Former Virginia Hospital Center facility on Carlin Springs Road (staff photo by Vernon Miles)
The Virginia Hospital Center’s Carlin Springs Road location is closed for good and demolition is on the way.
The closure has been a long time coming, with Arlington County acquiring 601 S. Carlin Springs Road as part of a land swap with the hospital. VHC, in turn, received land from the county that it’s now using for the expansion of its main campus.
Jessica Baxter, spokeswoman for Arlington’s Department of Environmental Services, said the Carlin Springs center had been leased back to VHC, allowing it to wind down operations there through Dec. 31, 2019. A childcare center closed last summer and VHC’s urgent care clinic recently closed.
“As part of the approval to acquire the Edison property adjacent to the main hospital campus, the Carlin Springs campus was transitioned to Arlington County,” a hospital spokesperson said. “The service closed in December 2019 when our lease ended.”
The Carlin Springs site is now set to be used for county facilities — though the exact plans are yet to be determined.
“The County is currently developing plans to remove the building because it is incompatible with any County use,” Baxter said in an email. “No timing has been set — and is contingent on available funds. Any future uses of the site will involve a public process.”
The lights are off inside the building and a padlock was placed on what was once the front door. A sign on the door — and emails to urgent care patients — encouraged people to instead use VHC’s urgent care clinic that recently opened in Crystal City.
Bowlero under construction (staff photo by Vernon Miles)
Bowlero under construction (staff photo by Vernon Miles)
Bowlero — a bowling alley, arcade and restaurant — is hoping to roll into 320 23rd Street S. in June.
That’s according to a staff report to the Arlington County Board. The Board approved a renewal of the site’s use permit at its Jan. 25 meeting.
Bowlero’s new expected opening comes after striking plans to open in 2019.
“Since initial County Board approval of the use permit in January 2019, the applicant has informed staff that the use has not commenced operation,” staff said in the review. “The applicant anticipates opening in June 2020.”
The chain has several bowling alleys in the region, the closest being a brand new location in Annandale, at 4245 Markham Street.
More on Bowlero’s plans from its original 2018 press release:
Bowlero Corporation (formerly Bowlmor AMF), the world leader in bowling entertainment, has signed a new long-term lease at The Buchanan in Crystal City, VA, expanding Bowlero’s presence into Arlington County.
The brand-new Bowlero, totaling 44,000 square feet, will bring the best in bowling, epic events, and exceptional eats to Crystal City and its neighboring communities. Situated just a block away from the city’s eclectic 23rd Street Restaurant Row, Bowlero will add its unique spin on fun and enhance the area’s growing entertainment landscape.
The new location will introduce residents of Crystal City to Bowlero — Bowlero Corp’s retro-inspired brand — and will increase the brand’s already considerable presence in the region, with nearby Bowlero locations in Bethesda, MD, Leesburg, VA, and Centreville, VA.
Slated to open in fall 2019, Bowlero will be a one-stop entertainment destination complete with signature blacklight bowling lanes, laneside lounge seating, and hi-definition video walls that bring bowling to an entirely new level. Bowlero’s Crystal City venue will also feature a giant arcade and the brand’s impressive menu of unique food and beverage.
Several senior Arlington County employees left the Saturday, Jan. 25, Arlington County Board meeting with renewed contracts and some notable pay bumps.
The County Manager, County Attorney, County Auditor and Clerk to the County Board all had their contracts unanimously approved in a 5-0 vote with no discussion.
County Manager Mark Schwartz got a 4.5% raise to $282,489 annually. It’s a little less than his neighbor, Alexandria City Manager Mark Jinks, who earns $288,000 annually, according to the Alexandria Gazette Packet. On the other hand, it’s a little more than the $268,000 salary for Bryan Hill, who has the equivalent position in Fairfax County.
This is also the first time Schwartz’s salary has surpassed his predecessor, Barbara Donnellan, whose salary was $270,000 annually by the end of her five-year tenure. Schwartz became County Manager in 2015.
