News

“Pajama Mama” and the book bus are helping young Arlingtonians read

By Matt Blitz
Jennifer Sauter-Price with R.E.A.D’s book bus (staff photo by Matt Blitz)

Kids dance around tables full of books outside of Arlington Science Focus Elementary School on an overcast December afternoon. There are stories in Spanish, books about Black history, and novels about being the next president, all waiting to be picked up and read.

And parked a few feet away from the book fair is a bright blue “book bus” with a dragon painted on the side.

In the middle of it all is “Pajama Mama,” aka Jennifer Sauter-Price, dressed in her best dog pajamas. She’s the executive director of the Arlington-based nonprofit R.E.A.D. with a mission of providing brand new books to young children who may not have access to them.

R.E.A.D stands for “read early, and daily” and it’s the brainchild of Sauter-Price.

“We want to help [kids] grow libraries and encourage their families to read to them on a daily basis,” she tells ARLnow.

There’s ample research that there’s immense benefits in constantly reading to kids prior to them entering kindergarten. It improves their vocabulary and helps them associate words with feelings along with a number of other benefits, studies show.

Sauter-Price’s R.E.A.D program is simple: Families sign up and get to choose one new book a month for each kid under the age of five in their family.

“It would be really easy for me to just hand them a book, but we learned that families are more engaged when they choose their own book,” says Sauter-Price, who is a mom herself and lives in the Arlington Forest neighborhood. “They feel more empowered.”

Currently, there are about 200 children enrolled.

The books available, Sauter-Price notes, are intentionally chosen to reflect Arlington’s community.

“We have a diverse population of young children here. We have kids who speak English, Spanish, Arabic, Mongolian,” she says. “I search high and low to find those books as well as one that have a diverse set of families.”

Two bilingual books inside of R.E.A.D’s book bus (staff photo by Matt Blitz)

These are what are called “mirror and window” books, ones that reflect the child themselves (mirror) and ones that show the community they live in (window).

Sauter-Price describes a time, pre-COVID, when she showed up to a community event with a book featuring a mom wearing a hijab.

“There was a group of Muslim moms and when one of them saw [the book], they started crying,” she says. “She was like, ‘I’ve never seen this before. Thank you.'”

When asked what are the most popular books, Sauter-Price says that’s universal.

“I would probably say anything about transportation or things that go ‘vroom’,” she laughs.

The book fairs across the county that Sauter-Price puts on, like the one held at Arlington Science Focus Elementary, are revenue generators for R.E.A.D, allowing her to buy more books for more families who are in need.

In 2021 alone, Sauter-Price says the fairs have done about $125,000 in sales, much of which goes back to the program. The hope is to double those sales numbers next year.

Community donations and grants also help to finance R.E.A.D. In the summer of 2019, the program received a $50,000 grant from the newspaper publisher Gannett to spruce up an old school bus.

R.E.A.D’s book bus (staff photo by Matt Blitz)

Sauter-Price drives this bus around, brings it to fairs, while families can also shop out of it. She always dress in pajamas because, she says, “it breaks down barriers.”

Future aspirations for R.E.A.D. are high. Sauter-Price just got her peddler’s license meaning she can do “pop-up” book fairs on weekends in commercial areas like Ballston and Clarendon. She’s planning to start doing that this month. Additionally, beginning sometime early next year, the nonprofit is partnering with Virginia Hospital Center to provide a bag of books to uninsured and underinsured moms-to-be.

If R.E.A.D. is able to reach all of those moms, Sauter-Price estimates that it could mean the program could be working with as many as 1,800 babies and young kids a year.

That’s okay by Sauter-Price, who says some of her best memories are reading to her own kids. While they are both grown now and likely don’t want their mom reading to them, reading remains a huge part of Sauter-Price’s life.

She says, “I just feel like my whole life has just been sort of leading to this.”

This feature article was funded by the ARLnow Press Club and was previously published in the Press Club’s weekend newsletter.

Neighbors ask county to reconsider dense residential development planned for Pentagon City

By Jo DeVoe
RiverHouse in Pentagon City at sunset (staff photo by Jay Westcott)

A group of neighbors is calling on the county to take a moderate approach to residential redevelopment in the shadow of Amazon’s HQ2.

