apartments

Ballston Holiday Inn redevelopment proposal reaches Arlington County Board

By Jo DeVoe
1/12

Redevelopment plans for a Holiday Inn and office building in Ballston are headed to the Arlington County Board for approval.

The developers, Hoffman & Associates and Snell Properties, intend to replace the hotel (4600 Fairfax Drive) and Arlington Center Building (4610 Fairfax Drive) with a seven-story, 432-unit apartment building and two five-story, 15-unit buildings.

The development duo also propose building a new private road and alley for parking and loading activity, as well as new sidewalks and streetscapes along them.

The site is located west of N. Glebe Road, along N. Fairfax Drive, just before it becomes an on- and off-ramp to I-66. It is five blocks from the Ballston Metro station and two blocks from a proposed western entrance, currently in an early design phase.

“This site has a lot of surface parking, structured parking, an office building, the Holiday Inn, and a disconnected relationship to our neighbors to the south,” Cathy Puskar, a land use attorney for the developers, told the Planning Commission last week. “It’s been here quite a long time… so we are very eager to move forward with that.”

Hoffman and Snell have cleared nearly every step in the public review process. On Saturday, the Arlington County Board is set to review their request for easements in order to build on the site.

Much has changed since the initial submission more than a year ago.

“This project went through a substantial evolution as we went through the [Site Plan Review Committee] process,” Arlington County planner Adam Watson said during the Planning Commission meeting.

In response to public feedback, the layout changed and a bicycle and pedestrian path was widened to 12 feet and moved.

The 5-story buildings are now to the west of the 7-story building, rather than to its south. Watson says this creates a better height transition from the tall George Washington University building at 950 N. Glebe Road to the single-family homes west of the 4600 Fairfax Drive site.

Now, the proposed path separates the 7-story and 5-story buildings. Watson says this furthers county plans to add a “West Ballston Connection” linking with the Bluemont Junction, Custis and Ballston Pond trails at Fairfax Drive.

The evolution of the site layout for 4600 Fairfax Drive, by Jo DeVoe (via Arlington County)

Watson said the project now delivers “a much improved streetscape, especially along Fairfax Drive” and less impervious surface area. It preserves more trees to increase the buffer between the development and the single-family homes nearby, he said.

“We really loved that first version… but we are very proud of where we are today,” Puskar said. “Despite some painful cuts and changes, we listened, and this is why we have such a good plan in front of you today.”

While the developers directed the bulk of residential traffix to Fairfax Drive — as opposed to the smaller private road south of the site, to allay concerns about traffic flow — some residents still have misgivings, Planning Commissioner Jim Lantelme said.

Climate Change, Energy and Environment Commission representative Mark Greenwood praised the project’s use of electricity rather than gas, but suggested the developers replace the gas stoves with induction ones, while adding more parking for electric vehicles.

ACFD responds to townhouse fire in East Falls Church, fireworks-sparked blaze at apartment building

By ARLnow.com
1/3

(Updated at 1:30 p.m.) A townhouse in the East Falls Church neighborhood was badly damaged by a fire last night.

The fire broke out in a middle-of-the-row townhouse on the 6500 block of Washington Blvd around 11:30 p.m. on July 4. A large fire department response to the blaze blocked traffic near the intersection of Washington Blvd and N. Sycamore Street, one block from the Metro station.

Arriving firefighters reported encountering heavy fire coming from the home’s garage and extending up to the upper floors.

While the bulk of the flames were extinguished relatively quickly, firefighters were kept busy for more than an hour, searching for hotspots and ventilating the structure, according to scanner traffic. Additionally, several cats were rescued from inside the home.

This morning, fire investigators could be seen searching through the charred remains of the garage.

On Wednesday afternoon, the Arlington County Fire Department announced that while four animals were rescued and no humans were injured, one pet was found dead.

Early this morning, firefighters also responded to a fire at the Frederick at Courthouse apartment building, at 2230 Fairfax Drive, shortly after 1 a.m.

