Author: Matt Blitz

Work continues on the former site of the Febrey-Lothrop House in Dominion Hills

By Matt Blitz
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(Updated at 10:15 a.m.) Work is continuing on the former site of the Febrey-Lothrop House, also known as the Rouse estate, in the Dominion Hills neighborhood.

ARLnow saw and captured photos last week of what appears to be excavation activity at the site at 6407 Wilson Blvd, including the removal of trees.

The site is now owned by New York-based Kennedy Lewis Investment Management, according to county property records, after it was sold late last year. Some 40 single-family houses are expected to be built on the site, dubbed The Grove at Dominion Hills, by home builder Toll Brothers.

More on the homebuilding plan, below, from an update posted last month by the Dominion Hills Civic Association.

Toll Brothers indicated most homes would be about 45 feet wide on lots around 60 feet wide; however, lots will vary in size, most around 8000 square ft. Homes would be customized to the buyer with a variety of colors available for exteriors as well as options for interiors.

The audience was also eager to know the timeline for construction. At the time of the meeting, the Toll Brothers representatives indicated that grading work on the Madison Street home sites could begin as soon as six weeks from early May, which would be in about mid-June, 2022. However, all is dependent on the Arlington County approval processes. If the timeline continued as plans, construction on homes is projected for late July and as the representative put it, “you could have new neighbors by February.”

The home prices are anticipated to start around $2 million.

ARLnow reached out to the investment company about the work currently being done and if they are partnering with any archeologists or historians during this phase. Previously, local preservationists asserted that the site — which was once home to as many as 15 enslaved people and also potentially used by an Indigenous hunting ground — is historic and potentially contains artifacts, though a County Board report called artifact claims “speculative.”

“We have no comment on the matter,” a spokesperson for the company wrote back in an email.

In March 2021, the historic Febrey-Lothrop House that sat on the nine-plus acres of land at the corner of Wilson Blvd and N. McKinley Road was demolished. That came after a long battle by local preservationists, including the Arlington Historical Society, to save the aging house and estate from demolition and development.

However, attempts to get the county to purchase the site or to give it a local historic designation failed.

Portions of the house may have dated back to at least the Civil War, including an ​​ornate wooden compass floor inlay built into what had been a library, preservationists argued.

In the late 19th century, the house was sold to department store ​​magnate Alvin Lothrop. He knocked down most of the previous structure to build his own colonial revival style home, inspired by George Washington’s Mount Vernon.

The house stayed in the family after Lothrop died but reportedly was leased to Howard Hughes, the famed aviator, inventor, and businessman. He hosted lavish parties there, inviting guests like movie star Jane Russell and Washington football team owner George Preston Marshall.

The house and estate — which at the time was even more expansive — were sold to Middleburg, Virginia-based developer and amateur steeplechase jockey Randy Rouse in 1951. He broke up most of the estate to form the surrounding neighborhood but kept the house and close-by property.

Giving the house another brush with Hollywood history, Rouse married Audrey Meadows, who had just been cast on the TV show “The Honeymooners.” But commuting from Arlington to New York for filming supposedly stressed the marriage and they divorced soon after.

Rouse owned the house up to his death in 2017 at 100 years old. A trust in his name owned the property, but it opposed the historic designation and moved to sell the property for redevelopment. Ultimately, the house was torn down early last year.

Ruthie’s All-Day and owners of Shirlington’s ChiKo were served up RAMMY wins last night

By Matt Blitz
Ruthie’s All Day Chef Matt Hill (right) and business partner Todd Salvadore (left) are pictured with RAMW President Kathy Hollinger (photo courtesy of Ruthie’s All-Day)

Two restaurants with Arlington ties came home with RAMMY awards last night.

Ruthie’s All-Day in the Arlington Heights neighborhood won “Casual Restaurant of the Year” from the Restaurant Association Metropolitan Washington (RAMW) at their annual awards gala.  Since 1982, the organization has handed out awards to the area’s best restaurants in various categories.

Ruthie’s All-Day opened in October 2020 and has since earned a number of accolades. This includes being named in 2020 one of the best local barbeque joints, one of the highest-rated restaurants in Arlington, and an Arlies award winner.