County Attorney Stephen MacIsaac, meanwhile, got a 3.5% raise to $261,933 per year — more than the $243,812 annual salary paid to Alexandria City Attorney Joanna Anderson.
County Auditor Christopher Horton got a 3.25% raise to $147,493 per year. Horton became the county auditor in 2016 and is the County’s second auditor. The first left the job after less than seven months.
Kendra Jacobs, Clerk to the County Board, had the biggest raise at 6.75%, increasing her salary to $115,749. Jacobs was appointed to the role in 2018.
The top county employees also received a raise last year; for all but Horton the raise was higher this year.
Editor’s Note: Sponsored by Monday Properties and written by ARLnow.com, Startup Monday is a weekly column that profiles Arlington-based startups and their founders, plus other local technology happenings. The Ground Floor, Monday’s office space for young companies in Rosslyn, is now open. The Metro-accessible space features a 5,000-square-foot common area that includes a kitchen, lounge area, collaborative meeting spaces, and a stage for formal presentations.
Scoutbee, a tech company based in Crystal City, is looking to scale up after scoring $60 million in a fresh round of funding.
The company builds software that links artificial intelligence (AI) technology and big data to create more efficient supply shipments. The technology can track trends and make predictions based on extensive data about where certain types of supplies are needed.
The firm, founded in 2015 and also based in Germany, has contracts with high-profile companies like Airbus and Bosch.
The new funding will allow the company to expand by 100 employees and double down on research and development for new products, the company said in a press release.
“Scoutbee will further expand its R&D, accelerate customer growth and explore strategic acquisitions,” the company said in a press release. “Scoutbee’s already diverse team will be scaled up from 120 staff today to around 220 across Berlin, Wurzburg and Washington D.C. by the end of 2020 (including new roles in engineering, AI / ML, product development, sales and marketing).”
The central product at scoutbee (the lower case name is the official company name, not a typo) is called ARTIMIS, an AI tool that the company says “continually mines vast amounts of data and centralizes details about suppliers and products across hundreds of dimensions and across languages.”
The company currently has offices at 2550 S. Clark Street in Crystal City.
Chief Matt Herbert (left), Ryan Denelsbeck (center) and Captain Kevin Troiano (right) (staff photo by Vernon Miles)
Emergency vehicles outside the Courthouse Metro station (photo via ACFD)
(Updated at 6:30 p.m.) When medic Ryan Denelsbeck heard the call come in, for a person struck by a train at the Courthouse Metro station, he assumed the worst.
But yesterday evening, Denelsbeck and Arlington County Fire Department were able to rescue the woman who fell under a Silver Line Metrorail car — and she’s expected to survive.
“We normally expect the worst for a person vs. train scenario,” Denelsbeck said.
He said he was surprised to find the woman in relatively good condition, for someone who had reportedly been hit by a Metro train. While Denelsbeck worked on trying to calm her down and assess her injuries, others members of the fire department were trying to figure out how to extricate her.
Denelsbeck said when he sees the images of the rescue, like the video below, it takes him back to laying down on the side of the Metro platform trying to talk her through it.
The woman had suffered a medical emergency and fallen in an 18-inch gap between the train and the platform, as the train was arriving. The space, according to Captain Kevin Troiano, was a very tricky area for the firefighters to reach. Adding to the difficulty: the woman was disoriented and confused about how she had wound up there, and Troiano said medics had to explain her situation as best they could without causing her to panic.
Battalion Chief Matt Herbert said the main difficulties were the confined space and concerns about the electrified third rail. She wasn’t close to the rail, but Herbert said the rail electrifies all of the “feet” on the bottom of the train.
“The bottom of a Metro car is a very dangerous place,” Herbert said.
There was also the evening rush hour crowd inside the Metro station to deal with. Denelsbeck said one of their initial challenges was dealing with the crowd pressed in around them, but the police were able to keep people back and the station was evacuated to help clear the escalators.