Initial reports suggest that fireworks disposed of in the trash chute caused a fire that filled a portion of the building with smoke and set off sprinklers, dousing the flames but also causing water damage in numerous apartments.

Streetscape improvements and apartment construction take shape in Courthouse

By Jo DeVoe
1/8

Transportation and streetscape upgrades are making progress on several streets in Courthouse near an under-construction apartment tower.

The work is all associated with “The Commodore,” an new apartment building at 2050 Wilson Blvd. It replaces several low-slung commercial buildings, including restaurants like Summers, that were part of what Arlington County dubbed the “Landmark Block.” Today (Tuesday), fencing around the tower was festooned with banners announcing leasing would start this fall.

Developer Greystar is redoing a handful of streets nearby as part of the community benefits package associated with the project.Arlington County delegated some street upgrade work to Greystar in early 2022, saying it would be cheaper, easier and more efficient for the company to do the work as part of the apartment construction activity.

Today, pedestrians may notice fencing around a torn-up N. Uhle Street, which separates the Courthouse Metro station and the “Landmark Block.” This street previously had street trees, lighting and parking spaces.

An aerial view of the pedestrian promenade on N. Uhle Street (via Arlington County)

Eventually, it will become a long-envisioned pedestrian promenade leading to the Courthouse Metro station.

The block will have public seating lined with shade trees, lighting and landscaped planting beds, potentially bookended by public art.

The future N. Uhle Street pedestrian promenade (via Arlington County)

Nearby, 15th Street N. looks freshly repaved and is partly blocked off to vehicle traffic by jersey barriers, cones and caution tape. Signs along this street announce temporarily relocated bus stops.

It will become a curbless street shared by pedestrians, cyclists and drivers, featuring a “slow speed configuration” to increase the safety of users.

Clarendon Blvd, Wilson Blvd and N. Courthouse Road will get wider sidewalks, new pedestrian crossings, protected or dedicated bike lanes, widened medians and new trees and planted beds. The county parking lot entrance from 15th Street N. will be relocated, as well.

Greystar is also relocating existing and installing new traffic infrastructure, adding a “bike island” at the intersection of 15th Street N. and Clarendon Blvd and a new water main under N. Courthouse Road.

Those who want to know the latest vehicle and pedestrian traffic impacts can subscribe to a county newsletter for the area.

Two blocks away, construction is also continuing on the former Wendy’s lot, another Greystar project. The former fast food joint is being replaced with an apartment tower, ground-floor retail and a plaza at 2025 Clarendon Blvd, — as approved in March 2022. Together, the two projects realize a significant part of the county’s vision for the neighborhood.

This Wendy’s project will also result in transportation upgrades, such as bicycle amenities, new sidewalks and street trees, to Clarendon Blvd and Wilson Blvd.

Greystar declined to provide a construction update to ARLnow for this article.

Park Shirlington owner nabs federal funding to assist with renovations and affordability

By Jo DeVoe
1/3

The owner of garden apartments on the edge of the Fairlington neighborhood nabbed $46.6 million in federal loans to help keep the units affordable and fund upgrades.

Over the last two years, Standard Communities, which owns Park Shirlington (4510 31st Street S.), has been amassing funding — including from Arlington County — to keep the nearly 300 units on site affordable to people earning up to 60% of the area median income, while funding renovations and new construction work.

Last week, commercial real estate company Walker & Dunlop announced it had helped the company nab the $46.6 million in federal funds, on top of $31.9 million in loans from the Arlington County Affordable Housing Investment Fund.

With the new federal loans, it is able to keep the units affordable at least through 2053, according to the announcement.

“Transitioning Park Shirlington from market rate to committed affordable housing was an ambitious but critical objective given the affordable housing landscape in Arlington and many other high-opportunity locations,” said Scott Alter, the co-founder, and principal of Standard Communities, in a statement.