Next month, on Tuesday, Feb. 22, the Arlington County Board is poised to consider adopting a new planning document that lays out a vision for the next 30-plus years of growth in the Pentagon City neighborhood. The plan calls for a significant amount of redevelopment and infill development, mostly residential, more green spaces and new “biophilic” walking and biking paths.

The Pentagon City Planning Study draft was created because Amazon’s arrival exhausted nearly all the development envisioned in the 45-year-old plan currently guiding the neighborhood’s growth.

One significant source of near-term infill development would be at RiverHouse apartment complex on S. Joyce Street. Its owner, once Vornado and now JBG Smith, has long eyed redeveloping its surface parking lots and open spaces. The document recommends no more than 150 units per acre on the 36-acre site, which currently has a ratio of 49 units per acre.

That’s excessive for a complex with 1,670 units already, according to members of “RiverHouse Neighbors for Sensible Density.” The group and an associated movement, “Dense That Makes Sense,” are made of nearby residents who say a lack of community engagement has allowed the draft to move forward that recommends adding too many units to RiverHouse, among other concerns.

Pentagon City Planning Study Area (via Arlington County)

“RNSD is especially concerned about the Plan’s proposal for developer JBG Smith’s property, RiverHouse — already the fourth largest apartment complex in the Greater Washington, D.C. area,” the group said in a statement. “Because the Plan was developed without wide and diverse community representation, the Plan 1) does not represent a balanced community perspective, and 2) fails to articulate how it will deliver the community benefits it promises.”

Since August 2020, the county’s outreach has included interviewing stakeholders and property owners, asking the public to submit slides showing their vision of Pentagon City, and holding focus groups, five virtual public workshops, and a walking tour, said Erika Moore, a spokeswoman for the Department of Community Planning, Housing and Development.

They received 60 slides from community members on their vision, and 146 responses on an online engagement after a virtual open house, she told ARLnow. County staff also met with several county commissions, committees and civic associations as the plan was being drafted. In addition to emails and newsletters, she said there have been signs sharing information on the plan in public spaces.

“The population growth scenarios in the draft plan are not requirements for development,” Moore said. “The scenarios were developed to analyze implications for population growth, transportation, urban design, economic development, and other factors.”

This is not a new concern. Neighbors pushed back against JBG Smith’s 2019 proposal to add 1,000 units to the site (for a density of 72 units per acre) and at the time, some Arlington County officials and planners were also skeptical of the plan. Now, the new plan’s upward limit of 150 units per acre has some Dense That Makes Sense members longing for JBG Smith’s initial plans.

With seven weeks until the County Board is set to vote, the group is urging the Board to pause the plan.

(more…)

Community pushes back on renovations for new restaurant at former Green Valley Pharmacy

By Matt Blitz
Green Valley Pharmacy (staff photo by Matt Blitz)

The new restaurant at the former Green Valley Pharmacy won’t be opening until later this year due to some pushback from the community.

The local Arlington landmark at 2415 Shirlington Road is currently undergoing extensive renovations to transform it from a seven-decade-old pharmacy that served the Green Valley neighborhood into a kabob and burger eatery called “Halal Spot.”

However, those renovations are on hold as the Green Valley Civic Association and the county continue to review architecture plans for the new restaurant, a number of people involved in the project tell ARLnow.

The Green Valley Pharmacy opened in 1952 as the only lunch counter and pharmacy to serve Arlington’s Black community during the Jim Crow era. It was owned and operated by Dr. Leonard “Doc” Muse, a graduate of the Howard University School of Pharmacy.

The property was designated by the county as a local historic landmark and district in 2013, with a historic marker placed there in 2014.

But in late 2017, Muse died and the pharmacy has been closed since.

In August 2019, Muse’s daughter agreed to allow Arlington resident Nasir Ahmad, who also owns restaurants in Sterling and Fredericksburg, to rent the building and open a new eatery there.

It took more than 18 months for a buildout permit to be submitted in March 2021. In August of that year, it was approved by the county (the permit notes the restaurant’s name as “Time Square Grill,” but Ahmad told ARLnow in September that was simply a placeholder).

