Ballston

Plans for Ballston Church Redevelopment Resurrected

By Vernon Miles
1/2

After a year of silence, plans for the redevelopment of two blocks along N. Vermont Street straddling 11th Street N. could be coming back to the table.

In February 2018, Arlington County Board approved developer NVR’s plans to replace the two-story church and its parking lot at 1031 N. Vermont Street — formerly Grace Community Church and currently Portico Church Arlington — with a 72-unit condominium building and 12 townhouses. Four of the units on-site would be committed as affordable housing.

The plans drew some backlash from the neighbors who said the plan added density to an already congested Ballston neighborhood.

Since its approval, however, there has been no sign of work moving forward on the homes. An employee for NVR confirmed that the company had dropped its plans for the site, while county officials tell ARLnow that a new developer and development plan is forthcoming.

“Yes, NVR has walked away from this site plan,” said Gina Wimpey, spokeswoman for Arlington’s Dept. of Community Planning, Housing and Development. “There is a new contract purchaser and they are planning on submitting new plans as early as next month.”

Wimpey said the contract was purchased by BCN Homes, a developer that has constructed custom homes throughout the Arlington. Brian Normile, president of BCN Homes and a partner in a number of popular local restaurants, told ARLnow it’s too early to comment on the property but more information could be forthcoming in the next few weeks.

“The plans will be processed as a minor site plan amendment, but will still need to return to the Site Plan Review Committee,” Wimpey said. “That should occur sometime this fall or winter.”

Morning Notes

By ARLnow.com

Metro’s Fire Hydrant Problem — “A fire safety advocate and a D.C. firefighter took to social media Tuesday to criticize the transit agency after a Metrobus was spotted parked in front of a hydrant in Pentagon City for about 10 minutes. They also said it’s a chronic problem.” [Washington Post]

Va. Was Amazon Oasis After NYC Debacle — “In late January, Holly Sullivan, the head of world-wide development at Amazon, returned to Washington, D.C., where she and some colleagues dined with executives from JBG Smith, the real-estate firm managing the Arlington County site.. A JBG Smith official remarked that Amazon’s team looked like it had come from a war zone. ‘How much more space can we get in Virginia?’ one of the Amazon executives joked.” [Wall Street Journal, Twitter]

Ballston Office Building Sold — “Hines Interests LP has acquired Ballston’s Two Liberty Center” — where ARLnow has its offices — “from New York-based real estate investment management company Westbrook Partners for $93.2 million. Jones Lang LaSalle Inc. (NYSE: JLL) brokered the Aug. 20 sale of the 178,000-square foot, nine-story building.” [Washington Business Journal]

APS Expanding Healthy Lunch Options — “In 2017, Café + Teria was originally introduced to high school students attending Arlington, Virginia’s three public high schools, Wakefield, Yorktown and Washington-Lee. Due to the success at these schools in Arlington it will also expand to The Heights (the new home of H-B Woodlawn) and the Arlington… Career Center on September 3.” [Press Release]

Bronson Bier Hall Slated for Friday Afternoon Opening

By ARLnow.com
1/6

Update at 3:55 p.m. on 8/29/19 — Bronson appears to be currently open as part of an unannounced “soft opening.”

Earlier: Ballston’s new beer hall is set to open its doors and its bench seating Friday afternoon.

Bronson Bier Hall, the Germanic successor to A-Town Bar and Grill at 4100 Fairfax Drive, will open at 3 p.m. Friday, according to co-owner Scott Parker. Starting Saturday Bronson will be open at 11 a.m. daily, he said.

“We’re absolutely thrilled to be opening,” Parker told ARLnow. “So much hard work has gone into it, and the day is finally here. We can’t wait to see everyone this weekend!”

Bronson offers a beer selection that includes a mix of local beers and German imports, and a food menu that features schnitzel and bratwurst. Games at the beer hall include shuffleboard, darts and ping pong.

The new watering hole is planning grand opening events on Friday, Sept. 6 and Saturday, Sept. 7. Per a Facebook event post:

Bronson will be open all day with the grand opening celebrations beginning around 8 PM both nights. We will be celebrating the opening with friends and family, and enjoying pretzels, beers, brats and amazing live music. Guests will enjoy playing table games, corn hole, ping pong and more! As always, Bronson is first come — first serve. There is no guest list: come one, come all! We are so excited to be bringing Ballston the Bierhall that it deserves, and we look forward to having a great time with all of you! See you on the 6th and 7th!

