Feature

Startup Monday: How Two 2015 Yorktown Graduates Launched An E-Commerce Website

By Kalina Newman

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.

When someone places an order on Beachgoer.com, Arlington natives and 2015 Yorktown High School graduates David Moeller and Finn Cardiff drive an hour to their warehouse in Manassas to package and ship it themselves.

“Yup — it’s just the two of us,” Moeller said. “We’re either at home on our computers, or driving out to the warehouse and back again.”

In 2017 while still in college — (Moeller at Ohio State and Cardiff at Virginia Tech — the two friends put together their passions for business and software development to tackle a niche market: beach supplies.

Working with over 250,000 thousand lines of code, the two created an algorithm that analyzes millions of data points across the beach supplies industry — think, what a surfboard is going for on Amazon — to sort what they can buy at wholesale at the most efficient price.

“Starting off, we just wanted sell our own brand of products with a beach niche, but we quickly realized there was a lot more opportunity to sell online across a variety of brands,” Cardiff said.

Since then, Beachgoer has grown a hundred times in size with over 200 products for sale, ranging from high-end body boards to beach balls.

So far, Moeller and Cardiff have not raised any outside capital. The two are currently searching for investors with the eventual goal of securing $2.5 million.

“Being based in Arlington, I mean clearly we’re from here, but the area gives us so many valuable networking opportunities,” Moeller said. “There’s a lot of talent and smart people that we connect with on a daily basis to learn about the industry.”

Neighborhood Spotlight: Best Spots To Eat In Clarendon

By ARLnow.com Sponsor

This content was written and sponsored by The Keri Shull Team, Arlington’s top producing residential real estate team.

Let us show you the best spots to eat in Clarendon!

Today, our team members take you on a culinary tour of the Clarendon neighborhood in Arlington, showing you 4 of our favorite eateries in the area. These awesome spots all offer tasty food and drink, and the variety of atmospheres means that you’ll surely find a place to suit your style, no matter what!

Did we miss your favorite place to eat in Clarendon? Let us know your favorite Clarendon restaurant in the comments — we’d love to check it out!

Are you interested in moving closer to some of this tasty fare? Contact The Keri Shull Team today to learn how we can help you find your dream home, for a price that you’ll love — whether it’s in Clarendon, or any of the other unique neighborhoods in D.C., Maryland, or Virginia!

Do you know anyone looking to buy or sell a home in the DMV? We’d love for you to introduce us! Click here to contact us today.

Your Beermonger: Beers of the Year 2019

By ARLnow.com Sponsor

This sponsored column is written by Nick Anderson, beermonger at Arrowine (4508 Lee Highway). Sign up for Nick’s email newsletter and also receive exclusive discounts and offers.

Before we get to anything, an update on our renovation: The draft station is tantalizingly close to ready.

At the moment, I’m at the mercy of a countertop for our back bar that would let us get the last of the plumbing done. A couple of target dates from the countertop folks have come and gone, so I’m not committing to anything beyond getting word out far and wide when the beers are flowing.

Now then, it’s time bring back the Beermonger Beers of the Year. For those new to the fun, this is an unscientific list of six beers that stood out to me this year for one reason or the other, with the main reason being they were really, really good.

Here there are, numerically listed but in no particular order:

6. Anderson Valley Black Rice Ale: There aren’t too many beers that I devote entire columns to, but that’s what I did for this one back in September. I still dig this dry, flavorful, low-ABV beer for being something unique in a market clogged with too many versions of the same styles.

5. Commonwealth Brewing Company Cimmerian/Schilling Beer Company Modernism (tie): Commonwealth’s Cimmerian Czech-style Dark Lager is a great example of all the things the Virginia Beach brewery can do really well. We burned through a ton of cases at Arrowine while it was in stock, and I personally took down plenty at home. You can find some back on the market right now; maybe even on tap at Arrowine in the next week or so. If my countertops show up…

Schilling’s Modernism, another Czech-style Dark Lager, earns a nod not only for being great, but for being the only thing on tap at one of the better area beer bars not too long ago that was interesting to me, and saving me from certain Pastry Stout/Dessert Sour doom.