“Standard Communities is proud to have successfully worked with so many other committed stakeholders to ensure that Park Shirlington provides nearly 300 high-quality, affordable housing units for decades to come,” he continued.

Chris Rumul, the leader of Walker & Dunlop’s Federal Housing Administration team, says the availability of affordable housing is a national concern but this complex “is an excellent example of how the federal government, local municipalities, and private investors can collaborate to be part of the solution.”

Arlington County has already done its part, loaning some $31.9 million from its Affordable Housing Investment Fund over the course of 2021 and 2022. This included a $6 million loan that helped Standard Communities purchase the property in 2017, preventing market-rate developers from taking it over and building more expensive housing.

With the new funding, renovation and construction work could start this August, an employee at Park Shirlington said this afternoon, adding that tenants would be notified once renovations begin.

The work was initially predicted to start soon after the close of county financing last fall and wrap up in 2024.

The property owner proposes to build new community center with a co-working space and management office. It will renovate 293 existing units and turn the leasing office into a 294th unit.

The renovations include new kitchens and bathrooms, new boilers and chillers, rooftop solar panels, a new community building with a fitness center, hallway upgrades and exterior work, according to a 2022 report from Arlington County.

Preliminary review wraps up for new apartments planned near Courthouse

By Jo DeVoe
1/10

Apartments proposed along Arlington Blvd, near Courthouse, have cleared the next hurdle on their way to final approvals.

Fortis Companies is proposing to remove a lone, single-family detached home, a “significant tree” identified in neighborhood planning documents, and two surface parking lots. In their place, it proposes a nearly 125-foot tall building with 166 new units and 120 residential parking spaces.

This proposal takes over previously approved plans to build a 104-unit, 12-story building on the site.

With this plan, Fortis intends to achieve LEED Gold certification for the building’s sustainability features, to set aside some on-site units for affordable housing and contribute cash to the Arlington County Affordable Housing Investment Fund in exchange for additional density.

In addition, Fortis proposes to make streetscape and sidewalk improvements to three of the streets bounding the site: N. Fairfax Drive, N. Troy Street and 13th Street N. Part of the changes to Fairfax Drive include turning it into a cul-de-sac and expanding the planting buffer between the Arlington Blvd Trail and Fairfax Drive.

The project at 2025 Fairfax Drive has undergone preliminary review by citizen commissions.

Through this process, Fortis made some tweaks to the overall design of the site and agreed to increase how much vegetation it will plant on a proposed courtyard so that it feels more like an “urban forest,” land-use attorney Andrew Painter said in a mid-May meeting.

“This is a really nice, elegant and lushly planted solution,” architect Jeff Kreps said at the time.

Final approval meetings by the Planning Commission and Arlington County Board have not been set yet.

If approved, Fortis expects construction to start in mid-2024 and last 24-30 months, with a completion date in late 2026, per a presentation it made in the May meeting.

The developer says it will conduct quarterly outreach meetings with the surrounding community. The 1.8-acre site is bordered by the Woodbury Heights Condominiums to the north, Taft Towers condominiums to the east, Arlington Blvd to the south and the Arlington Court Suites hotel to the west.

The historic Wakefield Manor and Courthouse Manor garden apartment complexes, built in the early 1940s, are also part of the site proposed for redevelopment. An easement was granted over these significant apartments to protect them for perpetuity.

In exchange for protecting these apartments, developer Greystar was able to increase the density of its apartment being built on the former Wendy’s in Courthouse.

Construction wraps up on second apartment tower in Pentagon Centre redevelopment

By Jo DeVoe
1/18

Pentagon City’s metamorphosis is continuing.

The second apartment tower in the multi-phase Pentagon Centre shopping center redevelopment is now complete.

The Milton, at 1446 S. Grant Street, is an 11-story, 253-unit building developed by Kimco Realty. So far, it is already 25% leased and move-ins are expected to start this month, a spokeswoman told ARLnow.

