Although management under Marriott International, Inc. ended on Jan. 31, Boston-based Sonesta International Hotels has been preparing for the transition since last year.
While other hotels shut their doors in 2020, Sonesta started opening them. In fact, Sonesta acquired the Rosslyn hotel and 97 other Marriott-branded hotels in October because the hotelier had fallen behind on payments to property owner Service Properties Trust (SVC), the trust said.
“This is a momentous time for the company, underscoring the continued growth and amplifying the long-term success of Sonesta and its branded hotels,” according to Sonesta’s website.
Last fall, after it said it attempted and failed to collect $11 million in missed payments from the hotel chain, SVC ended its 26-year relationship with Marriott. The international hotel chain lost 122 hotels, which together had only generated $2.6 million in eight months.
Sonesta, which is 34% owned by SVC, took on the management of 98 of the 122 hotels. The remaining 24 hotels were sold for more than $150 million.
“We believe that the rebranding of these hotels with Sonesta will benefit SVC as an owner of Sonesta, create greater flexibility in managing these hotels through these challenging market conditions and have a positive impact on this portfolio’s performance in the future,” said SVC President and CEO John Murray in a statement last fall.
Sonesta has experienced 350% growth in less than six months, and will soon have 300 operating properties across seven brands operating in North and South America, Egypt and St. Maarten, according to a press release.
The growth comes amid early signs of recovery in the hard-hit hotel industry. Still, travel is not projected to bounce back fully until 2024, according to some projections.
(Updated at 1:50 p.m.) The celebration of George Washington’s birthday may be a state and federal holiday, but it will not be observed on a county level in Arlington this year.
The holiday colloquially known as Presidents Day — technically a federal holiday called Washington’s Birthday and a Virginia state holiday called George Washington Day — will be a day just like any other for most Arlington County offices and personnel.
Because Election Day was deemed a county holiday and an off day for many rank-and-file county employees this year, this coming Monday, Feb. 15 was removed from Arlington’s closure calendar.
“Presidents Day/George Washington Day is not holiday this year,” county spokeswoman Jennifer K. Smith confirmed to ARLnow. “Instead, this year, Election Day was a holiday. Presidents Day expected to be back as a holiday in the next fiscal year.”
As it’s not a county holiday, county offices and facilities will remain open, with some exceptions — like the county permitting office, which will be closed. Contrary to what ARLnow was initially told by the county, parking meters will not be enforced.
“To maintain consistency with metered parking enforcement practices on Columbus Day (which is also a federal holiday, but not a county holiday), metered parking will not be enforced on Monday,” Arlington County Police Department spokeswoman Kirby Clark said in an email Wednesday afternoon.
Courts and public schools, meanwhile, will be closed due to the state holiday, and Arlington Transit buses will operate on a reduced schedule.
The proposed layout of St. Charles Borromeo Church (Image via St. Charles Church)
Current St. Charles Borromeo Church layout (Image via St. Charles Borromeo/Edited by Jo DeVoe)
St. Charles Borromeo Catholic Church in Clarendon (file photo)
St. Charles Borromeo Catholic Church in Clarendon (file photo)
St. Charles Borromeo Catholic Church in Clarendon (file photo)
St. Charles Borromeo Catholic Church in Clarendon (file photo)
St. Charles Borromeo Catholic Church in Clarendon (file photo)
St. Charles Borromeo Catholic Church in Clarendon is proposing to lease part of its campus for private development and to make its grounds greener and more walkable.
The mid-century church sits on two-and-a-half acres of land wedged among Washington Blvd to the north, N. Kirkwood Road to the west and Fairfax Drive to the south. Parking occupies much of the lot, with the church and its auxiliary spaces lining N. Kirkwood Road and Fairfax Drive.
New renderings, however, reposition the church at the corner of Washington and Wilson Blvd, closer to Clarendon, with parish spaces and a private residential building fanning out behind the church. The building is likely to be an apartment building with a 100-child preschool at the base.