Owner and chef Matt Hill was also named a James Beard semi-finalist earlier this year.

This might be the biggest award yet for Hill and Ruthie’s All-Day, honored as one of this year’s best restaurants in all of the D.C. area.

“This means so very much to us — everyone including our chefs, prep cooks, runners, dishwashers, managers, waitstaff, baristas, bartenders, hostesses, and so many more — it truly takes a hard-working team to make our little place sing,” Hill wrote ARLnow in an email. “Our goal is to serve everyone and anyone, and we feel so very humbled to be recognized by the RAMW for ‘Casual Restaurant of the Year.'”

When ask what the future might hold for Ruthie’s in Arlington, Hill hinted at possible expansion plans.

“We hope to keep growing and creating more special places for our neighbors to gather and build community over good food,” he said.

Also emerging as winners were Scott Drewno and Danny Lee, known as “The Fried Rice Collective,” as “Restaurateurs of the Year” due in part to their Chinese-Korean concept ChiKO. A location opened in Shirlington late last year, the duo’s only Virginia outpost so far.

“We are honored and humbled to be nominated with these great restauranteurs in the DMV,” Drewno and Lee told ARLnow. “We love the Arlington community and are so happy to have recently opened ChiKo Shirlington!”

The pair also operate ChiKo locations and the contemporary Korean restaurant and pub Anju in the District.

Overall, seven restaurants with Arlington ties were finalists for a RAMMY award. That’s about the same number as recent previous years, though far more than a decade ago.

Besides the winners, this year’s Arlington nominees included Queen Mother’s for “hottest sandwich spot,” Northside Social for its wine program, both Bayou Bakery and Stellina Pizzeria in the “Splendid Holidays at Home” category, and Mark Bucher of Medium Rare also for “restaurateur of the year.”

Hawkers Asian Street Food set to open next week in Ballston

By Matt Blitz
1/6

Hawkers in Ballston is setting its sights on opening next week.

The Orlando-based Asian street food restaurant chain is looking to open on Thursday, August 4 on the ground floor of the Ballston Exchange office building at 4201 Wilson Blvd. It’s across from Philz and next to El Ray taqueria.

The opening comes two years after it was first announced and more than a year after the restaurant was initially supposed to open in the spring of 2021. Then, its debut got pushed to earlier this summer due to supply chain woes, a common occurrence for restaurants these days.

Now, Hawkers seems finally ready to start serving in the first week of August.

When ARLnow went there this morning (July 25), construction appeared to be basically complete and employees were in the midst of training. There’s a bit of a neon aesthetic — in keeping with the street food theme — with the exterior signage wired up to glow red and the interior hued yellow. Posters plaster the walls and grates cover the ceiling.

The menu highlights street food from across the Asian continent, including dim sum, baos, chicken wings, pad thai, noodle dishes, and fried rice.

The Ballston location will also be offering rotating seasonal flavors of Taiyaki soft serve ice cream, a first for any Hawkers location.

Hawkers was founded in central Florida in 2011 when “four best friends joined forces (like the Avengers, but better) to bring the streets of Asia to the streets of Orlando.” The restaurant now has about a dozen locations in six different states, including a Bethesda outpost which opened in late 2020.

When Hawkers opens in Ballston next week, it will be the first Virginia location as well as the first to have a take-out window. The Ballston location is a “bit smaller” than the one in Bethesda, a restaurant spokesperson tells us.

There are a number of jobs listed as still being open, including server, prep cook, host, and bartender.

Ballston’s Pirouette Café & Wine Shop looking to start pouring by September

By Matt Blitz
Pirouette Cafe in Ballston (photo by Jay Westcott)

Arlington’s newest wine bar is aiming for a September opening.

Pirouette Café & Wine Shop is in the midst of construction on the ground floor of J Sol apartments at 4000 Fairfax Drive, in the Ballston area.

The new wine bar, restaurant, and shop is from the wife and husband team of Jackie and Philippe Loustaunau. ARLnow first reported its move into the ground floor of the 326-unit high-rise apartment building in January.