4. Jackie O’s Who Cooks For You?: 2019 saw Jackie O’s return to Virginia, with a focus on their year-round and seasonal six-packs. Who Cooks arrived as a limited-run, 5.5% ABV double dry-hopped Pale Ale version of a Hazy IPA. The first run outshone some of the best Hazys out there, and Jackie O’s was smart enough to slot it into their year-round lineup by the fall. It’s in-stock at Arrowine now.

3. Väsen Norse Double IPA: Speaking of Hazy IPAs… I haven’t tried to make one, but if I did, the ingredients would be awfully close to the flagship IPA from this Richmond brewery: Golden Promise malt with Citra, Mosaic and Amarillo hops. I like all of these things. The Norwegian Kveik yeast gives this 8% beast a sly, easy feel, and its hops a showcase. Just back in stock at Arrowine this week.

2. OEC Coolship Lager: If you blinked a few weeks ago, you missed out on this Czech-style Blonde Lager from Connecticut’s Ordinem Ecentrici Coctores — OEC. It’s “brewed using a traditional double decoction mash and hopped with fine European noble hops… rests in our copper coolship for 1 hour… transferred over our baudelot cooler into our open tanks for fermentation… it is cellared for several months prior to release.” That’s a lot of words to tell you it’s so easy, and clean, and enjoyable that a four-pack can evaporate before you even notice. Hoping to have this back in the shop, maybe even semi-regularly, in 2020.

1. Hill Farmstead Legitimacy: It wasn’t a massive, double dry-hopped, opaque, jooooooce bomb that stopped me in my tracks this year. It was Hill Farmstead’s Legitimacy, a 6% IPA with a relatively simple-looking recipe — 2-row barley, oats, Citra/Mouteka/Simcoe hops. Often — too often — I run into IPAs with long lists of hops that don’t seem to justify themselves. At a certain point it all congeals into a nebulous tone of “hoppy”.

Legitimacy blew me away with how each hop contributed identifiable characteristics to the beer: the piney, grapefruity texture of Simcoe; Citra’s exhuberant orange peel and earthiness; the Southern Hemisphere tropical tones of Mouteka. The crew at Hill Farmstead puts out brilliant beers on the regular: Legitimacy is a masterclass for IPA brewers everywhere.

Honorable Mentions: Foreign Objects Chaos Therapy (Juicy Pale Ale); Veltins Pilsener; Foundation Epiphany IPA; Stillwater/Oliver Double Mocha Affogato (Nitro Coffee Stout);  Ocelot Lamp (Pilsner); Maine Beer Co. Dinner (IPA); Charles Wells Bombardier (for saving me from my worst instincts in the face of the draft list at Khyber Pass Pub in Philly one night in June).

Happy whatever and Merry New Year, everyone! See you in 2020.

Open Houses in Arlington This Weekend

By ARLnow.com Sponsor

Looking for a home? There are plenty of houses and condos open for viewing this weekend.

Check out the Arlington Realty website for a full list of homes for sale and open houses in Arlington. Here are a few highlights:

4731 34th Street N.
6 BD/5 BA, 1 half bath single-family home
Agent: Tradition Realty, Llc
Listed: $2,399,000
Open: Saturday 12-2 p.m.

 

314 N. Barton Street
4 BD/3 BA, 1 half bath single-family
Agent: D.S.A. Properties & Investments Llc
Listed: $1,399,000
Open: Sunday 1-4 p.m.

 

5862 1st Street S.
5 BD/5 BA single-family home
Agent: Optime Realty
Listed: 899,900
Open: Sunday 2-4 p.m.

 

1200 N. Hartford Street #507
2 BD/2 BA condo
Agent: Weichert Realtors
Listed: $630,000
Open: Sunday 2-4 p.m.

 

1024 N. Utah Street #122
2 BD/2 BA condo
Agent: Optime Realty
Listed: $549,900
Open: Sunday 2-4 p.m.

 

1121 Arlington Boulevard #1004
2 BD/2 BA condo
Agent: Pearson Smith Realty, Llc
Listed: $449,000
Open: Sunday 1-3 p.m.

 

4401 Lee Highway #49
1 BD/1 BA condo
Agent: Berkshire Hathaway Homeservices Penfed Realty
Listed: $225,000
Open: Sunday 1-3 p.m.

