Meet Roy Lee, a beautiful black cat who is the newest Adoptable Pet of the Week!
This is what his foster parents had to say about him:
Roy Lee is a sweet, handsome, brave guy who has come so far! After a sad and rough start to his life, he has now blossomed in his foster home and is enjoying becoming a real cat.
Roy is VERY motivated by pets and love — he is always eager for neck and bum scratches, and will rub on your legs or jump up next to you in pursuit of more pets. After getting a good dose of love, his inner kitten comes out and he’s off playing with jingly balls and other small toys he can bat around.
He’s recently discovered that cat scratchers and catnip are awesome. He now knows that cuddling up next to you on the couch is the best thing ever. He’s had to learn all the cat basics!
Roy is a great eater and uses the litter box like a champ. Patience and consistency is key to opening up his adorable, loving, and playful personality. He may be shy and hide in a new home at first, but once he knows he’s safe and in trusted hands, he will just blossom and trot out for pets when he hears you!
He’s been great with the little kids in his foster home. Roy will make a delightful companion!
Is Roy Lee the companion you’ve been searching for? Check out his entire profile to learn more and how to schedule a meet and greet!
Want your pet to be considered for the Arlington Pet of the Week? Email [email protected] with 2-3 paragraphs about your pet and at least 3-4 horizontally-oriented photos.
A vacant office building in Courthouse in December 2022 (via Google Maps)
(Updated at 5:15 p.m.) One pocket of Arlington County has the most office space on the market and seeking tenants in the D.C. area, according to a new report.
A submarket made up of Courthouse, Clarendon and Virginia Square tops the charts for its “availability rate” — which includes any offices that can be leased now or in the next year — because of its high concentration of older office buildings.
“There are a number of dated 1980s-constructed buildings that sit idle as tenants continue to re-evaluate their office needs and often move to newer or renovated buildings in different submarkets,” says Ben Plaisted, vice chairman at commercial real estate company Savills, which produced the report.
In this submarket, Arlington Economic Development staff says 80% of offices were built more than 20 years ago.
“National and regional trends show that new leases tend to prefer buildings built in the past 10 years,” the county’s economic development arm said in a statement. “As a result, submarkets with newer product tend to have lower availability and submarkets with older product tend to have higher availability.”
Across Arlington, vacancy is concentrated in older buildings: about 75% of vacant square footage is within buildings at least 30 years old, says AED.
In response, why Arlington County is trying to infuse old office buildings with a mix of emerging businesses, such as research and development, artisan workshops, breweries and distilleries, and even pickleball courts.
Office availability rates and rents in the D.C. area (courtesy Savills)
AED provided a few caveats to the report.
It says Savills combined Courthouse, Clarendon and Virginia Square into one submarket, while another real estate company, CoStar, only combines Courthouse and Clarendon. That changes the overall availability rate.
Without Virginia Square, Clarendon-Courthouse has the second-highest availability rate in Northern Virginia and the D.C. area, behind Herndon, according to July 2023 data from CoStar, AED said.
Including Virginia Square means adding one major construction project to the mix: George Mason University’s FUSE building, says AED. The new facility has over 100,000 square feet listed as available for tenants.
The economic development division also says availability rates should be taken with a grain of salt.
“Availability rates can mask available square feet, as submarkets vary greatly in size,” AED said. “Therefore, the same amount of available square footage would appear as much lower availability rates in larger submarkets.”
Like other parts of the nation, Arlington is seeing tenants seek out smaller offices in higher-quality buildings, dubbed the “flight to quality.”
Overall, the report notes Arlington has some of the highest rent prices in the D.C. area, which is due to building quality plus proximity to D.C. and Metro. Over 60% of Arlington’s office product is listed by CoStar as Class A, or those built recently with attractive amenities and high rents, among other features.
“[Tenants] are willing to pay top dollar for high quality space but by reducing their footprint, they are not increasing their overall real estate costs,” Plaisted said. “The war for talent continues to be prevalent in the market and occupiers are looking to incentivize staff to be at the office by upgrading their physical location and space.”
Not everyone is reducing their footprint, however. AED says a half-dozen Arlington-based firms, from consulting firms to to government contractors, expanded their offices over the last year.