All is going well with construction, Jackie tells ARLnow, and the hope is to open the restaurant part of the business by mid to late September. The wine shop portion of the business could open sooner, she said, perhaps as soon as early September, depending on when the ABC license is approved.

“Our walls are up, some mudded, some covered in [fiber-reinforced plastic] and others tiled,” the co-owner said. “The construction company is doing excellent work carrying out our architect’s design… and troubleshooting challenges throughout the process.”

Construction was set back a few weeks, a common occurrence for Arlington restaurants, particularly recently.

The restaurant/bar/shop’s aim is to have a “casual feel” that takes the “intimidation” out of wine. Executive chef Adam Hoffa, who previously worked at Fiola and St. Anselm in the District, is planning to serve “global” cuisine with a menu featuring an assortment of small plates, desserts, and a few entrees like house-made focaccia, scallops, mac & cheese croquettes, and corn cake with summer fruit compote.

The couple said they’ve always wanted to open a restaurant in their hometown. They often hoped that when a new mixed-use building went up it would include a local restaurant or bar. But that never happened, Jackie said, until they decided to do it themselves.

The couple, along with their child, lives in Virginia Square, only a few blocks away from Pirouette, which was part of the appeal.

“I love the idea of meeting our customers in the street, going to the park and seeing them with their children, seeing folks at school,” Philippe said in February. “This is a neighborhood environment, which I think creates community and connects people.”

No monkeypox vaccine clinics planned in Arlington yet as N. Va. cases rise

By Matt Blitz
Colorized transmission electron micrograph of monkeypox virus particles cultivated and purified from cell culture (photo via NIAID)

Though monkeypox cases continue to rise in the region, the county has yet to open vaccine clinics for the disease.

Supply of the monkeypox vaccine JYNNEOS remains “limited,” county spokesperson Ryan Hudson tells ARLnow, and Arlington is coordinating with the Virginia Department of Health to obtain and administer doses.

However, at this moment, there are no planned vaccine appointments or clinics to administer those doses in Arlington to those who are at higher risk and might have been exposed in the last 14 days.

“VDH is still working to expand vaccine access for Virginians who are at higher risk of being exposed to monkeypox and meet CDC criteria,” Hudson wrote ARLnow in an email. “Information about who will be eligible and how they get vaccinated will be provided when it becomes available both on the VDH site and County site.”

This is in contrast to D.C., which made limited, pre-registered monkeypox vaccine appointments available late last month.

While monkeypox cases are rising in Virginia, they remain relatively low compared to the District which has the highest rate of monkeypox cases per capita in the country.

As of this morning (Wednesday), the Virginia Department of Health is reporting that there are 56 cases of monkeypox in the Commonwealth. Three-quarters of those cases, 42, are in the Northern Region, which includes Arlington.

Number of monkeypox cases in Virginia as of July 20, according to VDH (image via VDH)

This is a relatively rapid rise from only a few weeks ago when, in late June, VDH announced there were only 8 cases in the entire Commonwealth. The first case in Northern Virginia was detected back in late May.

County Manager Mark Schwartz spoke briefly about monkeypox at the County Board meeting yesterday afternoon.

“Our Public Health Division is coordinating with the Virginia Department of Health and local health care providers to test for potential cases and to provide guidance on isolation and treatment,” Schwartz said. “We are reaching out also to and monitoring all contacts of potential cases.”

He also noted that the vaccine supply is “pretty limited” and “only being offered to residents who are at high risk of getting monkeypox and have likely been exposed in the last 14 days.”

Monkeypox can spread through direct contact with infectious rashes, scabs, body fluids, or through “respiratory secretions,” according to the CDC. This includes having “prolonged, face-to-face contact” or “intimate physical contact, such as kissing, cuddling, or sex” with someone who is infected.

The virus can spread to and make anyone sick, though the highest risk groups at the moment are men who have had sex with men and with multiple partners over the last several weeks, sex workers, transgender women and nonbinary persons who have sex with men, and people who work in places where sex occurs like saunas and bathhouses.

The CDC and VDH define “higher risk” as those who are in these groups and might have been exposed over the last 14 days.