Months later, the project and renovations are still in limbo.

Last week, the Green Valley Civic Association held a meeting with members during which Ahmad provided an update on the proposed renovations.

Coming out of the meeting, the community’s concerns remained, civic association president Portia Clark tells ARLnow. Those are related to parking, signage and renovations that could impact the historical integrity of the building.

A catching point seems to be a walk-in cooler that is to be built at the back of the building with a pass-thru or doorway to it. Constructing the cooler would require knocking out a wall and removing a chimney, both historic components of the building, says Clark.

Parking is also an issue. Clark argues there aren’t enough spots available in the parking lot to accommodate the number of seats in the restaurant, in accordance with county code.

Additionally, the historic “Green Valley Pharmacy” signage has been removed. Clark says the civic association would like the restaurant’s name to include “Green Valley Pharmacy.”

“One of the only things left was the name,” says Clark. “Now, there’s no reflection of that.”

Despite these concerns, Clark remains okay with the restaurant moving in and hopes the owner continues to work with the community.

The project’s architect, Pat Snyder, believes there are places for compromise and working together. Learning about the history of Doc Muse and the pharmacy made her realize how important the building is to the community.

“We want the building to reflect that history,” Snyder says.

The current plan is to have pharmacy and Doc Muse-related artifacts and memorabilia on display in the restaurant, notes Snyder.

“There are a lot of things left [in the pharmacy],” she says. “We can collect it and display it to the public.”

She also thinks the idea of painting murals on the side of the building, an idea that was brought up at the civic association meeting, would be “wonderful.”

“We could draw in all of the historic elements and brighten up an otherwise gray, block building,” Snyder says.

Of course, most of these renovations or elements can not happen without county approval.

Since the pharmacy building is protected in the Arlington County local historic district, any proposed exterior alterations must be approved by the Historical Affairs and Landmark Review Board’s (HALRB) design review process.

(more…)

Free Covid testing kiosk opens at Central Library near Quincy Park

By Brandi Bottalico
People stand in line at the recently opened COVID-19 testing kiosk at Central Library (staff photo by Matt Blitz)

A free Covid testing kiosk opened Monday at Central Library near Quincy Park.

Arlington County sponsors the new kiosk that Curative operates daily between 9 a.m. and 7 p.m. at 3809 10th Street N., the southwest corner of the park near the tennis courts.

No symptoms or doctor referral is required but the county says you must make an appointment through the Curative website as the company works through lab backlogs. Staff at the site on Monday said they were allowing walk-ups, however.

Patients administer their own COVID-19 nasal swab test under the supervision of a Curative worker and receive results in 48 to 72 hours.

Parking is available at the library and park’s surface lots or the Central Library parking garage after 10 a.m.

In addition to a testing site at Marymount University that opened this week, Curative already operates three Arlington County-sponsored sites at:

  • Arlington Mill Community Center parking lot (909 S. Dinwiddie St.), which is closed due to an electric issue that requires the delivery of a new kiosk
  • Courthouse Plaza parking lot (2088 15th St. N.; corner of 15th St. N. & N. Courthouse Rd.)
  • Virginia Highlands Park parking lot (1600 S. Hayes St.)

The Curative kiosks are administering an average of 8,500 PCR tests a week, up from an average of about 2,900 tests per week at the end of November/start of December, said Arlington County Community Engagement and Resilience Manager Tania Bougebrayel Cohn. Each kiosk can administer about 400 PCR tests a day.

There have been numerous closures of the Curative sites over the past couple of weeks — due to test and staffing shortages — but the county is working quickly to open additional testing sites to meet community demand as staff and supply chain-related shortages continue to affect the kiosks, she said.

“Demand for COVID-19 testing is at an all-time high. By adding an additional testing site, located in a densely populated Metro corridor, we hope to help meet that demand and remove barriers to testing access for all Arlingtonians,” said Dr. Aaron Miller, Director of the Department of Public Safety Communications and Emergency Management.

The full announcement from Arlington County is below.