Herbert said they called up the fire officer at WMATA and were able to get power shut down to the trackbed at the station. Once they had assurances that no other trains would be coming through, firefighters were able to get her out of the gap and get her to a hospital. The fire department said it’s unclear whether her injuries were caused by the train or from her fall.
As of today (Friday), officials said she’s in stable condition.
“We got into this job to help people,” Troiano said. “An outcome like this makes that all better.”
Rite Aid in Crystal City Shops (staff photo by Vernon Miles)
Rite Aid in Crystal City Shops (staff photo by Vernon Miles)
Rite Aid in Crystal City Shops (staff photo by Vernon Miles)
Rite Aid in Crystal City Shops (staff photo by Vernon Miles)
If the shelves are looking a little bare in the underground Rite Aid at 1671 Crystal Square Way, it’s because the store is set to close next month.
A sign at the front says the pharmacy is scheduled to close Monday, Feb. 17, and staff at the store said the full store is planned to close sometime later that month.
“The rest of it is being liquidated,” a store manager said. “It’s likely to close by the end of February.”
Signs at the store told visitors that their pharmacy records will be transferred to the Walgreens at 1301 S. Joyce Street.
The store, located at the north end of the sprawling underground complex, was still in fairly heavy use yesterday (Thursday) with visitors taking advantage of scattered discounts across the store. It’s closing despite the arrival of Amazon’s HQ2 in the area.
While the store is slowly getting rid of its inventory, many of the shelves further back in the store with toiletries and other goods are still well-stocked, along with a plentiful supply of beer and White Claws.
(Updated at 9:40 a.m.) Staff at A-1 Arlington Clarendon Valet — a dry cleaner at 3110 Washington Blvd. in Clarendon — said a financial dispute has led to the store closing next month.
The store is closing because a person who purchased the business was defaulting on their payments, an employee said. The original owner is now back running the business, but planning to close it, we’re told.
There was also a sign taped to the front desk explaining the closure and cautioning that customers who dropped off items under its previous ownership might not get their clothes back. The contents of the sign — minus the names of the parties involved, who ARLnow was not able to reach for comment — are below.
A1 Clarendon Valet was sold to [REDACTED] on 13 October 2018 on a five-year payment plan. He appointed his nephew… to operate the business and after only one payment, the business defaulted on their payments. On Wednesday 8 January 2020, the Arlington County Sheriff’s Department executed the Court ordered eviction and changed the locks.
Since 9 January 2020 we have been trying to locate your items. If we cannot locate your missing items, you should lodge a direct complaint to [REDACTED]. Please understand that while we are making every effort to locate your items, we are under no legal obligation for items that were left in their care between 13 October 2018 and 8 January 2020. We will continue our efforts to find those missing items until 12 February 2020, after which A1 Clarendon Valet will close its doors.
The store also offers leather and shoe repairs, key duplication, and other services.
A-1 isn’t the only dry cleaner to close over the last year. Family Dry Cleaners on Columbia Pike closed last July and Georgetown Valet dry cleaners closed last January.
Arlington is planning to host an open house to mark the start of the development of the county’s Vision Zero Action Plan.
Last July, the County Board directed County Manager Mark Schwartz to develop goals and an action plan for a comprehensive analysis of traffic safety in Arlington as part of the County’s Vision Zero goals — the name for a series of initiatives aimed at eliminating traffic fatalities.
Details on the plan were vague at the time, though similar plans have been enacted in Alexandria, where some changes like traffic calming measures and lane reductions have been famously controversial.
The open house is scheduled for Tuesday, Jan. 28, from 5-8 p.m. at Washington-Liberty High School (1301 N. Stafford Street). An event listing said visitors will be able to learn more about current Vision Zero plans and share their priorities for improving transportation safety in Arlington.