Meanwhile, a handful of British tech firms recently opened outposts in Arlington, while shipbuilding company Huntington Ingalls moved some of its offices from D.C. to National Landing.
Arlington has scored some commercial real estate wins with retention of tenants. The only notable tenant that AED says — to their knowledge — fully moved out of Arlington over the past year is the tech company Ostendio, which is now fully virtual.
Address:2607 Washington Blvd Neighborhood: Lyon Park Type: 3 BR, 2 (+1 half) BA single-family detached – 1920 sq. ft. Listed: $1,274,900
Noteworthy: Beautifully updated brick colonial in the heart of Arlington!
This charming 3-bedroom, 2.5-bath home perfectly blends classic character with thoughtful modern updates. The handsome brick exterior and flagstone retaining wall create exceptional curb appeal, enhanced by professional landscaping and private off-street parking for three cars. Inside, wood floors flow throughout both levels, complemented by fresh modern paint and abundant natural light.
The renovated kitchen showcases granite countertops, painted paneled cabinetry with brushed nickel hardware, a marble tile backsplash, pendant lighting, spacious pantry, and stainless steel appliances including a Bosch dishwasher, LG refrigerator, and five-burner gas stove. The adjoining family room features a cozy wood-burning fireplace with brick hearth and wood mantel, plus a sliding glass door leading to a large deck overlooking a fully fenced backyard with lush landscaping and a storage shed.
Upstairs, the expansive primary suite offers a deep walk-in closet, additional custom-organized closet, and a luxurious private bath with double sinks, granite counters, new lighting, and upgraded hardware. Two additional bedrooms with ceiling fans share an updated hall bath featuring a granite vanity, ceramic tile floor, and tub with tile surround.
Additional highlights include a newer Carrier gas furnace, State water heater, LG front-load washer and dryer, central vacuum system, and double-pane windows. Ideally located just blocks to Clarendon Metro and minutes to downtown D.C., the Pentagon, National Landing, and local parks and trails—this home delivers a rare combination of comfort, convenience, and timeless charm.
Natalia Vyberg, owner of The Beauty (staff photo by Jay Westcott)
Natalia’s daughter Anna in The Beauty Clarendon (staff photo by Jay Westcott)
The Beauty Clarendon (staff photo by Jay Westcott)
Natalia Vyberg, owner of The Beauty (staff photo by Jay Westcott)
The outside of The Beauty Clarendon (staff photo by Jay Westcott)
The Beauty Clarendon (staff photo by Jay Westcott)
A mother-daughter duo, originally from Ukraine, are offering Eastern European beauty services in Clarendon.
Natalia Vyberg and her daughter Anna moved to the U.S. four years ago. Upon their arrival, the duo opened two salons in Northern Virginia: Beauty Bar Lashes and Beauty Bar Nails.
Energized by the success of their original locations, they combined them into one salon, now in Clarendon: The Beauty at 3110 Washington Blvd. It offers eyelash services, facials, manicures and pedicures.
Through a translator, Natalia told ARLnow her Ukrainian techniques draw U.S. customers to The Beauty and keep them coming back.
“In Ukraine, beauty services are held to a high standard. Our clients get those high standards of a Ukrainian service that is focused on perfection at The Beauty. It takes a special technique and materials to do this,” she said.
To meet those standards, Natalia, who owns The Beauty, also orders most of her tools and products from Ukraine.
The Vybergs are originally from Kyiv, Ukraine’s capital city and one of Russia’s main targets since invading Ukraine last year 2022. Natalia, a 20-year veteran of the beauty industry, opened five salons in Kyiv before opening salons states-side.
Her daughter Anna followed in her footsteps, opening a salon in New York City after The Beauty in Clarendon took off.
Now, she travels almost weekly from Arlington to New York to help run and work at both salons, noted an employee at The Beauty. The employee said this is partly because some clients only want Anna to handle their beauty regimens.
Her mother requires all her employees go through Ukrainian beauty training courses. Natalia said she mostly hires Ukrainian immigrants to work at The Beauty, though she made an exception for two from Russia.