(more…)

Morning Notes

By Brandi Bottalico
Some remaining snow on a Courthouse sidewalk (staff photo by Jay Westcott)

DCA Has One of TSA’s ‘Top 10 Catches’ of 2021 — “On March 6, 2021, TSA officers at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA) stopped a traveler carrying a well-worn, heavy-duty, wooden-handled machete. Officers noted the blade showed significant wear, as if it had seen a lot of use.” [Patch]

Arlington Apartment Rentals Rebound — “After falling 13 percent in 2020 as the pandemic roared in, median apartment rents in Arlington were up a tidy 16.8 percent in 2021, according to new data, leaving renters paying more now than they did before the COVID crisis started.” [Sun Gazette]

Hundreds Use SoberRide Over Holidays — “While the count was impacted by the ongoing pandemic, 461 individuals in the Washington region availed themselves of a SoberRide free ride home during the holiday period, the sponsoring organization said on Jan. 6.” [Sun Gazette]

State Police Give Arlington Company Kudos — “The state police said a trooper waved a group of men from CG Remodeling Services of Arlington driving by to ask for a shovel, and instead ‘they all jumped out of their trucks and dug the motorist out in minutes and got them safely on their way again.'” [WJLA]

County Board Names Commission Leaders — The delegations to the advisory boards, which range from groups on transportation to housing to economic development, will run through the end of 2022. [Sun Gazette]

It’s Tuesday — Today will be sunny, with a high near 28. Northwest wind 5 to 10 mph. Sunrise at 7:26 a.m. and sunset at 5:06 p.m. Tomorrow will be sunny and a bit warmer, with a high near 43 and south wind 7 to 11 mph, with gusts as high as 20 mph. [Weather.gov]

Police: Man armed with gun took cash from tip jar in Rosslyn

By ARLnow.com

(Updated at 4 p.m.) Arlington County police responded to a pair of gun crimes in and near Rosslyn over the weekend.

The first happened around 4:30 p.m. Sunday on the 1500 block of 17th Street N. Arlington police do not typically reveal which businesses have been the victims of crimes, but that’s the same block at the standalone Rosslyn Starbucks store.

“At approximately 4:31 p.m. on January 9, police were dispatched to the report of an armed robbery,” said an ACPD crime report today. “Upon arrival, it was determined that the suspect entered the business, approached the register, brandished a firearm and stole money from a tip jar. The suspect then fled the scene on foot. Responding officers established a perimeter and searched the area with negative results.”

Less than an hour later, there was a report of a similar tip jar robbery by an armed man in D.C., near Metro Center. Initial reports suggested that a suspect was arrested.

Asked whether police believe the two incidents are related, ACPD spokeswoman Ashley Savage said she “cannot provide any additional details as [the D.C. robbery] is being investigated by the Metropolitan Police Department.”

“The robbery in Arlington has been assigned to our Homicide/Robbery Unit and our detectives are actively working with our law enforcement partners to determine if it is linked to any other cases in the region,” said Savage.

On Sunday night, another reported gun crime — the theft of a gun and a shot fired by the fleeing suspect — happened just west of Rosslyn along the 2500 block of 20th Road N.

“At approximately 10:46 p.m. on January 9, police were dispatched to the report of shots heard,” said an ACPD crime report. “It was determined that the suspect stole Victim One’s firearm and a verbal dispute ensued when he attempted to get it back. The suspect allegedly discharged the firearm before fleeing the scene on foot. No injuries were reported.”

The suspect was identified and tracked down to the nearby Inns of Virginia motel.

“Officers identified the suspect, obtained warrants and determined he was inside a hotel room in the 3300 block of Lee Highway,” said the crime report. “Responding officers established a perimeter and took the suspect into custody without incident. The investigation determined that while inside the hotel room, the suspect allegedly became involved in a verbal dispute with Victim Two, during which he brandished the firearm and threatened her.”

The suspect, a 38-year-old Maryland man, “was arrested and charged with Discharge of a Firearm, Grand Larceny of a Firearm, Possession of a Firearm by a Felon and Brandishing a Firearm,” police said. “He was held without bond.”