Currently a through-road and one-way loop wrapping around parking, Fairfax Drive would be converted into a walkable plaza. This “enables a comprehensive, pedestrian-friendly connection to Virginia Square and addresses north-south pedestrian access,” according to an architect’s report. Church parking would be accessible from Washington Blvd.
Bike lanes would be rerouted along the south side of the plaza to reduce interactions with pedestrians, the report said. The buildings would provide internal access to protected open spaces — a cloister, a playground and a courtyard.
St. Charles pastor Fr. Don Planty said in a January report the parish has spent the last three-and-a-half years studying the land, working with lawyers and architects and projecting potential costs. Recently, the project turned a corner.
Planty said in the report that Bishop Michael Burbridge of the Diocese of Arlington “has approved our recommendation to move forward with our project, seeking a development partner.” (Diocesan laws require the bishop to approve all developments.)
“This marks an exciting transition for us: we have long spoken about the ‘potential’ redevelopment of our site,” he wrote. “We now set about the exciting business of turning our vision into a reality.”
St. Charles plans to lease the western half of its site to a private developer, which would fund the changes proposed for the sacred half of the site.
Drafting a Request for Proposal and selecting a development partner could take six months or more, but would “clear the path for local government approvals and eventual construction,” Planty said.
Although the pastor described the future as promising, he said “we still have a lot of work to do.”
Like other proposed developments, including mixed-use buildings where Joyce Motors used to be and on the Wells Fargo/Verizon Site, aspects of the church’s proposed changes will not meet guidelines in the 2006 Clarendon Sector Plan. In preparation for these developments, Arlington County began mulling over changes to the sector plan in February 2020.
This winter, the county sought feedback on how people feel cycling and walking along Fairfax Drive and Wilson Boulevard between Clarendon Circle and N. Kirkwood Road and what could be done to improve the experience. This area includes St. Charles’s proposed pedestrian plaza and rerouted bike lanes.
Confusion Over CVS Vaccine Reservations — “The confusion began early Tuesday morning, with people reaching out to ABC7 to express their frustration over the COVID-19 vaccine registration process at CVS pharmacies in Virginia. ‘They didn’t do what they said they were going to do, and it’s just really frustrating,’ said Roxanne Grandis, who’s been trying to make vaccine appointments for her elderly parents.” [WJLA]
Some Kudos For County Vaccination Effort — “Virginia’s been struggling for weeks to administer vaccine doses. Out of the 1.38 million doses the Commonwealth received, officials only injected 1.1 million. That’s roughly 80%. Meanwhile, Arlington County is setting the standard at 97%. How did they do it? With other areas struggling, how did Arlington Public Health succeed on all levels? Local officials say it’s been a team effort.” [The Dogwood]
Chase Young’s Arlington Connection — “Washington Football Team defensive end Chase Young, whose father was in law enforcement, testified before the Maryland House Judiciary Committee on Tuesday, expressing support for police reform… Young, named the NFL’s Defensive Rookie of the Year on Saturday, grew up in Prince George’s County, Maryland, but his father spent 22 years as a police officer in Arlington, Virginia.” [ESPN]
Arlington Man Running for Governor — “Another Northern Virginia executive is joining the Republican race for governor. Peter Doran of Arlington said Tuesday he is seeking this year’s GOP gubernatorial nomination. It is his first run for office.” [Associated Press]
Arlington Dems Eye High Rises — “Mid-rise and high-rise living represents a large swath of the Arlington population, and ‘many of them are inaccessible to outside groups,’ said Carol Fontein, who heads the robust precinct-operations efforts of Arlington Democrats. As a result, the party aims to recruit those living in multi-family complexes to help with outreach – within the limits set by owners of the properties.” [InsideNova]
Metro’s entire Blue Line is being shut down for more than three months starting Saturday.
The closing of the Blue Line, which runs through parts of Arlington, is due to platform reconstruction work being performed at the Arlington Cemetery station. Additionally, work is being done at the Addison Road station in Maryland. The project was announced last year.
The next phase of Metro’s Platform Improvement Project begins on February 13 at Addison Rd and Arlington Cemetery Stations. As a reminder, these stations will be closed and Blue Line service will not operate through May 23.