Health agencies have struggled with messaging, in that the virus is impacting the male gay community more at this moment but agencies do not want to further stigmatize an already marginalized group.

Monkeypox causes rashing and potentially other symptoms over a course of several weeks. The West African type that’s making its way around the globe is “rarely fatal,” says the CDC website, though “symptoms can be extremely painful, and people might have permanent scarring resulting from the rash.”

If one is already infected with monkeypox, health officials note, the vaccine is not an effective treatment.

“If someone suspects they have a monkeypox infection, they should contact a healthcare provider,” writes Hudson.

Officials say new pickleball courts are coming as players rally for more county support

By Matt Blitz
A tennis court at Glebe Road Park was restriped for pickleball (staff photo by Matt Blitz)

More pickleball courts are likely coming to Arlington as local players urge the county to provide more support.

Last week, County Board member Libby Garvey and Nakish Jordan from Arlington’s Dept. of Parks and Recreation paid a visit to the outdoor pickleball courts at Walter Reed Park, near the community center. They were there to talk about what the county was doing to create more courts for a sport that continues to grow in popularity.

That includes striping more courts and potentially building dedicated outdoor pickleball courts at Walter Reed Park.

Today (July 18), the County Board is set to vote on a new Capital Improvement Plan that includes $2 million for more pickleball courts. If the plan is approved, several tennis courts at Walter Reed Park would be converted into dedicated pickleball courts, Jordan told players.

“This is central county. Lots of people come out. There’s plenty of parking [here],” Jordan said about why this was a good spot for more courts. “And there are bathrooms here.”

Even if the plan gets approved today by the County Board, though, it could take a couple of years before new courts are built.

Voters would need to pass a bond referendum in November and, then, community engagement would happen early next year, DPR spokesperson Susan Kalish told ARLnow in an email. After that, design and permitting could happen mid to late next year. Finally, construction could begin in late 2023 and be completed sometime in the summer of 2024.

The timeframe for restriping a number of existing tennis and basketball courts for multi-use so that pickleball could be played on them as well is a bit quicker. Kalish noted that could be done by next spring, provided the CIP and bond referendum both get passed.

In total, the CIP dedicates $2 million to pickleball projects, including the Walter Reed Park courts and the restriping project.

Despite these assurances about the future, a number of players expressed their annoyance to the county officials about a lack of courts amid burgeoning demand. The courts are often filled to capacity, several people said, leaving players with long waits for their turn to put paddle to ball.

“We need more pickleball lines on under-used tennis courts,” said a resident. “While [the Walter Reed Park courts] are being renovated, we will need other places to play.”

Garvey noted that there isn’t only so much court space in the county. Despite pickleball’s growth, players need to share the space with other sports, she said.

“We need to keep in mind everyone who needs things… as a County Board member, I need to think about everybody,” Garvey said. “Even the people who aren’t here and we don’t hear from — [we need to] make sure we are serving them as well. We are going have to find a way to co-exist.”

There are currently 11 indoor and 20 outdoor multi-use courts where pickleball can be played in the county.

However, one popular court at Glebe Road Park has been shut down over the summer due to the sound the ball makes when it hits the paddle drawing complaints from neighbors.

Long-time Greek restaurant Athena Pallas is planning to close in Crystal City

By Matt Blitz
Athena Pallas Greek Restaurant in Crystal City is closing (staff photo by Matt Blitz)

Athena Pallas in Crystal City is set to serve its final spanakopita on Sunday, July 31.

The 25-year-old Greek restaurant at 556 22nd Street S. is closing at the end of this month, the owners confirmed to ARLnow.

The reason seems to be a disagreement with the landlord of the 23rd Street S. “restaurant row.”

The property owner told ARLnow that they wanted “adjustments” in terms of Athena’s management and operations, something that the owners Mike Kosmides and Kallia Sambrakos say is a deal breaker.

“They recommended that we get a partner or hire a manager… we are tenants, we pay the rent,” Kosmides said. “You have no say in how we operate… They don’t want us here anymore because we are old and cannot perform well.”