Bakeshop in Clarendon is celebrating its 10 year anniversary (Staff photo by Jay Westcott)
Bakeshop in Clarendon is celebrating its 10 year anniversary (Staff photo by Jay Westcott)
Bakeshop in Clarendon is celebrating its 10 year anniversary (Staff photo by Jay Westcott)
Bakeshop in Clarendon is celebrating its 10 year anniversary (Staff photo by Jay Westcott)
Bakeshop in Clarendon is celebrating its 10 year anniversary (Staff photo by Jay Westcott)
Bakeshop in Clarendon is celebrating its 10 year anniversary (Staff photo by Jay Westcott)
Bakeshop in Clarendon is celebrating its 10 year anniversary (Staff photo by Jay Westcott)
In some ways, Justin Stegall has a hard time recognizing his bakery — Bakeshop at 1025 N. Fillmore Street in Clarendon — today, given how it started.
When the shop opened, in 2010 during the middle of the Snowpocalypse, it was just him in the kitchen and a guy working in the front. Over the next ten years, that staff grew and each of them left their mark on the bakery. A tableau of printed pictures on wall is a silent testament to the years of memories.
This Sunday, Jan. 26, from 11 a.m.-3 p.m., Bakeshop will celebrate ten years in business with a community-oriented celebration. Bakeshop staff said they are planning to pass out cake and ice cream samples, along with cookies. The celebration will have a photo booth and — permit pending — a fire truck to entertain children could make an appearance, staff said.
The shop now operates in two locations, the original one in Clarendon and one at 100 E. Fairfax Street in Falls Church. Stegall said he has no immediate plans to open more, but he enjoyed the expansion and will do it again if the moment feels right.
Looking back on the last ten years, Stegall and his staff said it was a lot of long hours and difficult work that made the shop viable.
“I went into it thinking it would be a lot of fun, and it is, but it’s a lot of hard work,” said Alyson, an employee at Bakeshop. “You’re in the ovens, it’s hard work, and you’re carrying trays… You make all these delicious treats, but for the bakers, it’s a lot of hard work.”
As Sol Schott from Acme Pie on Columbia Pike could also attest, staff said the work involves working long, odd hours.
“Bakers get in really early,” Alyson said. “A large part of that is there are orders you have to bake for the day or people picking up cakes on the way to work. It’s early mornings and late nights.”
When Bakeshop opened during that blizzard, Stegall said one of the first orders was a couple for a cake, which he walked through the snow to deliver to them. The couple still comes into the shop, he said with pride.
(Bakeshop launched around the same time as ARLnow, which is also celebrating its 10th anniversary this month, and our company’s paths have occasionally overlapped — like the time we ordered a cake decorated with a waving chalk body outline as a farewell present to an outgoing Arlington police spokeswoman.)
“I believe towns need these kinds of things,” Stegall said. “It gives Arlington a little community spot for the neighborhood, for kids and adults, for people that want to work there and bake. Now we constantly have a crew of awesome kids that come through, go to college, and come back.”
Rendering of the proposed buildings for the Key Bridge Marriott site (via Arlington County)
Rendering of the proposed buildings for the Key Bridge Marriott site (via Arlington County)
A site map for the redevelopment of the Key Bridge Marriott includes several roadways on the site and an esplanade around the north side (Image via Arlington County)
A plan to redevelop the Key Bridge Marriott is moving forward, but some Arlington officials have lingering concerns about parking and impervious space at the site.
At a Transportation Commission meeting earlier this month, project representatives laid out plans to demolish a portion of the existing 582-room hotel and redevelop the 1401 Lee Highway site with three residential buildings and a smaller, renovated hotel space.
The remodeled hotel would include 449 rooms, bordered by a 150-unit condominium building to the east and a 300-unit apartment building to the west above an existing parking structure. A representative said the redevelopment would include a “slew of interior changes” to the hotel.
