Drybar, a national hair salon chain that specializes in blowouts, is set to start styling today (Nov. 15) in Ballston Quarter.
Located at 4238 Wilson Blvd, the salon is behind the CVS on the first floor of the mall. It neighbors DC Lash Bar.
“No cuts. No color. Just blowouts,” reads a framed menu with a listing of cocktail-inspired blowouts hanging in the storefront window. Styling available includes the “Manhattan” for sleek and smooth hair, the “Mai Tai” for a messy and beachy look, “Cosmopolitan” for loose curls and “Dirty Martini” for tousled and textured hair, along with three more, the sign says.
This is Drybar’s second location in Virginia, after its Tysons Corner debut in March 2016. The new Ballston Quarter spot is just one of half of a dozen upcoming locations across the country, including North Carolina, Arizona, California and Hawaii.
Drybar announced Jan. 1 on Facebook nearly two dozen locations are set to open in 2018, including the Arlington one and another in Alexandria, which does not have an announced location yet.
The store’s opening makes it among the first new businesses to open up shop in Ballston Quarter following its redevelopment, following a series of delays. A variety of other stores on its first two floors are set to open as soon as today.
Regal Cinemas on the newly renovated Ballston Quarter’s third floor.
The newly renovated Ballston Quarter’s third floor.
The newly renovated Ballston Quarter’s third floor.
The newly renovated Ballston Quarter’s third floor.
The newly renovated Ballston Quarter’s third floor.
The newly renovated Ballston Quarter’s third floor.
Ballston Quarter could open to customers as soon as this week, marking an unofficial end to the years-long redevelopment of the old Ballston Common mall.
Signs posted around the development’s elevator banks list Thursday (Nov. 15) as the site’s opening day. Specifically, the signs advertise that the two main floors of Ballston Quarter — including the first floor with “street-level access” and the second floor with an area dubbed “Instagram alley” — will open this week.
Meanwhile, the third level of the development, which includes Regal Cinemas and the newly rechristened Onelife Fitness, is now open to pedestrian traffic. However, many of the stores on the level remain under construction. The new “Quarter Market,” a 25,000-square-foot food hall, won’t open until February 2019, the signs say.
A spokeswoman for Forest City, the developer spearheading Ballston Quarter, did not respond to a request for comment to confirm those dates.
Forest City initially hoped to open at least some of the stores in the development by the end of September. But delays convinced the developer to aim for late October instead, yet Ballston Quarter has remained closed to public access since then, and Forest City has been conspicuously silent on the matter. The developer has also had to push back plans to open a refurbished pedestrian bridge over Wilson Blvd to next year.
However, Onelife Fitness, once known as the Sport&Health fitness club, has a grand opening event scheduled for tonight (Tuesday) following its $2 million renovation work and rebranding. Punch Bowl Social, a combination bar and entertainment venue, has also now formally announced plans for a Dec. 8 grand opening event, after posting signs around Ballston advertising the night earlier this month.
Forest City has previously announced a bevy of other shops, restaurants and other businesses set to move into the former mall. The development had roughly 75 percent of its space leased as of the end of September, and the mall has begun maintaining a full list of retailers on its website.
Exterior of Onelife Fitness on the third floor in Ballston Quarter.
Cardio at Onelife Fitness (courtesy of Live Wire Media Relations)
The turf at Onelife Fitness (courtesy of Live Wire Media Relations)
The studio at Onelife Fitness (courtesy of Live Wire Media Relations)
(Updated at 8:45 a.m.) The gym formerly known as Sport & Health in Ballston Quarter now has a new name, to go alongside a bit of a refresh.
US Fitness, the company that owns the fitness club, wrapped up a $2 million renovation of the newly christened “Onelife Fitness” on Tuesday (Nov. 6). A grand opening for the refurbished gym is now set for next Tuesday (Nov. 13) at 5 p.m. to celebrate the completed makeover, according to a press release.
US Fitness operates primarily under the Onelife Fitness brand, but also operates all of the Sport & Health clubs around the D.C. area. “Our brand’s success is driven by our passion and commitment to provide solutions and results for our members. We are always looking for how we can improve by developing or adopting cutting-edge programs and solutions,” Kirk and John Galiani, co-chairmen and founders of US Fitness, said in a statement.