He also says that he’s had recent health issues as well as a family death that’s impacted the couple’s ability to run the restaurant.

The property owners acknowledged operational changes were asked for and would “absolutely” support Athena Palla staying open if they were to make the suggested changes.

“Between Covid and the terrible loss of her son there has been a lot of downtime at Athena. We did our best to work with them and asked for some adjustments in management in order to see longevity. Athena opted to shutter doors instead,” Georgia and Stratis Voutsas said in a statement to ARLnow. “We’re heartbroken, are certainly dismayed with the unkind misinterpretation, but would welcome them to continue to operate with the changes.”

The landlords also wanted to make it clear that this isn’t an “economic closure,” but rather one related to the restaurant’s lease being up. The lease has been month-to-month for some time now, both the restaurant owners and the landlord told ARLnow.

There have been several meetings over the last few weeks to rectify the issue and, perhaps, reach a compromise to keep the restaurant open, including one just over the weekend. However, there seems to be an impasse in negotiations, which both sides acknowledge.

As of Monday (July 18) afternoon, Sambrakos says they are “100%” closing at the end of the month.

(more…)

As vacancy rates rise, Arlington looks to breweries, small warehouses and food delivery as solutions

By Matt Blitz

As commercial and office vacancy rates continue to soar, the county is looking to food delivery staging areas, urban farms, breweries, and small warehouses as potential solutions.

At last week’s Planning Committee meeting, county officials expanded upon a County Manager initiative first announced in April to modernize, simplify, and add flexibility to the county’s zoning approval process. The efforts are being called “commercial market resiliency.”

The last two plus years have seen a lot of change in terms of how commercial space is used, said Jill Hunger from the Dept. of Community Planning, Housing and Development (CPHD).

“We are experiencing rapid shifts, a lot of it was accelerated [due] to Covid,” Hunger said. “Where and how we work have changed as well as general consumer behavior and expectations.”

This has led the county to consider less traditional uses of spaces that could be approved quickly, like micro fulfillment centers (small-scale warehouses), maker spaces, data centers, animal boarding, urban agriculture, and breweries.

These types of uses would require, according to a presentation by CPHD, only “minor tweaks” to already-approved zoning uses and, in some cases, are already allowed in neighboring jurisdictions. Another advantage is that these types of uses could also be approved within six months, which is considered a quick timeframe.

By more quickly approving a larger variety of commercial uses, it could help bring down commercial and office vacancy rates that have hit nearly 21%.

“We are still facing tremendous headwinds, especially with commercial office vacancy,” said Marc McCauley, Arlington Economic Development’s (AED) director of real estate development. “[There’s] uncertainty of when people are returning to the office and how they are going to use the space differently.”

Nearly half of Arlington’s local property tax base comes from commercial properties, which helps to keep taxes on residential properties lower than would otherwise be needed to provide the current level of local government services.

AED told ARLnow earlier this week that the department is continuing to work on reducing commercial and office vacancies.

As was noted several times during the Planning Commission meeting, the proposed changes would be similar to those that were approved for Columbia Pike late last year.

In November, the County Board approved changes allowing for more retail variety on the ground floors of buildings along Columbia Pike. This might lead to businesses more often seen in industrial districts, like a brewery, distillery, or a shared commercial kitchen opening on the Pike.

“We started out hearing that Columbia Pike was unique but what we heard from a lot of [people], including this commission, ‘why isn’t this good for everywhere?'” said Marc McCauley of AED.

To this end, CPHD is looking to institute a pilot program that would allow micro-fulfillment centers, where all deliveries would be by bike or foot, to quickly move into these commercial spaces.

The hope is to go through the approval process in four months, starting with a request to advertise this month, so that this pilot would come before the Planning Commission and County Board for final approvals in October.

As the county, region, and nation continue to grapple with how the pandemic impacted office vacancies and changed the economy, officials are realizing the old ways of approving commercial uses may no longer work.

“What we are trying to achieve is… when we are building spaces and suggesting different uses that we are not precluding anything,” said Hunger. “We are trying to be more inclusive and not exclusive about what can and can not go in.”

Is River Place’s time coming to an end in Rosslyn?