Just Listed in Arlington

By ARLnow.com Sponsor

Just Listed highlights Arlington properties that just came on the market within the past week. This feature is written and sponsored by Team Cathell, “Your Orange Line Specialists.”

With the Holidays just around the corner, Arlington’s real estate market remains healthy and stable while any potential craziness is held in check by low inventory. Demand remains strong, as this week testifies, but there’s just not enough homes for sale to satisfy the eager buyers.

This week only 22 homes were listed for sale, while buyers ratified 33 contracts. Many of those homes that sold would be considered stale inventory as they had been on the market 2-3 months. Without enough fresh inventory, buyers are turning to homes still for sale after 60 days or more. And that’s great for everybody. The average days on market is now up to 31, and there are currently only 166 homes available for sale.

The National Association of Realtors reported this week that inventory is down 5.7% nationally over last year while the median home price has increased 5.6%. NAR’s economists project that next year home values will go up only 3.6% and there is a low likelihood of any recession. They expect economic growth of just 2%.

They would like to see a surge of home builder activity that would both stimulate the economy while delivering more inventory to help keep down the increase in home prices and the increase in rental rates which is the untold victim of low inventory. They expect rent rates to increase 3.5% next year.

Click to see all the fresh new inventory in MRIS and call Team Cathell (703-975-2500) when you find a home you like.

Arlington Pet of the Week: Ludo

By ARLnow.com
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Meet the Arlington Pet of the Week, Ludo, a 4-year-old feline who has a crooked ear that adds to his charm.

Here is what Ludo’s owner, Beth, had to say about his life here in Arlington:

Ludo is a 4-year old gray domestic medium hair who may also be part Nebelung. He was named after the character “Ludo” in the movie Labyrinth because of his docile nature and his love of friendship. Ludo lived on the rough streets of rural VA before he was rescued by City Kitties, and now lives a calm life in retirement with his human in Ballston. His favorite activities include eating, sleeping on the floor, playing with his pink fish toy, and hanging out next to his human.

He loves to play with his pink fish toy more than anything, especially when his human uses the pole to whip the toy around so he can chase it. When he wants to play, he’ll sit in front of the closet where all the toys are kept and stare longingly at it. Sometimes, when he catches the pink toy, he’ll take it over to his favorite spot– next to the closet– and meow so you can be proud of the great job he did.

Ludo has a permanently crooked ear, but he doesn’t let it slow him down. In fact, it adds to his charm– and boy does he have a lot of charm. He enchants all the vets he meets, and has a knack for making the ladies fall to their knees (so they can pet him of course). With his silky fur and his chill demeanor, he is definitely a special guy!

Want your pet to be considered for the Arlington Pet of the Week? Email [email protected] with a 2-3 paragraph bio and at least 3-4 horizontally-oriented photos of your pet. Please don’t send vertical photos, they don’t fit in our photo galleries!

Each week’s winner receives a sample of dog or cat treats from our sponsor, Becky’s Pet Care, along with $100 in Becky’s Bucks. Becky’s Pet Care is the winner of eight consecutive Angie’s List Super Service Awards, the National Association of Professional Pet Sitters’ 2013 Business of the Year and a proud supporter of the Arlington County Pawsitively Prepared Campaign.

Becky’s Pet Care provides professional dog walking and pet sitting in Arlington and all of Northern Virginia, as well as PetPrep training courses for Pet Care, CPR and emergency preparedness.

Biz Talk: Arlington Recognizes the County’s Four Fastest-Growing Companies of 2019

By ARLnow.com Sponsor
Winners of the Arlington Fast Four competition

This article was sponsored by Arlington Economic Development‘s Business Investment Group.

For the fifth year in a row, Arlington Economic Development honored the winners of its fastest-growing companies competition — known as the Arlington Fast Four.