New gear from the makeover includes:
cardio equipment
treadmills
ellipticals
stair climbers
bikes
rowers
strength equipment including free weights, circuit and functional training equipment
indoor and outdoor turf training spaces
In addition to locker rooms and amenities, the fitness club will also offer an expanded club with a maze for children; a cycle studio with Coach by Color bikes; a new studio with yoga, barre and Pilates; high-intensity training; and a group fitness studio.
The gym remained open during the renovation, which is now complete, Kirk Galiani told ARLnow. The gym is on the third floor of Ballston Quarter (4238 Wilson Blvd), which Forest City is currently revamping. The mall blew past its opening date twice — once in September and again in October.
Virginia is home to more than half of the 30 total Onelife Fitness clubs, which span four states.
Just a few months ago, the American College of Sports Medicine’s American Fitness Index crowned Arlington as “America’s fittest city” for “achieving a balance of both healthy behaviors and community infrastructure.”
Punch Bowl Social’s location in the Ballston Quarter development.
Punch Bowl Social’s location in the Ballston Quarter development.
An ad for Punch Bowl Social in the Ballston Metro station.
Punch Bowl Social, a combination bar and entertainment venue that’s a key part of the new Ballston Quarter development, now seems set to open its doors next month.
Details remain scarce on when the newly revamped Ballston Common mall will open its doors, with the development blowing past proposed opening dates in both September and October. But new ads for Punch Bowl Social posted inside the Ballston Metro station indicate the establishment is planning a “grand opening” on Dec. 8.
A spokeswoman for Punch Bowl did not immediately respond to a request for comment on whether that date is accurate. The company’s website still lists the location as “coming soon.” The Ballston Quarter website also describes Punch Bowl as “coming soon,” without additional details.
What that means for the other retailers opening up in the development remains unclear, however. A spokeswoman for Forest City, the developer backing Ballston Quarter, said that the firm will have an update on when the whole development will open soon, but still doesn’t have a concrete date ready.
The restaurant first announced plans to expand to the new development two years ago, promising a 25,000 square foot space complete with “eight bowling lanes, one bocce court, three private karaoke rooms, a custom-built 360-degree bar” and more.
Punch Bowl operates 14 other locations across the country, in cities ranging from Atlanta to San Diego. It also is planning a D.C. location, set to open sometime next year.
Forest City has previously billed Punch Bowl as one of four companies set to transform the mall into an “entertainment hub.” The developer has previously announced a variety of other restaurants and retailers moving into the space, and had leased roughly 75 percent of the development as of September.
Amazon in Talks to Come to Crystal City — Per a widely re-reported Washington Post scoop, Amazon “has held advanced discussions about the possibility of opening its highly sought-after second headquarters in Crystal City.” An Amazon executive, meanwhile, tweeted that “the genius leaking info about Crystal City” is “not doing [it] any favors.” [Washington Post, Twitter]
Crystal City Isn’t Alone — “Amazon.com Inc. has progressed to late-stage talks on its planned second headquarters with a small handful of communities including northern Virginia’s Crystal City, Dallas and New York City, people familiar with the matter said, as it nears a final decision that could reshape both the tech giant and the location it chooses.” [Wall Street Journal, Washington Business Journal]
Jewelry Store Coming to Ballston Quarter — “ninetwofive, formally Wuayra Peruvian Silver Jewelry, is offering sterling silver jewelry and fine accessories in its new location at Ballston Quarter in Arlington, VA beginning this November.” [PR Log]
Officials: We’re Listening to Boundary Concerns — “Arlington school leaders say nothing has been cast in stone when it comes to adjusting elementary-school boundaries, but that the clock is ticking toward decision-making… The schools whose boundaries are in play in this round of adjustments include Abingdon, Barcroft, Drew, Fleet (the new school to replace Patrick Henry), Hoffman-Boston, Long Branch, Oakridge and Randolph elementaries.” [InsideNova]
APS Asked About Graduation Rates — “Arlington school officials are being pressed by one board member to be more specific in analyzing data related to graduation and drop-out rates of minority students. School Board Vice Chairman Tannia Talento says minority students — those classified as black, Latino and Asian — could end up ‘falling through the cracks’ if more attention isn’t given to their individual cases.” [InsideNova]
Miss Steindorff Remembers — A nursing home employee in Minnesota used social media to help a former Walter Reed Elementary teacher, Miss Steindorff, remember the names of students in one of her classes, as depicted in a photo she kept. Students in alumni groups the employee reached out to helped fill in the gaps in Miss Steindorff’s memory, while sharing their own fond memories of their teacher, shortly before she passed away. [Presbyterian Homes & Services]
The day of Ballston Quarter’s planned opening has arrived, but the revamped mall doesn’t seem ready for customers quite yet.