Various businesses are expected to move into the roughly 16,000 square feet of ground-floor retail space. In a statement, Kimco Realty says this retail, “carefully curated to complement the neighborhood,” will be announced later this year.

Tenants will have use of a community garden and potting station, two outdoor courtyards with a co-working area, a pet spa with wash stations, a gym and clubroom, per the statement. The building is designed to meet LEED Silver standards for sustainability and was named for Kimco Realty co-founder Milton Cooper.

The first residential tower in the long-term redevelopment of the retail center opened four years ago. The 26-story, 440-unit building, dubbed The Witmer, is located on the other wide of the property, above the second Pentagon City Metro entrance at 710 12th Street S.

Future plans for the area — which Kimco recently updated — propose two office buildings, three more residential towers, additional retail and a hotel, as well as a 30% increase in green space, criss-crossed by planted paths dubbed “green ribbons” in the recently-updated Pentagon City Sector Plan.

In a statement, Kimco Realty Southern Region President Tom Simmons said this new building “offers something new for Pentagon City.”

“The Milton provides residents with direct access to several key sites in Arlington, which has become a huge hub for recent development,” he said, highlighting the essentially complete Amazon HQ2 office complex nearby and the Virginia Tech Innovation campus in Potomac Yard.

The full press release is below.

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Plans for more apartments and retail on Crystal Towers site enter home stretch

By Jo DeVoe
1/9

A development proposed for Crystal City is entering the home stretch.

Tonight (Thursday), the Arlington Planning Commission is slated to review and vote on plans from Dweck Properties to add a residential building and a retail building to the existing the Crystal Towers Apartment complex at 1600 S. Eads Street.

The 132-foot, 11-story residential building would have up to 209 units and a penthouse with an amenity space and ground-floor retail, per a Planning Commission report. Dweck proposes 54 studios, 120 1-bedroom and 35 2-bedroom units and is aiming for LEED Gold certification in exchange for extra density.

A single-story, 27,901-square-foot retail building would have building heights ranging from 16 to 22 feet.

If approved, the apartment building would replace an existing surface parking lot between the Crystal Flats building and the existing Crystal Towers buildings fronting S. Eads Street, according to application materials. The new retail building to the north, also fronting South Eads Street, would replace another existing surface parking lot to the north.

As part of the project, dubbed Crystal Towers 3, S. Eads Street will get a median buffer connecting to a buffer built as part of the first phase of Amazon’s second headquarters, north of the site. Dweck proposes adding new sidewalks, street trees and street lights along S. Eads Street as well.

The project would also realize some improvements to an existing open space at the corner of 15th Street S. and S. Eads Street, according to a recent county staff report. Dweck proposes expanding the space by some 700 square feet and adding a boardwalk area with public tables and chairs, bench seating and new pathways, without disturbing a mature oak tree.

Plans call for two green roofs, one over a portion of an existing building and a second over the new retail development fronting S. Eads Street.

Prospective tenants in the new residential building would have access to an existing garage that already serves Crystal Towers residents and the Lofts building nearby. Despite the increased occupancy, the total number of spots is set to drop from 1,152 to 1,061 spots, plus 11 visitor bicycle spots.

The developer intends to make an affordable housing contribution to the Affordable Housing Investment Fund (AHIF) of $1,421,380.

This “could provide gap financing for approximately 18 (committed affordable units) at the nearby Crystal Houses infill development project, a project which is anticipated to request a significant amount of AHIF financing to achieve the County’s stated objective of partnering with the property owner to significantly increase the supply of low and moderate income housing options in Crystal City,” the report says.

The Arlington County Board is slated to review and vote on the project during its meeting on Saturday, June 10.

Seven years after speaking out, a few residents of an affordable housing building say problems persist

By Jo DeVoe
The Shelton in Green Valley (staff photo)

Residents of The Shelton, an affordable housing development in the Green Valley neighborhood, are raising concerns about property management and poor treatment of residents.