Both the station and the Blue Line are planning to reopen on May 23.
A shuttle bus will run between the Rosslyn, Arlington Cemetery, and Pentagon stations during the project. The shuttles will run every 12 minutes Monday through Friday and every 15 minutes on the weekends. They will not stop at Arlington Cemetery after 7 p.m.
The construction work is part of a massive effort to reconstruct, modernize, and update station platforms throughout the system.
The work being done at the Arlington Cemetery station will include adding slip-resistant tiles, brighter LED canopy lighting, and lighted handrails on stairs. There will also be new platform shelters equipped with charging ports, improved platform speakers and PA system, better information screens, and renovated bathrooms.
This is the same type of work that closed down parts of the Orange Line and the entire Silver Line over the summer.
Normally, this type of work and necessary shutdown happens during the summer time when Metro ridership is historically lower. But with ridership down as much as 90% due to the pandemic, the Blue Line shut down is being initiated earlier in the year.
A former Columbia Pike business has inspired a state bill that would allow localities greater say over liquor licenses.
HB 2131 was introduced in the Virginia House of Delegates last month by Del. Alfonso Lopez, who represents Arlington — including portions of the Pike — in the 49th District.
It has since passed the House unanimously and is now in the Virginia State Senate.
The bill is a response to a number of incidents, including multiple shootings, that took place in 2020 at the nightlife venue Purple Ethiopian Restaurant & Lounge at 3111 Columbia Pike.
Despite “a series of disturbing events” and much to the chagrin of the Arlington County Board, the venue was given its liquor license back by the Virginia Alcoholic Beverage Control Authority in September.
While the Purple Lounge has since closed, HB 2131 would allow greater input from localities about what businesses are granted liquor licenses by the Virginia ABC. It would add “chief administrative officer of a locality” to the list of those sent license applications. In Arlington County’s case, that’s the County Manager.
It also would expand the definition of “criminal blight,” meaning a condition on the property that endangers the public health or safety of local residents, thus making it easier for a license to be denied in cases of criminal activity.
Delegate Lopez tells ARLnow that he believes that this is the most important part of the bill.
“We’ve tightened the firearm section. In the past it had said repeated use of firearms,” says Lopez. “What we’ve done is [added] the simple discharge of a firearm once now it rises to the level of the criminal statute.”
The bill also adds “in possession” of a controlled substance, as opposed to just “under the influence,” and includes criminal activity that takes place on the property — like, in the parking lot — as opposed to simply in a building.
“It is easier now for community groups to give proof [of criminal activity],” says Lopez. “It’s easier for localities to meet the threshold by which they can report a bad actor establishment to ABC.”
Virginia ABC remains the only agency that can suspend or revoke liquor licenses.
While the frustration in the community over the Purple Lounge directly influenced this bill, Lopez says that he’s heard of similar situations in other Virginia jurisdictions.
Kristi Sawert, President of the Arlington Heights Civic Associations, is one of the local leaders that helped bring attention to the matter. She says “a lot of bad things were happening” at the Purple Lounge that were upsetting and scaring residents.
Sawert says too often she felt that the local civic associations were “kind of shut out of the process” when it came to the Virginia ABC making decisions and settling liquor license disputes. She applauds this bill since it gives Arlington County more tools and more say in preventing businesses like this from operating in neighborhoods.
She also thinks it would be advantageous to include civic associations on the list of those that would receive liquor license applications.
“99.9% of the time, there’s no issue at all with any type of business getting their alcohol license,” says Sawert. “This would give another opportunity for civic associations in Arlington a chance to weigh in on what’s going on in their boundaries. I think it’s just more information.”
Arlington County Board Chair Matt de Ferranti also agrees with the bill.
“Arlington was supportive of this legislation, which is why Board Member Takis Karantonis provided testimony before the House General Laws Committee on behalf of the Board,” he writes to ARLnow. “We appreciate Delegate Lopez’s efforts on behalf of our residents in this matter.”