Covid cases hit new record in Arlington, but test positivity rate starts to trend down

By ARLnow.com
Covid cases in Arlington as of Jan. 10, 2022 (via Virginia Dept. of Health)

(Updated at 1:25 p.m.) There’s some hope that the current Omicron wave of Covid cases in the D.C. area may be near a peak, but new data in Arlington is a mixed bag in terms of whether that’s actually the case.

The county’s seven-day moving average of new cases hit a fresh high today, with 548 new cases being reported each day, on average. Saturday also reached a new single-day case record, with 867 new cases.

After weeks of staying low, Covid hospitalizations have also taken an upturn amid the surge of new cases. Five new hospitalizations were reported today in Arlington, bringing the seven-day moving average to just below three hospitalizations per day.

Covid hospitalizations in Arlington as of Jan. 10, 2022 (via Virginia Dept. of Health)

No new deaths have been reported in Arlington so far in 2022, but according to the Virginia Dept. of Health that may be delays in implementing a new way of classifying Covid fatalities.

Regardless, the county’s high vaccination rate likely has contributed to the relative lack of serious illness and death. As of today, 94.6% of the adult population in Arlington has been vaccinated.

Former FDA Commissioner Dr. Scott Gottlieb said on CBS’s Face the Nation this weekend that he believes the Omicron wave is peaking in Mid-Atlantic cities, including in the D.C. area.

While the case data is still pointing upward, the test positivity rate in Arlington has taken a downturn, perhaps supporting the idea that a peak is near.

The Covid test positivity rate peaked at 29.3% on Jan. 2 in Arlington. It has come down since then and currently stands at 27.1%.

Covid positivity rate in Arlington as of Jan. 10, 2022 (via Virginia Dept. of Health)

Statewide, Virginia hospitals say they’ve surpassed the peak Covid hospitalization numbers of January 2021, straining the healthcare system.

On Monday afternoon, Gov. Ralph Northam announced that he was taking steps to temporarily increase hospital capacity in the Commonwealth.

A press release noted that “modeling… suggests the virus will peak in the next few weeks.”

Governor Northam today took steps to increase Virginia’s hospital capacity and support healthcare workers responding to COVID-19, after a record number of hospitalizations were posted on Friday of last week. He issued a limited 30-day order to expand the number of available hospital beds, increase staffing capacity at hospitals and nursing homes, and allow public health agencies greater flexibility in responding to the COVID-19 pandemic. The limited duration is based on modeling that suggests the virus will peak in the next few weeks.

“Health care workers and hospitals are exhausted, and they are again facing increasing numbers of patients, affecting their ability to provide care,” Governor Northam said. “These steps will help ease the strain, giving medical professionals more flexibility to care for people. Ultimately, the best thing everyone can do for our hospitals and their staff is to get vaccinated.”

Here in Arlington, Virginia Hospital Center ER chief Mike Silverman wrote in his weekly Facebook update that “the number of new cases we’re diagnosing is on a whole different scale than previous surges.”

First off, we are diagnosing a lot of COVID in the emergency department. Patients classified as being symptomatic are testing at a 64% positivity rate. That is up from 59% last week. The good news is we had less symptomatic patients this week than during the holiday week and an overall decline of about 20% of new positive cases among this group of people. It is really crazy to look at the graph that I have kept throughout the pandemic because the number of new cases we’re diagnosing is on a whole different scale than previous surges. We’re seeing 5 times more positive cases among our symptomatic patients that in either of the previous surges. We’re also doing a considerable amount of testing on patients that are classified as asymptomatic. As a reminder, these are patients generally being admitted to the hospital for non-COVID related reasons or have symptoms that are not consistent with COVID. The positivity rate among these patients was less than 1% last week of November. This week, it was over 29%, up from 24% the week previous.

“The Coronavirus is not done with us yet,” Silverman’s post concluded.