Part of the plan involves the addition of a new bike path connecting to the Key Bridge, near where improvements were made to the Custis Trail last year. While there was widespread praise for the new bicycle connection, some on the Transportation Commission had reservations about the project. Chair Chris Slatt said he still wanted to see a Bikeshare station added and wanted to see a lower parking ratio on the site, partially to allow for less impervious surface area.
“There’s work that can be done on circulation areas of the site to make them less impervious,” Slatt said. “It really feels like there’s a lot of pavement [and] a lot of sidewalk. I look down at this plan view and I expect to see a lot more of those tree circles than I do.”
The project is also being discussed by the Site Plan Review Committee at a meeting next Thursday, Jan. 30. It will go back to the Transportation Commission for a vote after that, before going to the full Planning Commission and ultimately the Arlington County Board for approval.
(Updated at 4:05 p.m.) With a new Democratic majority, Arlington’s state Senators have doubled down on earlier efforts to pass gun control reform and make progress on other issues — like marijuana decriminalization — that made limited progress under a Republican majority.
Some of these proposals have already faced substantial pushback, particularly from a crowded gun rights rally on Monday that drew national headlines. Democrats notched a gun control victory today, however, with the state Senate narrowly passing a “red flag” gun law that allows guns to be taken away by those judged as dangerous to themselves or others.
Nestled among the high profile issues are other items of interest for Arlingtonians, like the ability to require labor agreements as part of the zoning approval process.
Sen. Barbara Favola
Among the bills introduced by Favola in the 2019-2020 legislative session are SB 116, which would say that defendants in a capital case who have a severe mental illness are not eligible for the death penalty, and SB 179, which adds gender, disability, gender identity or sexual orientation to the state’s hate crime definition. SB 116 was moved to the Judiciary committee and SB 179 was referred to the Finance and Appropriations committee.
Favola is one of the chief co-signers of SB 35, which authorizes localities to prohibit the possession or carrying of firearms, ammunition, or components thereof to government buildings, public parks, or any public right of way being used for an event. The bill was passed in the state Senate on Jan. 16.
Sen. Adam Ebbin
According to Henry Watkins, communications director for Ebbin, the bills he has proposed are:
SB 868 — Prohibits discrimination in housing, employment and public accommodations based on sexual orientation or gender identity. Also includes additional protections for veterans and pregnant persons.
SB 2 — Reduces penalty for possession of marijuana from a criminal offense to a civil penalty.
SB 852 — Institutes a tax on e-cigarettes at 39% of the wholesale price. Also raises the Virginia cigarette tax to $1.80 per pack and the tax on other tobacco products to 39% wholesale.
SB 11 — Imposes a five-cent fee on throw-away bags to reduce litter and waste.
SB 838 — Makes construction contractors liable for their subcontractors if the subcontractor does not pay their employees, and allows employees to sue employers for nonpayment of wages.
Ebbin has also proposed SB 839, which would allow localities to require project labor agreements and worker protections on high-density development projects that go through a special exception zoning process. While approving an incentive package for Amazon’s HQ2, Arlington County Board members lamented not being able to require such labor provisions.
Board member Katie Cristol lobbied for the bill in Richmond on Monday.
Testifying at the Capitol this am for @AdamEbbin’s bill to allow us to require labor protection agreements in site plans. Hugely important for making Arlington’s redevelopment more economically inclusive. Committee “passed by” for a week; hopeful prospects w/ amendments… pic.twitter.com/kWyNt1LREb
Like many other Democratic Senators from Northern Virginia, Howell introduced gun control legislation during the current session. SB 75 would make it a Class 3 misdemeanor to leave a loaded, unsecured firearm “in such a manner as to endanger the life or limb of any person under the age of 18.” The current law makes it illegal for under the age of 14.
Other bills introduced by Howell include SB 111, which allows people to vote absentee without needing to list a reason why they can’t vote in person. SB 111 was passed in the Senate on Monday.