The bill was referred to the Committee on Rehabilitation and Social Services in the Virginia State Senate on Feb. 4.
Lopez remains optimistic that it will pass the Senate, be signed by the governor, and become state law.
“I am hopeful that it will pass the Senate,” he says. “But, you know, the Senate is very different than the House.”
Arlington Man Dies in Texas Crash — “Early Sunday morning, police responded to a three-vehicle crash which resulted in a man’s death and an arrest of a 42-year-old woman… The driver involved in the head-on collision with Sanchez, identified as 33-year-old Eyob Demoze of Arlington, Virginia, died at the hospital.” [Fox 29]
TSA Catches Loaded Gun at DCA — “Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officers caught an Arlington County, Virginia, man with a 9mm handgun loaded with seven bullets including one in the chamber at a Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport security checkpoint early this morning, Monday, Feb. 8.” [Press Release]
Historic Marker to Mark Fmr. Trolly Stop — “The Arlington Historical Affairs and Landmark Review Board has approved placement of a marker to denote the one-time ‘Livingstone Station’ on the Washington & Old Dominion Railway. The marker will be placed at Old Dominion Drive and 24th Street North, which was believed to be the location of the station. 24th Street originally was known as Livingston Ave.” [InsideNova]
Marymount Students Top Nat’l Contest — “Two Marymount University students achieved national recognition for video stories they created to illustrate how the resurgent civil rights activism of 2020 and the ongoing movement for racial equality has personally impacted them.” [Marymount University]
Syphax Descendant Holds History Talks — “His pandemic-era Zoom talks have included exploration of family patriarch William Syphax (circa 1773-1850), who bought his freedom in 1817 and set up a business next to the historic Carlyle House in Alexandria. This Syphax worked with a neighbor, Quaker pharmacist and abolitionist Edward Stabler, to save money to free the rest of his family.” [Falls Church News-Press]
Commuting Hazard This Morning? — From the Capital Weather Gang last night: “We can’t rule out some very light, spotty mixed precip before/around sunrise Tues. Slight chance of slick roads mainly N & W of Beltway.” [Twitter]
Planned coffee shop and restaurant The Freshman, at 2011 Crystal Drive in Crystal City, could open in a few months after being in the works for a little over two years.
Owner Nick Freshman told ARLnow that he’s looking at opening The Freshman sometime in April or May, though no date is set in stone yet.
A limited version of the restaurant had opened as a pop-up in Crystal City Shops in 2019 and all the signs of an impending opening were in place last year, but a plan to ride out the pandemic has been less feasible as the virus’s impacts continue to drag on. Freshman, who also owns Clarendon bar Spider Kelly’s, said he remains optimistic about a turn-around ahead.
“We are facing the same challenges to opening as so many others in the business, but we have been fortunate to be able to wait this out,” Freshman said. “I am optimistic that things are starting to turn a corner, but we are still a long ways away from a return to normalcy as far as dining out. I am hopeful that vaccinations will continue to increase in pace, and that along with Spring will make people feel safer about dining out.”
Vaccination numbers are on the rise in Arlington, but Freshman said the success of The Freshman is also partially contingent on a return of office workers to buildings around Crystal City, which may lag vaccinations by months.
“It sounds like it will be well into the Summer or even Fall before most people return to their offices, and that is a big part of our business model here in National Landing, but our style and product will appeal to the many residents who live here, and we hope to be able to serve them this Spring,” Freshman said. “In the meantime, it has been great to be able to serve a part of our community through our partnership with Hook Hall Helps.”
“It was certainly not how I planned to open the doors to the restaurant, but we are a community-focused business, and there are people right here in the National Landing and Arlington community that are hurting,” Freshman said. “I feel very fortunate to be able to use the space to help in some way while we wait to serve the entire community.”
Two male suspects in a stolen car robbed a woman while threatening another who tried to photograph them, according to Arlington County police.
The incident happened Friday afternoon around 4:30 p.m., near the intersection of S. Eads Street and 15th Street S. in the Crystal City area, across from Amazon’s future HQ2.