Forest City, the developer engineering the complete overhaul of the former Ballston Common mall, initially hoped to open some stores up by September. But a few weeks back, the company revealed that it was pushing the open date, targeting today (Thursday) instead to have at least some sections of the development open for business.
But, as of this morning, the mall is still very much an active construction zone.
Some sections of the sidewalk along Wilson Blvd previously closed to pedestrians have reopened, revealing portions of the Ballston Quarter plaza that were once obscured from view. Yet the development’s doors are still locked, accessible only to people with key cards.
A spokeswoman for Forest City says the developer plans to offer more details soon, but did not immediately provide an update on any revised opening date.
The company originally reported a few construction delays to county officials this summer, though those were associated with the overhaul of the pedestrian bridge connecting Ballston Quarter to 4201 Wilson Blvd and the Ballston Metro station. However, Forest City also recently secured the county’s approval for outdoor seating at six restaurants in its outdoor plaza, and plans to make that area (as well as several other sections of the mall) accessible to customers as the development’s various stores open.
Mi and Yu Opening Update — According to its website, Mi and Yu Noodle Bar, which was originally expected to open in September in the revamped Ballston Quarter mall, is now slated for a February 2019 opening. The opening of the mall — and the numerousnew restaurants that will call it home — was at last check delayed until late October. [Mi and Yu Noodle Bar]
Improvements for McKinley Road — “Arlington County Board members on Oct. 20 are expected to award a contract worth up to $426,700 for modify curbs and intersections and establish a median along McKinley Road from Wilson Boulevard north to 11th Street North. The project is designed to improved safety for pedestrians and bicyclists in the corridor, including students attending McKinley Elementary School.” [InsideNova]
Memorial Bridge Work, Woes — Rehab work is well underway on the Memorial Bridge, but long-term lane closures are continuing to cause — in the words of one commuter — “insane” traffic backups during rush hour. [Twitter, Twitter]
A rendering showing the location of Ballston Quarter’s outdoor plaza (via Arlington County)
A rendering of media screens proposed for Ballston Quarter’s plaza (via Arlington County)
Ballston Quarter is now set to feature a full complement of restaurants with outdoor patios in the new development’s plaza, despite some reticence from Arlington planning staff.
The newly renovated Ballston Common mall now has the county’s go-ahead to welcome six restaurants with outdoor seating areas to its west plaza, along Wilson Blvd, after the County Board unanimously approved some permit changes at a meeting last Tuesday (Sept. 25).
The following restaurants will now be able to welcome outdoor diners to the plaza:
The decision to allow the full range of patios, however, ran counter to the recommendation of county staff. They raised concerns that one set of outdoor seating, located to the left of plaza when seen from Wilson Blvd, would be particularly disruptive to people walking through the development.
“It’s essentially a further privatization of the public space in the public plaza,” Adam Watson, a staffer in the county’s planning division, told the Board. “It obstructs public access and circulation.”
Evan Pritchard, an attorney for Ballston Quarter developer Forest City, argued that the full range of outdoor seating is a “key ingredient of the plaza area” and dismissed concerns that it would somehow impede the flow of pedestrians through the development.
“Most people heading to Ballston Quarter will never encounter the plaza unless they want to,” Pritchard said, pointing out that most visitors will access the development either via a pedestrian bridge connecting to the area’s Metro station or through the mall’s entrances on Wilson Blvd and N. Glebe Road.
The plaza itself is designed for outdoor events, and will connect to the development’s new “food hall,” Pritchard added.
Board members were persuaded by that line of thinking, with John Vihstadt observing that “the plaza is a destination, not a conduit.”
“A destination is most attractive when it’s busy and energized, not empty and desolate,” Vihstadt said.