Ballston Quarter to Host “Thursday Throwback” Movie Nights

By Airey

The newly rennovated Ballston Quarter mall will host showings of classic movies on its outdoor front plaza this fall, starting next week.

Movies will be shown for free on Thursdays, starting at around 8 p.m., in front of the mall at 4238 Wilson Blvd.

The series will start next Thursday, September 5, with the movie Grease, and will continue showing films every Thursday until October 31.

The complete list of scheduled films is below.

  • Grease — September 5
  • The Parent Trap — September 12
  • Home Alone — September 19
  • The Princess Bride — September 26
  • Mrs. Doubtfire — October 3
  • E.T. — October 10
  • Sound of Music — October 17
  • Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory — October 24
  • Hocus Pocus — October 31

Event organizers noted in a email to ARLnow that food purchased from the Quarter’s many new restaurants is allowed in the plaza area.

Image via YouTube

Morning Notes

By ARLnow.com

Bronson Opening on Friday — “The owners of A-Town Bar and Grill are opening a new German beer hall this week that will replace the popular gathering place for hard-partying bros in Ballston. Bronson is scheduled to open Thursday, August 29 Friday, August 30 in the 6,000-square-foot space at 4100 Fairfax Drive in Arlington.” [Eater]

Rising Home Prices Not Caused By HQ2 Workers — “The first Amazon employees have barely arrived in Northern Virginia, but the housing market close to the company’s new headquarters in Arlington County is behaving as if all 25,000 workers are moving in next week… The lightning speed of sales, the shortage of homes on the market and the elevated prices for available stock are all being driven by those who already call the Washington region home, real estate agents say.” [Washington Post]

HQ2ers May Work on Hardware Development — Amazon “said that its second headquarters would work on device development, specifically naming Amazon Fire TV… And it expressed interest in students who study ‘data science,’ they said. Amazon also said there will be plenty of non-tech related jobs at HQ2, such as in administration, human resources and program management.” [Washington Business Journal]

PSA: Move Over for Emergency Vehicles — “ACFD, @ffxfirerescue and @AlexandriaVAFD units battled major traffic in efforts to provide help on a serious accident with a person trapped on I395. Remember, if you can’t pull to the right, help open enough space lane for emergency vehicles to pass.” [Twitter]

Review of Signature’s ‘Assassins’ — “An odd little smile crosses the face of Bobby Smith as he relates the disordered thoughts of presidential killer Charles J. Guiteau in Signature Theatre’s perversely entertaining revival of ‘Assassins.’ In what twisted frame of mind would this man have to be to boast of his horrific homicidal achievement — and not just boast, but sing about it, too?” [Washington Post, Playbill]

Nearby: Man Dies After Bailey’s Crossroads Crash — “Detectives from our Crash Reconstruction Unit have preliminarily determined that Solomon Zelelew, of Alexandria City, was walking on a sidewalk near Columbia Pike and Carlin Springs Road. A 2015 Toyota Corolla was traveling west on Columbia Pike when the driver, in an attempt to avoid another vehicle, drove onto the sidewalk and hit Mr. Zelelew.” [Fairfax County Police Department]

Flickr pool photo by Kevin Wolf

Zoup! Eatery Tentatively Eyes End of October for Ballston Opening

By Vernon Miles
1/4

Zoup! Eatery could be opening in Ballston —  the chain’s first Arlington location — by the end of October.

The soup joint is opening in 4401 Fairfax Drive, occupying the ground floor of an office building undergoing a revitalization effort. A contractor working at the site said much of the work should be done within the next few weeks.

(The building is also home to a new University of Phoenix campus and a reportedly forthcoming poke restaurant.)

“We’re setting up ‘soft opening’ days on Oct. 18 and 19 with proceeds going to charity, opening to the public on Oct 21,” franchise owner Jim Beverley said in an email to ARLnow, “and then doing a grand opening celebration 6 weeks or so after that… we haven’t nailed that down yet though.”

