care for animals is opening this spring in Buckingham.

Urgent Animal Care of Arlington at ​​249 N. Glebe Road is aiming to open its doors “early April,” co-owner Dr. Kayleen Gloor told ARLnow via email. That is pushed back a bit from the hoped-for “winter 2023” opening.

It’s moving into a space that was formerly occupied by a branch of SunTrust Bank, which closed in 2019. In terms of the art deco neon signage the shopping center is known for, Gloor said the clinic’s signage “will follow all regulations and requirements of the shopping center and will conform.”

The veterinarian urgent care comes from the team behind Clarendon Animal Care, which has locations in Clarendon, on 10th Street N., and on Columbia Pike.

The urgent care will be open 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. on weekdays and until 6 p.m. on weekends, we’re told.

This is Gloor and co-owner Dr. Natasha Ungerer’s first “daytime urgent care,” which is different than an emergency veterinary clinic.

Like for humans, urgent care is intended for animal patients in need of immediate care that does not rise to the level of an emergency situation. That could include limping, rashes, minor vomiting or diarrhea, ear infections, or coughing, per a graphic that the clinic has on its website.

Emergencies might include difficulty breathing, not eating or drinking for two days, seizures, and serious trauma. The closest emergency veterinary clinics to Arlington are located in Fairfax County. There are several existing pet urgent cares in Arlington, including one in Clarendon.

Gloor said the reason they choose N. Glebe Road in the Buckingham neighborhood is due to the proximity to their other pet-centric businesses as well as “zoning regulations within the county.”

New family-owned Afghan kabob eatery opens in Ballston

By Matt Blitz
Grill Kabob is now open in Ballston on N. Glebe Road (staff photo by Jay Westcott)

A new Afghan kabob restaurant in Ballston has officially started serving.

Grill Kabob at 708 N. Glebe Road opened this past weekend, a restaurant employee confirmed.

This is the 13th area location of the local chain of family-owned eateries. The design, decor, and menu are all similar to its other locations with the menu focusing on Afghan-styled kabobs along with salads and sandwiches.

Ownership did tell ARLnow last spring that the menu might change over time depending on the popularity of certain items at the Ballston location.

ARLnow first reported that Grill Kabob was opening a new location in Ballston back in April 2022. The initial plan was to open in the summer. ARLnow has reached out to ownership about the delay but has to hear back as of publication.

Co-owner Wais Shoja said the reason that they chose this site was because of all the new apartment buildings and the abundance of  office space, as well as the Metro accessibility and the neighborhood’s continued development. While the first Grill Kabob opened in the Springfield Mall more than two decades ago, Shoja said the focus since has been to open locations near residential and office areas.

Ballston has seen an influx of development over the past few years, along with a number of other restaurant either opening recently or planning to.

Across the street from Grill Kabob, Gyu San Japanese BBQ is set to start sizzling likely later this year. Coffee shop Slipstream is aiming to open around the corner from there within the next few months as well, a spokesperson confirmed to ARLnow recently.

A few doors down from Grill Kabob, the new Ballston Silver Diner opened last month.

There’s also the impending redevelopment of the Macy’s site, also located just across the street from where Grill Kabob just opened.

Gold’s Gym on S. Glebe Road replaced by LA Fitness

By Matt Blitz
New LA Fitness on S. Glebe Road (staff photo by Jay Westcott)

A new LA Fitness has replaced the shuttered Gold’s Gym on S. Glebe Road.

The Gold’s Gym at 2955 S. Glebe Road, at the Arlington Ridge Shopping Center near Gunston Middle School, closed mid-last month, an employee confirmed to ARLnow. Within a few days, though, it was converted it was into an LA Fitness — including a banner announcing its presence — and reopened.

A number of employees were kept on as well as much of the equipment, providing gym-goers with a similar experience as before.

It’s unclear exactly why this Gold’s Gym was closed and converted into LA Fitness. ARLnow has reached out to both companies but has yet to hear back from either as of publication.

In 2020, Gold’s Gym filed for bankruptcy and was acquired by the European fitness operator RSG Group for $100 million.

The closing of the Gold’s Gym on S. Glebe Road leaves the company with three gyms remaining in Arlington. That includes Rosslyn, Clarendon, and Ballston, the site of a parking lot scuffle late last year that ended with D.C.’s deputy mayor resigning from his post. The Gold’s Gym in Courthouse closed in 2019.