The winners were formally announced and recognized at the Arlington Premiere event held on December 5 at the Ballston Quarter. The Arlington Premiere is a biannual event welcoming new businesses to Arlington. Close to 200 business leaders attended the December reception along with County officials, partner organizations, like the Arlington Chamber of Commerce and the Ballston Business Improvement District.

Award nominees were privately-held companies that showcased sound revenue growth in 2016, 2017 and 2018. Applicants were required to provide income statements to show proof of growth and revenue. The competition recognized companies within four categories of revenue, spanning from $500,000 to $25 million and above per year.

The 2019 Fast Four Winners are:

$500k-$1.5M: Deft Consulting (Clarendon)

Deft Consulting is a software services firm specializing in Appian low-code implementations. Deft was founded in 2016 by a former Appian Corporation employee, Scott Frantz, and the company has become a highly regarded official partner of Appian Corporation. Founders say that Arlington County’s resources, specifically those of AED, and the Arlington Chamber of Commerce have been extremely helpful in facilitating the business’s learning and growth as a small business.

$1.5M-$5M: Hungry Marketplace (Rosslyn)

Hungry Marketplace is a food-tech catering company that offers a mobile and online food platform connecting professional chefs to customers. The company will also deliver the fresh food from these chefs to customers. Started in 2016, Hungry expanded rapidly from the Washington area to Philadelphia, Atlanta and recently to Boston.

Hungry has deep roots in Arlington. Some of the founders live here and have founded several other Arlington-based companies such as Buysafe and Livesafe.

$5M-$25M: Capitol Bridge (Columbia Pike)

Founded in 2012, Capitol Bridge is an Arlington, Virginia-based SBA 8(a) business providing data and record management services, independent medical reviews, medical coding and administrative staffing. With offices in Arlington; Pittsford, New York; and Indianapolis, Indiana, Capitol Bridge has strategically developed its geographic footprint allowing it to be near its customers.

Capitol Bridge has served a wide variety of customers, including the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, Arlington National Cemetery, the Federal Aviation Administration and other government agencies at both a federal and state level.

$25M+: Higher Logic (Rosslyn)

Higher Logic is an industry leader in cloud-based engagement platforms. Its data-driven approach gives organizations an expanded suite of engagement capabilities, including online community and marketing automation. Organizations worldwide use Higher Logic’s software platform to bring people together by giving their community a home to interact, share ideas, answer questions and stay connected.

Higher Logic also has strong connections to Arlington. The company started out in a small office on Lee Highway, then moved to the Rosslyn/Courthouse area and are now located in a large office on N. Lynn Street in Rosslyn with beautiful views of the river.

Congratulations to all the winners!

Just Reduced Properties in Arlington

By ARLnow.com Sponsor

Each week, “Just Reduced” spotlights properties in Arlington County whose price have been cut over the previous week. The market summary is crafted by Arlington Realty, Inc. Maximize your real estate investment with the team by visiting www.arlingtonrealtyinc.com or calling 703-836-6000 today!

Please note: While Arlington Realty, Inc. provides this information for the community, it may not be the listing company of these homes.

Sure, the temperatures may be falling.

BRRRRRRR.

But our Northern Virginia real estate market remains hot, hot, hot.

As we’ve covered time and time again, things (especially in Arlington County) have been absolutely booming over the past year. And, inventory is particularly tight.

A new Realtor.com report on “The Amazon Ripple Effect” stated that the amount of listings were down 49 percent year-over year in Arlington (folks are clearly holding on to their property in many instances!), while prices were up a whopping 32.9 percent.

The big question that looms as we enter 2020 is: Can we possibly keep this up?

In the heart of one of the hottest real estate markets in the U.S., it’s never been more important to have a trusted team by your side. With in-market experience and leadership since 1984, the team at Arlington Realty, Inc. has seen the ebbs and flows throughout the years.

And, we have the most up-to-date data, insights and more to ensure your transaction is as seamless as possible. Frigid temps or not, we’re always ready to roll on your behalf!