Police say the first victim was leaving a business at 1425 S. Eads Street — an apartment building with a bank and other businesses on the ground floor — when the men approached her, brandished a gun, and demanded her belongings. During the robbery, a woman in the victim’s vehicle started making noise and photographing the suspects, leading one to point the gun at her before both fled the scene.
More from an Arlington County Police Department crime report:
ARMED ROBBERY, 2021-02050197, 1425 S. Eads Street. At approximately 4:34 p.m. on February 5, police were dispatched to the report of an armed robbery just occurred. Upon arrival, it was determined that the victim had exited a business and was returning to her vehicle when the two male suspects approached her. Suspect One brandished a firearm, and demanded her personal belongings. A second victim was inside the vehicle, and upon hearing Victim One yelling, she attempted to make noise and photograph the suspects, however, Suspect One then pointed the firearm at her. Both suspects fled in a vehicle prior to police arrival. During the course of the investigation, it was determined that the suspect vehicle had previously been reported stolen earlier in the day. Suspect One is described as a Black male, wearing a black mask, black sweater with the hood on, and black pants. Suspect Two is described as a juvenile Black male, wearing a black mask, black sweater with the hood on, and black pants.
Arlington County is asking residents how and when they use athletic fields.
The County’s Public Spaces Master Plan, adopted in April 2019, calls for a public survey every five years to garner feedback to determine how and when Arlingtonians use the available athletic fields.
The collected data will be used to update the permit process, availability of fields, and who has access when.
“We have a finite amount of park spaces,” Jerry Solomon, Community Engagement Manager for the Department of Parks and Recreation, writes to ARLnow in an email. “Our goal is to ensure we are using them as efficiently and effectively as possible. We need to determine if we are offering field spaces at times that people can best access them.”
Fields for adult soccer leagues, for example, are most needed outside of typical working hours. Baseball diamonds for Little League should be accessible when the players are, like on weekends or after school.
This survey will help make sure this is the case, plus provide additional data that may not be as self-explanatory.
The survey specifically asks about activity start and end times for different age groups as well, like if kids 9 and youngers should end their field use prior sundown on weekdays and who should have access to lighted fields.
In total, Arlington has 96 athletic fields — a mix of rectangular fields (35), diamond fields (42), and a combination of the two (19). That can be further broken down into lighted (37) and not lighted fields (59) as well as natural grass (80) and synthetic turf fields (16).
It probably doesn’t come as a surprise that the fields that have the most use on an individual basis are the lighted, synthetic turf fields. On average, each one of those fields gets more than 2,100 hours of play per year. This is compared to an average of 700 hours per non-lighted, natural grass field.
Athletic field use in Arlington is often not a free-for-all or on a first-come, first-serve basis. Nearly all of the fields are either only accessible to permit holders or priority is given to permit holders.
Only six of the 96 athletic fields in Arlington are available as drop-in fields, or “community fields.” Even those, though, can be reserved for scheduled programs or practices.
That has drawn the ire of some residents, like those who live near Pentagon City and want to see one or both of the softball diamonds at Virginia Highlands Park opened up for community use.
There’s even a tiered priority system for the allocation of permits, which was first recommended in 2016 due to an “inequity” that existed in how fields were allocated.
Arlington Public Schools are given first priority, then county-organized non-profit youth sport leagues, then adult leagues, then for-profit sports leagues, and, finally, individual rentals or other organizations.
All of this, plus Arlington’s growing population, is resulting in heavy use and demand for athletic fields. According to the PSMP, the county could need an additional 11 rectangular and 2 diamond fields by 2035 to maintain the current levels of use and access.
The hope is that the survey and public feedback will allow for better, more efficient, and more fair use of the limited field space.
This survey will be open until the end of the month, says Solomon, at which point DPR will review and report findings to the Public Spaces Master Plan Implementation Committee in the spring.
There could be more opportunities to provide feedback come the spring and summer, Solomon noted.