As for LA Fitness, exactly a mile from the new S. Glebe Road location is another LA Fitness gym on S. Clark Street in Crystal City. There was also an LA Fitness in Pentagon City until that one closed in 2015.

Elsewhere, another gym is set to open in Clarendon later this year. Life Time, which dubs itself a “luxurious athletic country club,” is expected to start welcoming gym-goers within the next few months in The Crossing Clarendon development.

JUST IN: Arlington’s first cannabis dispensary is opening in Clarendon tomorrow

By Matt Blitz
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Arlington’s first medical cannabis dispensary is set to open tomorrow in Clarendon.

Beyond/Hello is set to open the county’s inaugural cannabis dispensary on Wednesday, Jan. 18 at 2701 Wilson Blvd. The 6,820 square-foot shop with 37 parking spots is located across the street from Whole Foods and next to neighborhood staple Galaxy Hut.

There will be an official ribbon-cutting ceremony this Friday, a company spokesperson told ARLnow.

Beyond/Hello is owned by Florida-based Jushi, which owns nearly 40 dispensaries across a number of different states. This will be Beyond/Hello’s fifth Northern Virginia dispensary, including two Fairfax County locations. The shops on Richmond Highway and near George Mason University both opened last year.

ARLnow first reported a cannabis dispensary was coming to Clarendon back in July. It was initially supposed to open by the end of the year, but that got pushed back by a few weeks due to waiting on county inspections.

It’s moving into a building that Jushi bought for $7 million in late 2021, which formerly housed a Comcast service center. Arlington Independent Media (AIM), which operates radio station WERA 96.7 FM, occupies the other part of the building. Jushi has promised to allow AIM to remain in the building even as expands to a second location in Green Valley.

Metro access, a central location, and a “bustling” neighborhood are among the reasons that Beyond/Hello chose this location for its next Northern Virginia dispensary.

“Just a five-minute walk from the Clarendon Metro Station, Beyond Hello Arlington is located in a bustling part of the city, where patients can easily check out historical sites, hit the town to grab a bite, catch some live music or check out a theatrical performance,” Jushi CEO Jim Cacioppo said in a press release. “This new retail location has ample comfortable seating throughout the store along with standardized tested products for patients. We look forward to continuing to be a good business and community partner in the Commonwealth as well as delivering a retail experience exceeding expectations.”

The presence of parking was also a factor. A company official told ARLnow last summer that most of the other buildings that ownership looked at in Arlington had “zero dedicated parking spots,” while this one had about 40.

The Clarendon location is a big part of Beyond/Hello’s Northern Virginia expansion. The company is one of only four allowed to sell medical cannabis in Virginia and, by law, can only open six stores in the Commonwealth.

Beyond/Hello currently has five dispensaries in the area, with a sixth opening in Woodbridge later this year.

Last summer, a state law went into effect that removed the requirement for medical cannabis patients to register with the Commonwealth in order to purchase cannabis. Now, all patients need is a written certification for a licensed practitioner.

It’s believed that this relaxing of requirements will lead to an increase in medical cannabis sales.

While it’s legal for those over 21 to grow and possess small amounts of cannabis, non-medicinal retail sales remain illegal following last year’s failed legislative efforts. The Virginia General Assembly is likely to consider bills at its upcoming session that could set the stage for legal retail sales of cannabis by this time next year.

WETA’s $50 million expansion in Shirlington is almost finished

By Matt Blitz
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The $50 million renovation of WETA’s headquarters in Shirlington is nearing completion.

After about two years, the local public broadcasting station WETA is set to finish off its 17,000-square-foot expansion on Campbell Avenue later this year. The refresh will include four floors of studios, offices, a consolidated headquarters, and more large spaces for public gatherings and screenings, Vice-President of External Affairs Mary Stewart told ARLnow.

It will also allow WETA to fully move out of the building down a few blocks at 3620 27th Street S, which was sold to the county in 2020 and is now scheduled to be torn down.

Some production is still being done out of the old building, which WETA first moved into in the 1980s, but that will stop once the renovation is completed on the building on Campbell Avenue, Stewart said.

The WETA building in Green Valley, set to be demolished soon (staff photo by Jay Westcott)

Externally, much of the work appears to be nearing the finish line with the expansion extending into a space that was once a courtyard. It’s the internal renovations, said Stewart, that still need some time. Those are expected to be done in “late 2023,” despite some “supply chain hiccups.” Some of the studios and public spaces could be open to employees by the summer, though.