As of December 16, there are 104 detached homes, 13 townhouses and 69 condos for sale throughout Arlington County. In total, 6 homes experienced a price reduction in the past week:

Please note that this is solely a selection of Just Reduced properties available in Arlington County. For a complete list of properties within your target budget and specifications, contact Arlington Realty, Inc.

Ask Eli: The Real Story About 22202 Property Values (Amazon Zip Code), Part 1

By ARLnow.com Sponsor

This regularly-scheduled sponsored Q&A column is written by Eli Tucker, Arlington-based Realtor and Arlington resident. Please submit your questions to him via email for response in future columns. Enjoy!

Question: I have read articles about the 22202 zip code suggesting everything from extreme appreciation to homes now selling for pre-Amazon prices. Can you shed some light on what’s actually happening in that market?

Answer: After months of articles about extreme appreciation in 22202, the Amazon HQ2 zip code making up neighborhoods like Crystal City, Pentagon City, Aurora Highlands/Hills and Arlington Ridge, there was an article published last week by the Washington Business Journal claiming that prices are now below pre-Amazon HQ2 announcement levels. The supporting data was that median sold price in November 2019 was 12% lower than November 2018 prices.

This is yet another example of lazy reporting on Amazon’s impact on local real estate with the sole intention of generating clicks.

First of all, if you use the average sold price instead of median, there was a 2.3% increase in prices from November ’18 to November ’19, not a 12% decrease. Second, with a drop in total sales from 30 in 2018 to just 12 in 2019, with prices ranging from $255,000 to $1,145,000, there’s just not enough data to draw any sort of reliable conclusion on market performance by comparing the two months.

To generate reliable real estate trends, you either need a lot of data points (sales) or drill into smaller data sets. With that said, let’s dive into some real analysis on how Amazon HQ2 has impacted residential real estate for its new neighbors in 22202.

Market Make-up

The 22202 market offers a diverse supply of housing. This year, condos have sold from as little as $195,000 for a 500 sq. ft. studio to $1,250,000 for a 2,900 sq. ft. 3 BR/3 BA penthouse. The least expensive detached home sold for $630,000 to be torn down and the most expensive a 6 BR/4.5 BA for $1,600,000.

Homes in the area tend to be pretty old with most detached homes being built prior to the 1960s and only one condo building has delivered since 1990.

Of the 135 homes to sell so far in 2019, 76 were in condo buildings, 47 were detached homes and 11 were townhouses.

Condo Market

Inventory levels in the 22202 condo market took a huge hit, dropping 40% from 130 sales in 2018 to just 76 in 2019 (with two more scheduled to close in 2019). The decline is attributed to owners choosing not to sell (holding out for more appreciation), certainly not lack of demand.

As a whole, the average sold price in the 22202 condo market increase 22.8% ($402k to $492k) and median price increased 18.6% ($379k to $450k) for properties that went under contract after Amazon’s November 13 HQ2 announcement.

However, don’t think individual property values appreciated ~20%. The entire market is skewed higher because of a big drop-off in less expensive studios (60% decline) and 1 BRs (33% decline).

Let’s take a deeper look at how property values actually changed by looking at similar sales within comparable buildings. I’ve grouped all buildings along Arlington Ridge and Army Navy Drive, along Crystal Drive, and both Eclipse buildings so that we have larger sample sizes to compare pricing activity from within comparable buildings. I limited this data set to one- and two-bedroom units.

The percentages for each building group represent the change from properties sold in 2018 and 2019 that went under contract pre-Amazon announcement vs post-Amazon announcement (November 13, 2018).

(more…)

Legal Insider: Supreme Court to Decide Whether Sex Discrimination Laws Cover LGBT Employees

By ARLnow.com Sponsor

This is a sponsored column by attorneys John Berry and Kimberly Berry of Berry & Berry, PLLC, an employment and labor law firm located in Northern Virginia that specializes in federal employee, security clearance, retirement and private sector employee matters.

By John V. Berry, Esq.

On October 8, 2019, the United States Supreme Court heard oral arguments as to whether or not Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 involving sex discrimination applies to LGBT employees.