They previously raised these same issues in 2016, along with other quality-of-life that they say plagued the building, owned by local affordable housing developer AHC Inc.

“We are having problems in my apartment complex,” Frank Duncan, who has lived there since it opened, told members of the Tenant-Landlord Commission earlier this month.

He described an exorbitant water bill, errant late fees, a whole week without hot water and disrespectful management staff. He articulated a feeling among residents that their housing situation is not guaranteed because rent has been paid month-to-month since the pandemic started.

The testimony before the commission comes as AHC Inc. says it is making it easier for residents to report complaints. Some current and former commission members say these complaints reinforce their powerlessness to do more than advise residents. ARLnow has previously reported on how limited mediation options in Arlington, compared to Fairfax County, dissuade residents from bringing up issues.

Duncan said residents feel mistreated when they try to raise issues with management, which causes them to let issues go unresolved.

“When you go to the rent office, the manager is so disrespectful,” Duncan said. “She does not have the time to listen to what we have to say. So, they don’t go in there. They come to get me to go in there and talk.”

Disrespectful management was one of the complaints levied against management at the Serrano Apartments on Columbia Pike two years ago. AHC received public and county scrutiny after ARLnow reported on complaints about poor living conditions at the complex.

Since then, AHC made changes to its operations, including getting new leadership and committing to third-party management at The Serrano, though advocates and some residents say issues persist, WAMU/DCist reported in April.

The nonprofit developer says it is working to address concerns at The Shelton.

“AHC’s mission is to put residents first. Thus, we value resident feedback, take resident concerns seriously, and do not tolerate poor customer service from anyone interacting with residents,” AHC President and CEO Paul Bernard said in a statement. “When we learn about issues, including disrespectful behavior, we act swiftly and follow up with our property management companies.”

AHC spokeswoman Jennifer Smith said the nonprofit developed and distributed a Resident Concern Guide for all residents at all Arlington communities to ensure residents know how to report — and, if needed — escalate issues.

She says the management company, Harbor Group is working extra hours and through staffing shortages to certify residents meet income eligibility requirements to live there. After this is done, Smith says, eligible residents can get back on year-long leases.

Harbor Group is also trying to make bills and late fees for rent easier to understand, she said. The company also scheduled a meeting with residents to discuss concerns and issues. This was planned before the Tenant-Landlord Commission meeting, Smith notes, and was attended by AHC staff and Bernard.

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Arlington ranks as 10th priciest rental market in U.S.

By ARLnow.com
The RiverHouse apartments at 1111 Army Navy Drive in Pentagon City (staff photo)

Arlington is the tenth priciest market for rental housing in the United States, according to an updated set of rankings.

Rental website Zumper released its latest national rent report, which lists Arlington at No. 10 and neighboring D.C. at No. 9. New York City tops the list.

Zumber notes that Arlington rent grew at a faster pace over the past month than the national median, though its place in the rankings held steady.

“Zumper’s National Index showed one-bedrooms increasing 0.6% to $1,504, while two-bedrooms rose 0.8% to $1,856 in May. Both bedroom types are up about 6% year-over-year,” a spokesperson told ARLnow. “The price of one bedroom units in Arlington increased 1.3% to $2,300 last month, while two bedroom units grew 2.6% to $3,100.”

On a year-over-year basis, median one- and two-bedroom rents in Arlington are up 4.5% and 5.8%, respectively, this month.

Continued rent growth in Arlington contrasts with the falling rents earlier in the pandemic.

The report, meanwhile, notes that some less-expensive interior U.S. cities — like Columbus, Ohio and Colorado Springs — are seeing a surge in rental interest from those moving from more expensive coastal areas of the country.

Top 10 markets for median rental prices in May 2023 (via Zumper)

Proposed residential development would bring changes to southern Crystal City

By ARLnow.com
1/12

(Updated at 7 p.m.) A new apartment building may be coming to a southern portion of Crystal City, and changing some infrastructure in the process.