Lines for vaccinations at Arlington’s Sequoia Plaza complex in February 2021 (staff photo by Jay Westcott)
Lines for vaccinations at Arlington’s Sequoia Plaza complex on Friday (staff photo by Jay Westcott)
Lines for vaccinations at Arlington’s Sequoia Plaza complex on Friday (staff photo by Jay Westcott)
(Updated at 11 a.m.) COVID-19 vaccinations have reached a new peak in Arlington, but the effort has led to lines at one county vaccination site.
Nearly 5,000 doses have been administered in Arlington over the past four days, according to Virginia Dept. of Health data. The seven-day trailing average of doses administered is now just shy of 900 per day, a new record for the county.
In all, 20,675 doses have been administered, and 4,495 people have been fully vaccinated in Arlington, according to VDH data. The latter represents about 2% of the county’s population.
On Friday and Saturday, those eligible to be vaccinated under Virginia’s Phase 1b group — many of them elderly — flocked to the Arlington County Dept. of Human Services building at Sequoia Plaza (2110 Washington Blvd) to receive their vaccination shots. That led to some reports of crowding.
“Waiting in an outrageous line with my 80 year father to get his COVID vaccine,” one tipster told ARLnow on Friday. “His appointment was for 1:45 p.m. — and the 1:30 group [is] still wrapped around the parking lot. These are ELDERLY PEOPLE standing around for 30+ minutes… maybe 2 or 3 chairs among the entire group. Unacceptable.”
On Saturday morning, the crowding apparently was such that Arlington Transit buses were rerouted in order to avoid the area.
Due to heavy traffic from a DHS event, ART 42, 45, & 77 will not service Sequoia Plaza until the event has finished. Passengers can board at 2nd & S Courthouse.
Cara O’Donnell, spokeswoman for the county’s health division, said the lines were the result of a full vaccination schedule, people showing up early to their appointments, the need for social distancing, and other factors.
“It’s taking us a bit longer to process all of our clients today, as it’s a full schedule,” O’Donnell told ARLnow on Saturday. “Quite a few require additional assistance and we’re careful to ensure we take the time we need with each client. From what I’m hearing, that’s leading to some car backups. Our staff and volunteers are working to get through as efficiently as we can.”
Arlington County is getting 2,750 first vaccine doses per week from the state, O’Donnell said. Many of the other doses being reported by VDH are second doses. Virginia Hospital Center and other hospitals are no longer receiving first doses from the Commonwealth, but hospitals still have second doses on hand.
“VHC has been very intentional in managing our existing vaccine supply to ensure that all individuals who received a first dose through VHC will receive their second,” a hospital spokesperson told ARLnow on Friday. “The Hospital is continuing to provide second doses to individuals at our community vaccine clinic, to Arlington Free Clinic patients, and to those staff and healthcare workers who received their first dose at Virginia Hospital Center.”
In all, about 2,000 of the doses administered in Arlington over the past four days have been second doses. There are more awaiting eager arms: Arlington has received 32,825 doses, according to the state health department, meaning 12,150 doses have yet to be administered.
“Available data from scientific studies of both the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines continue to support the use of two doses of each authorized vaccine at specified intervals,” the hospital spokesperson said. “The use of one dose administration is not supported by adequate scientific evidence at this time.”
The quickened pace of vaccinations comes amid a backdrop of Arlington’s coronavirus caseload remaining in the 400-600 cases per week range.
Just under 500 new cases have been reported over the past week, bringing the cumulative total of confirmed cases in Arlington to 12,262 as of Monday morning. Six additional deaths and 13 hospitalizations have been reported over the past week, bringing the county’s pandemic total to 207 deaths and 742 hospitalizations.
Arlington’s test positivity rate, meanwhile, has been declining over the past couple of weeks and currently stands at 6.1%.
While vaccine supply remains constrained, some health experts are encouraging officials to start planning for an abundance of vaccine supply in the spring, as tens of millions of additional dosesbecome available.
I agree.
We need to start planning past the period of scarcity for a time when outreach and persuasion becomes important in getting shots in arms
We need state and federal officials to be planning (and communicating) how primary care practices get included in distribution https://t.co/DqlE3BBgqL