Two main studios and one flash (smaller) studio are set to be added. One of the main studios will be used by the PBS NewsHour.

The national nightly news broadcast, which recently debuted a new pair of anchors, will get an updated set, with modern tech, video walls, and an outward-facing TV screen on the ground floor. The goal for the new set is to be “flexible,” modern, and for the video screens to allow remote interviews to be more “natural and cohesive,” said Stewart.

Also set to start filming in the new studios will be the six-decade-old teen quiz show “It’s Academic.” In the fall, the longest-running TV quiz show in history announced it was moving into WETA’s renovated building with the hope it would start producing episodes there in early 2024.

The studios will also be home to PBS NewsHour Weekend and Washington Week, as well as local programming like WETA Arts. Additionally, the update will also allow pledge drives and special broadcasts to take place in the new studios.

“We will now be a 365-day, 7-day-a-week production,” Stewart said.

She said the biggest drivers of the expansion are to modernize, allow for more production flexibility, and consolidate all of WETA in one building.

The local PBS station actually first began operating out of Yorktown High School more than six decades ago, in 1961. It moved to D.C. for a time, before consolidating operations back in Arlington in 1983 at the still-standing 3620 27th Street S. location. In 1995, WETA purchased the building on Campbell Avenue and moved its headquarters there, while production remained mostly at the other building a few blocks away.

But with this $50 million expansion, WETA will be whole for the first time in its 62-year history.

“With this expansion of our building, it means WETA will have a permanent home in Arlington,” said Stewart.

Part of Columbia Pike to close later this month for cemetery expansion

By Matt Blitz
The Arlington National Cemetery Defense Access Roads Project, set to be completed in 2025 (image via screenshot/FHWA)

(Updated at 12:40 p.m. on 8/16/23) A portion of Columbia Pike is set to close for more than a year later this month to help make way for Arlington National Cemetery’s expansion.

The half-mile section of Columbia Pike between S. Joyce Street and the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) facility just east of S. Oak Street is expected to be shuttered starting Monday, Jan. 23.

It will remain closed until the summer of 2024.

The closures are part of the Federal Highway Administration’s Arlington National Cemetery Defense Access Roads (DAR) project that’s being done to accommodate the 50-acre southern expansion of Arlington National Cemetery (ANC).

This will add about 80,000 burial sites, allowing the cemetery to continue burials through the 2050s. The expansion will also bring the Air Force Memorial within cemetery grounds as well as provide space for the 9/11 Pentagon Memorial Visitor Education Center, with construction on that currently slated to start next year.

The overall expansion project remains on track to be completed by 2027, an ANC spokesperson confirmed to ARLnow.

Some detour specifics for the Pike closure are expected to be announced in the coming days, though the ANC spokesperson did share the general plan via email.

Traffic will be redirected to travel north on a new segment of S. Nash Street that will be opened between Columbia Pike and Southgate Road and one block east of S. Oak Street. It’s marked as a “new access road” on the map below.

The new road layout circumventing the closed portion of Columbia Pike over the next year (map via Arlington National Cemetery)

Then, to circumvent the closed portion of the Pike, traffic will be sent east on Southgate Road to the existing S. Joyce Street/Columbia Pike intersection, which will remain open.

For pedestrians and cyclists, there is set to be a “dedicated” sidewalk with a buffer zone and barricades. Those “are currently being constructed in anticipation of the 1/23 closure,” the ANC spokesperson said

At the moment, there is an established pedestrian and bike detour along the north side of Southgate Road as well as a temporary sidewalk to the east of S. Joyce Street that connects with the sidewalk under the I-395 bridge.

Vehicle, pedestrian, and bike detours along Columbia Pike through Jan. 23 (via Arlington County)
Vehicle, pedestrian, and bike detours along Columbia Pike through Jan. 23 (via Arlington County)

Last week, though, a reader reached out to ARLnow about how a portion of the pedestrian and bike detour has a “large patch of gravel” rendering it not accessible for some.

“While a wheelchair user might be able to make it across that patch, it wouldn’t be easy,” they wrote. The reader said that locals have reached out to the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) about the gravel but, so far, little has been done.

Local officials told ARLnow that they have since addressed that patch of gravel.

(more…)

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