By Matt Blitz
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The following deep dive was funded by and first sent to members of the ARLnow Press Club. Join today to support local journalism and to get the exclusive Early Morning Notes email with previews of the day’s stories.

River Place in Rosslyn is perhaps one of the most well-known multifamily complexes in the county.

The series of four buildings containing about 1,720 units between Route 50 and Wilson Blvd make up the cooperative complex that was built seven decades ago. Despite its age, River Place remains valued by residents, owners and real estate agents.

In conversations, phrases like “oasis of affordability,” “jewel of Rosslyn,” “prime location,” and “views that… can’t be beat in the market” get tossed around with regularity.

But what makes River Place truly unique is that it very well could be on borrowed time.

It’s a fact that has been known for awhile, as detailed in this 1982 Washington Post article. The complex was built in the early 1950s on top of 13 acres of land owned by a developer. That land is, essentially, rented from the developer through an agreement that’s known as a “ground lease.”

In 1953, a 99-year lease was agreed to, meaning River Place’s lease runs out in 2052 — 30 years from now. That timeframe, of course, holds a good deal of significance for those looking to take on a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage in order to buy a property inside of the complex.

Today, the underlying land is owned by local real estate development firm Monday Properties.

When the lease expires in 2052, Monday Properties will be able to do whatever it wants with the well-located land in Rosslyn. Theoretically, Monday Properties — or a new developer, if Monday ends up selling the land — could demolish the by-then century-old River Place.

This potential would leave unit owners out in the cold and their investment, essentially, a pile of bricks.

Monday Properties hasn’t disclosed its plans just yet.

James Marandi, president of the River Places Owners Association, tells ARLnow that neither he, the association, nor the committee assembled to deal with the ground lease situation has had any “recent” conversations with the company.

Monday Properties wouldn’t discuss the situation with ARLnow, either. When reached for comment, a company spokesperson said in an email that Monday Properties does “not have a comment on this story.”

An Arlington County spokesperson tells ARLnow that there isn’t much the county can do.

“​​This is a private property matter, which limits what the County can do,” the spokesperson said. “This is a matter between the building occupants and the landowner.”

This uncertainty has left some unit owners and residents thinking, perhaps even anxious, about an uncertain future that’s now not as far off as it once was.

“We are not necessarily nervous yet. Thirty years is a long way away,” Marandi tells ARLnow. “But we do realize that the lease expires and something has to be done.” 

The unresolved ground lease situation also could have a direct impact on the accessibility of lower-priced housing stock in Arlington, a long-running concern that the county is now trying to grapple with.

As of Friday afternoon, there appeared to be 15 River Place condos for sale on Zillow. All of the units were listed for sale under $300,000, with most under $200,000.

The average price for a home in Arlington, as of earlier this year and including townhomes and condos, is more than $800,000.

In theory, this could make River Place one of the best buys in the Arlington market. But the expiring land lease makes it potentially inaccessible for some.

(more…)

Local lawmakers again introduce legislation to remove Lee’s name from Arlington House

By Matt Blitz
Arlington House, as seen from the Kennedy gravesite at Arlington National Cemetery in 2011 (staff photo)

(Updated at 12:45 p.m.) Local lawmakers have again introduced legislation to officially remove Robert E. Lee’s name from Arlington House.

For fifty years, “Arlington House, the Robert E. Lee Memorial” has been the official name for the National Park Service-managed mansion that sits on top of a hill at Arlington National Cemetery.

But in recent years, there has been a push to drop Lee’s name from the memorial and return it to its original name of simply “Arlington House.”

In 2020, Rep. Don Beyer (D-Va) proposed legislation to do just that since Arlington House lies in his district. The bill was co-sponsored by two other local representatives, Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va) and Rep. Jennifer Wexton (D-Va), along with D.C. Congressional delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton.

Beyer said at the time that the legislation was partially inspired by requests for a name change from descendants of those who were enslaved at Arlington House. However, the bill never got out of committee and no change was made.

Two years later, though, these local lawmakers are trying again with a bicameral push.