Morning Notes

By ARLnow.com
Snowvid-19, at Westover Baptist Church (staff photo by Jay Westcott)

Icy Conditions Possible This Morning — “The risk of dangerous driving conditions will continue Monday morning — after freezing rain coated parts of the D.C. region Sunday — with the potential for wet roads to refreeze overnight.” [WTOP, Twitter]

Mail Delivery Complaints in 22207 — The local Nextdoor social network was abuzz last week with mail delivery complaints from residents of northern Arlington neighborhoods, specifically in the 22207 zip code. Amid snowstorms and a Covid wave, residents reported not receiving any mail for several days. A spokesman for Rep. Don Beyer (D-Va.) tells ARLnow that the congressman’s office “had a call with USPS” on Thursday. “Rep. Beyer is working on getting answers on why this is happening (snow is a factor but it seems like many of the issues preceded the storm) and trying to get it fixed,” the spokesman wrote.

Citizen Police Academy Applications Open — “The Arlington County Police Department is now accepting applications for the 26th Community Police Academy (CPA), formerly the Citizen’s Police Academy. The CPA is an educational program designed to create better understanding and communication between police and the community they serve. The intent of the CPA is to make participants aware of how the Arlington County Police Department operates and its role in the community.” [ACPD]

It’s Monday — Today will be sunny, with a high near 34. Northwest wind 11 to 15 mph, with gusts as high as 32 mph. Sunrise at 7:27 a.m. and sunset at 5:05 p.m. Tomorrow will be sunny and chilly, with a high near 28 and a northwest wind 6 to 11 mph. [Weather.gov]

Arlington recommends doubling CDC’s quarantine period for child care

By Jo DeVoe
Arlington County Health Director Dr. Reuben Varghese in March 2020 (via Arlington County)

Local child care centers will have to stay the course with longer quarantine and isolation periods, says Arlington County’s Public Health Division.

That could mean multiple contingency plans for parents with kids in child care, who have already weathered holiday closures and winter-weather closures. (Many facilities follow the snow closure or delay lead of Arlington Public Schools, which was closed all week.)

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shortened isolation and quarantine periods last month to five days for the general population. This week, the CDC announced it will be bringing its guidelines for K-12 schools in alignment with the shortened quarantine and isolation.

But the changes have been met with some criticism. The American Medical Association called them “confusing and counterproductive” and other medical providers have said they’re “reckless.”

There’s one place where the new quarantine and isolation guidelines won’t go into effect, save for fully vaccinated and boosted staff: Arlington’s child care settings.

That’s because Arlington’s littlest kids either should not wear a mask or do not wear them reliably, meaning the spread of the highly transmissible Omicron variant is highly likely in these settings, according to the public health division.

“A full 10-day isolation and quarantine period was recommended because of the difficulty to enforce mask wearing in such a young population (i.e. children under 2 years old should not wear a mask),” Public Health spokesman Ryan Hudson told ARLnow.

The interim guidance came out Wednesday, as Arlington and the Northern Virginia region continue to see high levels of COVID-19 transmission, and will be in effect until the CDC comes out with guidance specific to child care settings — which are known as places where kids pick up all kinds of germs.

“The CDC’s recent updates to shorten the isolation and quarantine period are for the general population, including K-12 school settings,” Hudson said. “In absence of specific guidance from the CDC regarding child care centers, Arlington County Public Health provided interim guidelines, subject to change based on updates from the CDC.”

One local child care provider that had started implementing the new CDC guidance acknowledged the flip-flop may cause disruption for families.

“We had been following the recent CDC 5 day isolation period, which we confirmed with [the Virginia] Department of Health last week,” the facility’s director wrote. “However, in light of the omicron variant and the current surge, Arlington County has recently announced interim guidelines for child care settings which we must follow. We understand that this recent change is frustrating but we are our trying our best to follow the policies, which do keep changing.”

Pre-pandemic child care was in short supply in Arlington, as it was in many parts of the country, in part because of a shortage of child care workers. The pandemic has exacerbated these realities and forced many parents, especially mothers, to quit their jobs.

Board Chair Katie Cristol, who has worked on a number of efforts to fight the local child care shortage, says she’s still learning about the new recommendations and the tensions that public health professionals and child care providers have to navigate right now.

But the biggest challenge facing child care providers during the pandemic remains staffing, which the guidelines could exacerbate.

“From my conversations with providers, their biggest challenges over the last year have been with staffing,” Cristol said. “I think this reflects the general upheaval in the labor market, as well as the ongoing difficulty of affording high-quality staff in a very low-margin business, and — at least anecdotally — the challenge of recruiting and retaining staff seems to be making it hard for some providers to expand hours or capacity as they try to adjust back to ‘normal’ after the first year of the pandemic.”