The U.S. Circuit Courts of Appeal are currently split on the issue. Hopefully, the Supreme Court will focus on the text of the law, not politics, and do the right thing here. In my opinion, the Civil Rights Act clearly protects LGBT employees from employment discrimination based on sexual orientation and transgender status. The civil rights law was written broadly and anticipates other forms of sex discrimination.

The Three Cases

The Supreme Court heard three combined cases on the issue during oral argument. They involve 3 employees, two gay males and one transgender female. The two men were fired due to their sexual orientation and the transgender woman was fired from her employment because of her gender identity. A link to the synopsis on Scotusblog can be found here.

Common Sense Should Prevail

As with so many other issues in the law, common sense has been distorted through the various legal arguments. Most individuals know that “sex” discrimination is discrimination based on some aspect of sex. Those opposing the inclusion of LGBT employees from sexual discrimination protections have tried to twist the plain meaning of the statute’s wording by claiming it to be different than it reads.

To some, it could reasonably appear that LGBT employees are attempting to enlarge the definition of a law which was meant to protect women from sex discrimination back in 1964. However, the law was also meant to broadly define sex discrimination, which can happen to anyone, regardless of whether they are straight, LGBTQ or otherwise. Opponents have argued that gender identity, sexual orientation and sex discrimination have multiple different meanings in an effort to confuse the issue.

One of the arguments put forth seems to make the concept clear to me:

The argument before the Court is that sexual orientation discrimination is sex discrimination under Title VII, because when an employer fires a male employee for dating men, but does not fire a female employee who also dates men, the employer discriminates based on sex. 

History of Sex Discrimination Law is Non-Existent

Furthermore, Title VII’s ban on sex discrimination was a last-minute inclusion in the Civil Rights Act that was intended to scuttle the bill by former Congressman Howard Smith from Virginia. Apparently, Congressman Smith elicited laughter from his colleagues when he proposed this addition at the last minute. He must have been shocked when the sex discrimination law passed Congress.

As a result, the definition was left broad, without any hearings and debate to define it. Many courts and the EEOC have concluded that the law was intended to protect LGBT employees. Hopefully, the Supreme Court will do the right thing here. Nobody should be subject to sex discrimination.

A ruling, either way, is probably likely to be 5-4, either way. The swing justice is likely Justice Neil Gorsuch, who has taken the view that the text was clear in that sex discrimination could include these forms of discrimination. If the 3 employees prevail it will likely be because Justice Gorsuch and/or Kavanaugh rule with them. However, if the Court rules against LGBT employees, it will only be a matter of time before a future Supreme Court overrules them and the justices that supported this type of discrimination will be remembered poorly.

Conclusion

If you are in need of employment law representation or advice, please contact our office at 703-668-0070 or through our contact page to schedule a consultation. Please also visit and like us on Facebook or Twitter.

Startup Monday: The Arlington Couple Behind The “Candygrams” Board Game

By Kalina Newman

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.

Arlington couple Anaïs Ortiz and Johnny Landers had played just about every board game together. When thinking about what to play next, a thought occurred — what if they made their own?

After two years of trial and error (and a move to Los Angeles), Candygrams was born. The award-winning strategy board game starts with a set of 25 letter tiles. Players then roll color-coded die that determines which of their tiles they can use to build a crossword, and the first player to use all of their tiles wins.

“Johnny and I know Arlington like the back of our hand — we went through the public school system, and actually met at H-B Woodlawn,” said Ortiz. “When we decided to launch Candygrams, we knew we had the support of the Arlington community would have our backs.”

Since the game launched in 2018, it’s won six national gaming awards. The game can be bought online and is also stocked in three area stores: Sun & Moon Yoga (3811 Lee Hwy), Trade Roots (5852 Washington Blvd), and Kinder Haus Toys (1220 N. Filmore Street). 

“Needless to say, we’re excited about the holiday season,” said Ortiz. “There’s been a huge uptick in the [board game] industry, and Candygrams is no exception.”

The couple is already in the planning process for another game, this time card-based and focused on the “winds and sands of an iconic national park.”

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