County staff compared Ballston Quarter’s plaza to Rosslyn’s Central Place, just across from the area’s Metro station, which is a heavily trafficked open space between several large skyscrapers. But Board member Erik Gutshall didn’t view that as an apt comparison, arguing that the plaza is “not a streetscape where we’re trying to manage competing needs” as it won’t sit on Wilson Blvd itself.
“I have confidence that Forest City will be able to manage this place to everyone’s benefit,” Gutshall said.
The Board also laid the groundwork for approving another change to the plaza sought by the developer: the addition of two large LED “media screens” above the plaza.
Forest City initially planned to withdraw its request for a permit for the screens, after Pritchard discovered that they might be a bit too far off the ground to meet the county’s zoning rules. Instead, the Board pushed off consideration of the matter until December, giving members time to tweak the ordinance and allow the new screens to move forward.
Ballston Quarter is currently slated to open in late October, after a brief delay, though Forest City expects its restaurants and retailers to open on a rolling basis over the coming months.
A bar encouraging patrons to grab a glass of wine and a paintbrush could soon be on the way for Ballston’s biggest new development.
A new Muse Paintbar location seems set to be included in Ballston Quarter, according to new county permit applications. The bar’s listed address is on the first floor of 4238 Wilson Blvd, just down the block from the CVS pharmacy.
Spokespeople for both Muse and Ballston Quarter’s developer, Forest City, did not respond to requests for comment on the matter.
Muse dubs itself as “the premier paint and wine experience” on its website, offering events and private parties to help people learn how to paint while sipping on their adult beverage of choice. The chain has several locations around Northern Virginia, including ones in Falls Church, Woodbridge and Gainesville.
Yet the bar’s opening could be a ways off — Muse only applied for a permit at the site on Wednesday (Sept. 26), with several rounds of review by county inspectors still on tap. The bar also has yet to apply for a permit to serve alcohol at the location, state records show.
Ballston Quarter itself is set to open to patrons by the end of October, though Forest City has long said that the restaurants and businesses inside the new-look Ballston Common mall will open on a rolling basis over the next few months.
Ballston Quarter’s Wilson Blvd entrance under construction
Ballston Quarter construction from Wilson Blvd
Ballston Quarter’s residential and office space.
Courtesy photo
Ballston Quarter rendering (courtesy photo)
The developer behind Ballston Quarter is now promising a grand opening late next month, a minor departure from the September date originally targeted for the revamped Ballston Common Mall to begin welcoming customers once more.
Forest City is now targeting Oct. 25 for the development to open its doors “barring any unforeseen delays,” Forest City Regional Director of Marketing Jill Fredrick told ARLnow, via a PR rep. The bevy of restaurants and retailers set to call Ballston Quarter home won’t open all at once, but on a “rolling basis” over the next nine months, Fredrick added.
The overhauled mall has been in the works for years now, as Forest City has sought to refresh the aging structure with a mix of retail, office and residential space. But the exact timetable for its completion has been difficult to pin down, with the developer reporting some construction delays to county officials over the past few months.
“You’ve got to look at the magnitude of this project — it only slipped a month,” said Ballston Business Improvement District CEO Tina Leone. “Of course, we would’ve loved to have had a huge grand opening, but at least they’re opening.”
Leone and county leaders alike view the development as a critical one as Ballston continues to become an ever-more-urban section of Arlington — as she puts it, it will help transform Wilson Blvd into a “truly a retail street” and the neighborhood as a whole into “an 18-hour community.”
Yet the massive amount of construction required for the project, running in tandem with a host of other major Ballston developments, has snarled traffic in the area and forced visitors to the businesses that have remained open in the mall to wind through a confusing maze of scaffolding and tarps. Accordingly, Leone is quite anxious to see things start to wrap up on the site.
“There will be a critical mass of things starting to open in the fall, and then by the spring, end of the second quarter, it’s going to be up and rolling,” Leone said.
By the Oct. 25 opening, Fredrick expects that the mall’s “public areas will be fully open and accessible to the public, including vertical transportation elements like the escalators and elevators.” Leone says that will include clear ground-floor entrances along both Wilson and N. Glebe Road, as well as some big improvements to the mall’s parking garage.