To boost child care employee recruitment during this time, the county has provided training and is working with the local Richmond delegation to pass legislation that would improve how benefits like retirement and health care get to employees.

“It remains a big challenge, for certain,” she said.

The county also supports centers through ongoing health consultations and informational resources, and has run targeted vaccination clinics for child care providers and employees, Cristol noted.

The new Arlington Public Health guidelines for local child care providers are below.

(more…)

Work begins on George Mason University’s $235 million Arlington campus expansion

By Matt Blitz
1/5

George Mason University is breaking ground on the massive $235 million expansion of its Arlington campus.

“This is the start of something big for Mason,” Carol Kissal, the university’s senior vice president for administration and finance, said in a statement. “And when it’s done, it will have fundamentally changed our campus, as well as the broader Arlington community.”

Initial work is beginning this week, a GMU spokesperson confirms to ARLnow, despite the weather. A formal groundbreaking is set for the spring to coincide with the university’s 50th anniversary, we’re told.

Right now, there’s a hole at Fairfax Drive in Virginia Square where the old Kann’s Department store once stood. That was demolished in March to make way for a 400,000 square-foot building that will be the centerpiece of the expansion.

As construction gets underway, fencing will go up mostly around the driveway of the FDIC building on N. Monroe Street, a press release notes. Excavation and relocating of an underground storm pipe, water line, and electric line will also take place. There will be drilling, as well, to install beams to support sheeting and shoring.

Neighbors are being told to expect some impacts from construction during the multi-year project.

“There may be some noise. You may feel some vibrations,” said a GMU facilities manager in the press release. “But it’s all safe and done in compliance with rules and requirements. The reality is, the end result will be worth it.”

The building will house faculty from Institute for Digital InnovAtion and the university’s new School of Computing. The university is expected to occupy about 60% of the space with the remaining 40% potentially leased to private companies.

The university is predicting that the expansion, which was planned in the wake of Amazon’s decision to open its HQ2 here, will add 3,000 to 4,000 students to the Arlington campus by the time it opens in the summer of 2025.

While it may be a gaping hole now and a state-of-the-art university facility later, the Fairfax Drive site was in the past the Arlington outpost of the popular D.C.-based Kann’s Department Store. The store featured three floors, an escalator, and some unusual attractions. Apparently, the shoe department had a large glass-windowed display with live spider monkeys from Brazil.

In 1975, the university bought the building and turned it into its law school. At the time, it was believed to be the only law school in the country to have an escalator.

Morning Notes

By ARLnow.com
Snowy bridge in Rock Spring Park (Flickr pool photo by Wolfkann)

New Leadership for Local Dems — “The Arlington County Democratic Committee went with the more centrist option on Jan. 5, electing Steve Baker to a two-year term as party chair. Baker defeated Matt Royer in the balloting, held at the party’s biennial reorganization meeting. Baker promised to use his leadership post as ‘a collaboration and a partnership’ and ‘keep Arlington Democrats a big-tent party.'” [Sun Gazette]

W&OD Bridge Work Has Started — From BikeArlington: “Work on the @WODTrail bridge [near the caboose] was delayed but has begun today. Please follow detour signs onto the Four Mile Run Trail.” [Twitter]

Amazon Donates to Local Nonprofit — “Amazon.com Inc. donated $25,000 to Arlington nonprofit Boolean Girl to support the organization’s workshops that teach young students how to code and build electronics. Amazon’s gift from November boosts the Clubhouse educational program to meet weekly instead of monthly.” [Washington Business Journal]

It’s Friday — Following the overnight snowfall, today will be sunny, with a high near 30. Northwest wind 13 to 16 mph, with gusts as high as 31 mph. Sunrise at 7:29 a.m. and sunset at 5:02 p.m. Saturday will be sunny, with a high near 33. Sunday there’s chance of freezing rain and sleet before 9 a.m, then rain likely. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 44. [Weather.gov]

Flickr pool photo by Wolfkann

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