“They are American citizens and have lived here for many years now,” she said. “We are not involved in politics or interested in political questions. We welcome anyone to work at the salon who can provide good services.”
Now, the mother-daughter duo are looking to hire new employees to handle their Clarendon customer base.
We know you’re eager to get back into the swing of things, and Art House 7 is ready. We have a great lineup of fall art classes, both in-studio and Zoom, starting September 14. If you prefer the studio, we have a safe environment — class sizes are small enough for social distancing and everyone is required to wear a mask, among other precautions.
We are also offering Zoom classes for those who want their instruction from home. Ages kindergartner to adult. In-studio instruction includes sewing, ceramics (using the wheel), and 2-D and 3-D projects. Zoom classes include painting, drawing and cartooning. We can’t wait to see everyone. You can see our full lineup here and register. Art House 7– 5537 Lee Highway Arlington, VA 22207
Under its current leadership, AIM — which was founded in 1982 — is trying to broaden its reach and uplift diverse residents. Reaching this goal, however, is hampered by messy finances: audit reports from 2018-19 show it has been losing money, while its 990s are behind schedule and staff are not getting paid on time.
Bringing Arlington Independent Media, or AIM, into the 21st century, increasing its name recognition and charting a new financial course is slow going.
Arlington County has chipped at AIM’s operating expenses recently to lessen its reliance on tax dollars — though cuts in 2018 were partially restored after public outcry, on the condition the organization would up fundraising. Meanwhile, the organization has to watch a once-reliable cable franchise agreement, which provides funding based on local cable TV subscription numbers, become increasingly unpredictable.
Arlington pays for AIM’s operational budget while revenue from the cable agreement, dubbed Public, Educational and Government (PEG) funds, go toward its capital expenses. As cable subscriptions dwindle, though, Arlington County has to decide where to prioritize funding.
Recipients for PEG funding include AIM, the broadcasts of county government meetings and work sessions, the county’s dark fiber network, and certain Arlington Public Schools initiatives.
“Our approach has been to review and consider all eligible expenses submitted to the County by AIM and other eligible entities,” spokeswoman Bryna Helfer said.
It is unclear how many people listen to and watch AIM. It has 322 paying members, down from 577 in 2019, while broadcasting metrics are too expensive and radio analytics efforts for WERA 96.7 FM are nascent, according to its CEO Whytni Kernodle. She says a better metric is its several community-based partners and its work to center diverse voices, including a scholarship for budding journalists whose parents do not speak English at home or are low-income.
“We are an outside organization that is attempting to use the power of the people to really uplift the community in general by focusing on the most marginalized,” she said.
With the operational and capital funding sources each drying up, AIM should do more fundraising, the county insists. Kernodle counters that the county controls the PEG funding and could give it to AIM but is funneling it to other initiatives and creating a backlog of PEG-eligible expenses.
“The problem is not lack of available funds or that the request is not an acceptable one under the guidelines, but that the county has other priorities for future usage of those funds,” she wrote in a March memo to the county. “This is clearly inequitable and alarmingly questionable as to appropriate usage of funds managed, not owned, by the County.”
Arlington County Board Chair Christian Dorsey told ARLnow that AIM received $660,000 in PEG funding last year. That’s actually an increase from years past, Kernodle said, chalking it up to her persistent requests — but she thinks more is warranted.
“We’re attempting to do the best we can,” she said. “What we’re trying to do is create a situation where something formed in 1982 can thrive now, and for those running it 40 years from now.”
The need for assistance at the Arlington Food Assistance Center (AFAC) is ongoing. That’s why Saint Ann Parish & School is hosting another Contactless Drive Thru Food Drive, Saturday August 22 10 a.m.-12 p.m. Enter the Saint Ann parking lot from Harrison Street and drive through and a Saint Ann Volunteer will take your donation straight from your car.
All donations benefit AFAC, Arlington Food Assistance Center. This event is for donations only, no food distribution is available. Saint Ann Parish 5300 N. 10th Street, Arlington. Enter through the back parking lot off of Harrison Street. Drive through. Pop open your car trunk. A volunteer will take your AFAC donation. Drive off an everyday Super Hero!