As the name implies, the restaurant specializes in soup, but it also offers a wide variety along with salads, sandwiches and more. The soups include vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free and dairy-free options served alongside a hunk of freshly-baked bread.

A press release for Zoup! Eatery noted that the company will also offer takeout and delivery options.

“Long before I even thought of becoming a franchisee, I was a Zoup! regular,” Beverley said in the press release. “A friend jokingly called me an addict after seeing my umpteenth Zoup! bag. I love Zoup!’s gourmet soups, fresh salads and sandwiches, delicious new Sustain-a-Bowls, and zesty craft beverages. I can’t wait to bring the Zoup! experience to my friends and neighbors in Ballston!”

Arlington Prepares to Sink Its Teeth Into Ballston Beaver Pond Project, Sans Beavers

By Vernon Miles
1/3

The Ballston Beaver Pond is about to get a makeover, but a little later than originally anticipated.

In January, county officials re-initiated a public discussion on a redesign for the pond. The pond was originally built in 1980 to collect stormwater runoff from I-66. To the surprise of county officials, beavers moved in and made the pond their home. The beavers dammed up the drainage system and were joined in the habitat by muskrat, geese, ducks, heron, egrets, redwing blackbirds, fish, turtles.

The stormwater goals have since been further hampered by invasive vegetation and litter. But after some initial work 5-6 years ago, Arlington now hopes to transform the pond to something beyond its initial concept: it wants to turn the pond into a stormwater management facility and pedestrian-accessible wetlands.

“This pond receives runoff from more than 300 acres of urban and suburban land and represents the most feasible opportunity within Arlington for a larger regional stormwater management facility,” the county said on the project page. “Retrofitting the pond so it provides more water quality treatment helps the County comply with the municipal separate storm sewer system permit and contributes to restoring the Chesapeake Bay.”

Plans for the project include a boardwalk with informative signs and benches along the eastern edge of the pond.

Initial projections for the project had construction starting sometime this winter, but stormwater outreach specialist Lily Whitesell said the project is currently still in the permitting phase with VDOT. Once construction of the project starts, it’s projected to last 9-12 months.

“Once [permitting] is completed, it will go to procurement, likely in early 2020,” Whitesell said. “Then we will likely go to construction in summer or fall 2020.”

The fundamental design of the project remains the same, and Whitesell said the intense storm in July showed the need for expanded capacity at the pond.

There will be some closures during the project. Whitesell said the trail on the east side of the pond will be closed during construction, but the trail adjacent to Fairfax Drive that leads to the Custis Trail will remain open.

When the trail reopens, the wetland will be designed to revive the native wetland plants and habitat, like turtles.

“We anticipate that turtles, a wide variety of migratory birds, pollinators, amphibians, and other valuable wildlife will use the pond,” Whitesell said. “We’ve heard from local birders and other wildlife enthusiasts that they are excited about the new habitat benefits of the project.”

But despite the namesake, the county are not planning to bring beavers back to the park, and in fact will actively do all they can to keep them away.

“Unfortunately, beavers would reshape the land and potentially compromise the water quality and habitat goals of the project and pond safety,” Whitesell said. “Beaver baffles will be installed to discourage beavers from the pond area.”

Photos 2, 3 courtesy Arlington County

New Chase Bank Coming to Ballston

By ARLnow.com
1/3

JPMorgan Chase is continuing its Mid-Atlantic expansion with a new bank branch in Ballston.

A Chase Bank location is currently under construction at 850 N. Randolph Street, in the former Pizza Autentica space. Permits show the new branch will include a coffee bar, among other amenities.

In December, the New York-based banking giant opened its first Arlington branch in the former Walgreens building in Clarendon.  Another branch is in the works near the Rosslyn Metro station.

No word yet on when the Ballston location will open.

Pizza Roma in Ballston is Not, In Fact, Closed

By ARLnow.com
1/2

Our report of Pizza Roma’s possible demise last week was a bit exaggerated.

The pizzeria, located across the street from the Ballston Metro station at 4219 N. Fairfax Drive, was indeed closed during lunchtime hours. At the time, there was no indication at the restaurant, over the phone or online that its hours had changed.