The House bill is co-sponsored by Beyer, Connelly, Wexton, and Norton while a new Senate bill is sponsored by Tim Kaine (D-Va). The legislation, if passed and signed into law, would strip the Confederate general’s name from the house he once lived in.

“If we are serious about ending racial disparities, we need to stop honoring those who fought to protect slavery,” Kaine said in a press release. “I’m proud to be part of the effort to rename Arlington House, and am going to keep fighting for the kinds of reforms we need to create a society that delivers liberty and justice for all.”

This year’s bills are very similar to the one from 2020, Beyer Communications Director Aaron Fritschner confirmed to ARLnow, save for small language changes including adding a formal historic site designation.

If the legislation does pass, the mansion would officially be called “The Arlington House National Historic Site.”

The building that now sits inside Arlington National Cemetery was first built by enslaved people in the early 19th century to be the residence for George Washington Parke Custis. It was also intended to be a memorial to George Washington, Custis’s adoptive grandfather.

Custis’s daughter Mary Anna Randolph Custis married Robert E. Lee in 1831. The soon-to-be Confederate general was known to be a cruel and sometimes violent head of the household.

During the Civil War, the Union Army seized the house as well as the grounds and turned it into a military cemetery.

In 1955, Congress passed legislation to designate the house as the “Custis-Lee Mansion.” The name was changed again in 1972 to what it is today, “Arlington House, the Robert E. Lee Memorial.”

For years, Arlington House was featured prominently in the county’s logo. That changed last year after a push to remove the house from the logo, in large part due to its formal name and association with Lee.

(An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated Lee’s relationship to the house and property.) 

Arlington’s first medical cannabis dispensary is opening in Clarendon

By Matt Blitz
1/2

The first medical cannabis dispensary in Arlington is set to open in Clarendon by the end of the year, coming as state restrictions loosen for medical cannabis.

Beyond/Hello, one of four companies allowed to sell cannabis in Virginia, is opening a dispensary along Clarendon’s main drag of Wilson Blvd. The plan is to open by the end of the year, pending approval from the Virginia Board of Pharmacy, Chief Commercial Director Trent Woloveck told ARLnow.

The company, which is owned by Florida-based Jushi, bought the building at 2701 Wilson Blvd in late 2021, which is located across the street from Whole Foods as well as the parking lot that may be turned into a new development called “Courthouse West“.

The dispensary will move into the space that was formerly a Comcast service center. Construction is in its early stages, Wolveck said, starting with cleaning up the shell of the building.

Arlington Independent Media also occupies space in the building, operating FM station WERA 96.7. Wolveck said the plan is to allow AIM to stay both during and after construction.

This Wilson Blvd building was specifically chosen because of its central location and dedicated parking spots.

“Most properties we looked at in Arlington had zero dedicated parking spaces — this property provides 45,” said Wolveck. “It is also well positioned across the street from a high grossing Whole Foods and in the heart of the Clarendon restaurant and nightlife scene.”

The Clarendon location is part of Beyond/Hello’s larger Northern Virginia expansion. The company already has two dispensaries open in Manassas and Sterling. Two locations in Fairfax County are both set to open this summer, as FFXnow reports, while a Woodbridge one is aiming for early next year. Legally, the company is allowed to operate six dispensaries in Virginia.

All of this is coming on the heels of the state making it easier for patients to obtain medical cannabis. On July 1, a new state law went into effect removing the requirement that patients had to register with the Commonwealth in order to purchase medical cannabis. Now, patients simply need written certification from a licensed practitioner.

Despite partisan rancor on other state issues, the bill had overwhelming bipartisan support.

This loosening of regulations is expected to accelerate Virginia’s medical cannabis industry. Prior to the law going into effect, only about 0.5% of Virginia’s 8.6 million residents were registered medical cannabis patients. Meanwhile, Maryland is at 2.5% and the national average is 2%.

While it is now legal for adults to possess and grow small amounts of marijuana in Virginia, recreational sales remain illegal. A legislative effort to create infrastructure for retail sales and make it legal this year failed in the General Assembly several months ago.

For now, general retail cannabis sales won’t be allowed in Virginia until Jan. 1, 2024.

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