“The elevator banks are going to match up with the floors in Ballston Quarter, instead of having to go up and down the stairs, and there will be more escalators,” Leone said. “It’s going to be more open, so you can actually see where you’re going and where the parking garage is. The connectivity is going to be much better. It couldn’t have gotten much worse, right?”
She added that sidewalks along Wilson will also be wider for people walking to the mall by the time it opens, which will help the development accommodate outdoor seating for a variety of its restaurants. The County Board is set to give the go-ahead for the new patios to open next week, when it could grant permits to establishments including Compass Coffee, South Block, Ted’s Bulletin, True Food Kitchen, Union Kitchen and Bartaco.
Leone also noted that the CVS pharmacy, which has remained open during the construction, will be accessible from both the Glebe and Wilson sides of the mall. And for fast food fans, she fully expects that the reopened Chick-fil-A will start serving customers by the time development opens.
Inside the mall itself, Leone hopes that the “wayfinding is going to be very, very clear” to help shoppers navigate the new space. Fredrick says construction will be ongoing even after the development opens, but she expects it will be “limited to the interior of tenants’ space and will not interfere with overall public access.”
Crucially, Leone says the new “plaza” at the center of the development should be open by the time fall rolls around, and she hopes to start working with Forest City to schedule activities and events in the space through the winter and spring.
One feature the area will be missing, however, is are the “large media screens” the developer originally proposed for the plaza. Attorney Evan Pritchard says the developer had hoped installing two LED screens there would “be an interactive and fun element to help activate the plaza,” but has since determined that they might not be allowed under county zoning rules.
Forest City is asking the Board to drop its request for the screens at its meeting Saturday (Sept. 22), though Pritchard expects to pursue a change to the county’s zoning ordinance to allow them in the future.
“We hope to have Board support on that,” he said.
With or without the screens, Leone hopes the plaza will be a natural “entrance into the market area,” a 25,000-square-foot food court home to 18 restaurants. She expects that will open by November, as will Punch Bowl Social, a bar offering a bevy of games and entertainment options.
As for the rest of the offerings at Ballston Quarter, Leone hopes to see everything open by spring 2019. But half the battle will be the mall finalizing tenants for its remaining open space — Fredrick said three quarters of the development is already leased, with “additional deals in the works.”
“It’s just a matter of getting everyone into their spaces,” Leone said.
Ballston Mall LED Screens Nixed — Developer Forest City is, for now, withdrawing a request to install two large, high-definition LED video screens above the main entrance to its still under-construction Ballston Quarter mall. The screens do not comply with Arlington zoning rules. Attorneys for Forest City say they are still hoping that the County Board will eventually amend the zoning ordinance to allow such screens. [Washington Business Journal]
Free ART Bus Rides Thursday — “Think there’s no such thing as a free ride? Not if you take the bus in Arlington, Virginia, and you’re traveling on Sept. 20. Arlington Transit is letting passengers ride free Sept. 20 as a way to celebrate the transit agency’s 20th anniversary.” [WTOP]
Tax Delinquency List — Arlington County Treasurer Carla de la Pava has released her office’s annual list of residents and businesses that have not paid their taxes. The list includes nearly $200,000 in delinquent real estate taxes, $1.3 million in delinquent personal property taxes, $1 million in delinquent business license and property taxes, and more than $500,000 in delinquent meal (restaurant) taxes. [Arlington County]
Celebrating Community and Elders in Nauck — “Celebrating the lives and achievements of the community’s elders was a centerpiece of the 2018 Nauck Civic & Community Pride Day, which brought food, music and fellowship to Drew Model School on Sept. 15. Four community residents who had reached, or were set to reach, the centennial mark – Elizabeth Cole, Novella Cummings, Mary Lockett and Thelma Russell – were honored by the Nauck Civic Association.” [InsideNova]
Critic Praises Shirlington’s Signature — “The Tony Award-winning Signature Theatre — the Arlington troupe known for musicals — shapes up as my favorite D.C. company. I’m not saying Signature is hands-down the best theater in Washington… But Signature showcases a lot of assets, from its singular glam factor to plain old ease of use.” [Washington Post]
Late Night Storms — Thunderstorms that rumbled through Arlington around midnight last night brought a period of frequent lightning and thunder that set off car alarms and awakened some residents from their sleep. [Twitter, Twitter]