Now, a sign in the window says that until next Monday, Aug. 26, the restaurant will only open for dinner, starting at 5 p.m. Tipsters tell us Pizza Roma was open for dinner this past Friday and Saturday.

In June, ARLnow heard from another customer who thought the restaurant had closed — it turned out then, as well, that it was only open for dinner.

Though our article couched the observation that Pizza Roma “seems closed,” and we tried several ways of getting in touch with the owner during business hours, ARLnow apologizes for the insinuation that the restaurant might have closed for good without checking in person, at night to see if it was open for dinner.

New Women’s Clothing and Accessories Store Opens in Ballston Quarter

By Airey

A new trendy clothing and accessories store is now joining the ranks of businesses opening up in the Ballston Quarter mall.

Called Francesca’s, the new store opened today (Friday) and sells women’s apparel as well as shoes, hats, jewelry, and hair accessories.

Ballston is one of several D.C. area locations for the chain, which also has opened up shop in the Fashion Centre at Pentagon City, as well as in D.C, Tysons, Springfield, and Alexandria. Despite the local expansion, the company has also faced some recent struggles.

The new store occupies a 1,600 square foot space on the second story of the mall, across from another women’s clothing store, Gossip Boutique, and watch retailer Bering.

A PR rep told ARLnow that the store is offering a buy one, get one 60% off deal through Wednesday, August 21.

Across the Glebe Divide: Restaurants in Western Ballston Grapple with Spate of Closures

By Vernon Miles
1/10

For some diners, Ballston ends at Glebe Road, and a handful of restaurant owners at the western end of the neighborhood are feeling left out.

As numerous businesses have sprung up in the central part of Ballston, the western edge has suffered a series of high-profile closures.

The epicenter of the new restaurant openings is the newly-redeveloped Ballston Quarter mall and the ground floor of Ballston Exchange, just across Wilson Blvd from the mall — both in the central portion of the neighborhood, where several new residential and office buildings are also under construction.

“The gathering place is on the other side of Glebe Road,” said Brian McBride, one of the owners of Mussel Bar and Grille (800 N. Glebe Road). He listed off a number of places near his restaurant that have closed.

Cheesetique, which closed in June, is the most recent example. The storefront is still vacant, with lingering signs advertising long-gone desserts. Applebee’s and Il Forno along the same stretch of Glebe Road have both also closed over the last few years.

Manny Tangle, owner of Filipino restaurant Bistro 1521 (900 N. Glebe Road), said the improvements and changes taking place across Glebe Road have had no discernible effect on his businesses — for better or worse.

Restaurateurs along the west side of Glebe Road almost unanimously agreed that the biggest challenges for local businesses all stem from traffic issues. McBride and Tangle both agreed it can be difficult for visitors to find the right places to park. The parking for Mussel Bar and Grille, for instance, is only available by making a somewhat complex set of turns behind the building.

For Bistro 1521, the big frustration is being stuck between the “No U-Turn” signs at Fairfax Drive and Wilson Blvd, so if someone misses their turn to get to the restaurant, it’s several more blocks before they can turn around and make another pass.

Even at Good Company Doughnuts and Cafe (672 N. Glebe Road), which had a stronger than expected first few months, co-owner Kate Murphy said most of their customers came from the residential areas west of Glebe Road. The sparse number of crosswalks and perpetual construction meant the eatery didn’t see as much foot traffic from people visiting the Ballston Quarter area across the street, according to Murphy.

But it’s not all gloom and doom for these restaurants. Mary Marchetti, owner of Stageplate Bistro (900 N. Glebe Road), said the challenges of the west side of Glebe Road also come with some unique opportunities.

“Our side of Glebe Road tends to be more affordable to the independent restaurateur,” Marchetti said. “SER, us, Mussel, Bistro… would any of us have been able to afford Ballston Quarter? No, the rents are too high and we don’t have that kind of clout. So here we are, on our little independent strip of restaurants.”

If anything, Marchetti said the biggest challenge for the archipelago of independent restaurants is overcoming the reputation that west-of-Glebe is where eateries go to die.

“Ending that stigma will help drive businesses here,” Marchetti said. “The dining scene in Ballston has so much to offer. Ballston should be a dining mecca.”

(more…)

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