Developer JBG Smith announced today a plan for a 370-unit apartment building on “Block W” in Crystal City. The site is bounded by Crystal Drive, a National Airport access road, and railroad tracks, and is currently home to a gravel parking lot, an off-ramp from the access road and a small, JBG-owned workout park.

The plans appear to replace to the park and the off-ramp, with a seven-story building fronting Crystal Drive, in line with the circa-2010 Crystal City Sector Plan. According to JBG, the development plan preserves 35,000 square feet of privately-owned open space, including the adjacent sand volleyball courts, and includes some street-level retail space.

Crystal City sand volleyball courts, next to proposed development site (via Google Maps)

“The Sector Plan envisions, as part of the development of Block W, the current airport access road off-ramp be removed to make way for the new developments,” notes JBG’s recent filing with the county. “Furthermore, the Sector Plan envisions Crystal Drive to be a retail-oriented mixed-use arterial street which includes a bike lane on Crystal Drive in Block W.”

The developer — the predominant property owner in the Crystal City and Pentagon City neighborhoods, also known collectively as National Landing — says the proposed development will transform an underutilized, vehicular-oriented area into new apartments and pedestrian-oriented ground floor retail… further connecting the neighborhood. ”

A press representative for the company confirmed the plans to keep the volleyball courts as one part of the 35,000 square feet of open space.

“JBG SMITH has sited the building to preserve the Crystal City Volleyball Courts and looks forward to engaging with the community on any improvements to this open space,” wrote the spokeswoman. She added that “eliminating the off-ramp will allow JBG SMITH to add over 400 feet of new sidewalk and streetscape, expanding the Crystal Drive pedestrian network to the south.”

JBG has several residential developments in the works in Crystal City.

This month, Arlington County is expected to advance a review of the company’s plans to add more apartment buildings to the River House site.

Plans to build two towers on the site of an 11-story office building and the former Jaleo restaurant, meanwhile, are still under review, according to Arlington County’s website. The Americana Hotel is currently being demolished to make way for one apartment tower while construction continues on two pairs of residential towers: one at 1900 Crystal Drive and another at 2001 and 2000 S. Bell Street, with construction expected to wrap up in 2024 and 2025, respectively. 

The press release about the new apartment redevelopment is below.

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Demolition comes for the Americana Hotel in Crystal City

By Jo DeVoe
1/6

It’s time to bid farewell to The Americana Hotel in Crystal City.

The long-time budget hotel along Richmond Highway is being demolished to make way for residential redevelopment across the street from Amazon’s nearly-open second headquarters and a short distance from the Crystal City Metro station.

A spokeswoman for JBG Smith confirmed the demolition to ARLnow this morning (Tuesday).

“Demolition and site work are currently underway, with the earliest possible construction start slated for 2024,” the spokeswoman said, adding that that is all she is able to say at this time.

The Americana Hotel closed in 2020 and JBG Smith quickly purchased it for a new apartment project, consisting of 639 new units, 3,885 square feet of ground floor retail and a distinct architectural feature akin to a partially covered walkway, which was nicknamed the “tabletop.”

Renderings of the proposed apartments to replace the Americana Hotel, with the ‘tabletop’ feature in view (via Arlington County)

The developer’s plans were approved by the Planning Commission and the Arlington County Board in April.

The Americana’s demolition is part of a trend in Arlington County of redeveloping aging motels and hotels.

The iconic Highlander Motel in Virginia Square, a frequent haunt for a motorcycle club, was turned into a CVS. The Days Inn motel in Lyon Village is set to become apartments, which the county is trying to ensure pays homage to the site’s history with a midcentury modern design.

The Key Bridge Marriott, meanwhile, has stood vacant — and is now condemned — after development plans were delayed, likely due to financial issues for the group that owns the site.

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