A waitress at the Ballston IHOP restaurant was robbed of cash on a weekday morning this week.
The alleged crime happened around 10:45 a.m. on Tuesday. Police say a man approached the waitress and “stole a billfold containing an undisclosed amount of cash from her hand,” before running off.
More from Arlington County Police:
LARCENY, 2019-07300101, 900 block of N. Stafford Street. At approximately 10:45 a.m. on July 30, police were dispatched to the report of a larceny just occurred. Upon arrival, it was determined that the male suspect approached a waitress and stole a billfold containing an undisclosed amount of cash from her hand. The suspect then fled the scene on foot. The suspect is described as a black male in his 20s wearing a white shirt and blue jeans. The investigation is ongoing.
More from this past week’s ACPD crime report is below, after the jump.
Summer yoga session held outside the Ballston Exchange (photo via Facebook)
CorePower Yoga in the Ballston Exchange
CorePower Yoga in the Ballston Exchange
4040 Wilson Blvd, future home of VIDA Fitness, under construction
CorePower Yoga and VIDA Fitness aren’t open yet, but they’re offering free classes for anyone looking to get a little more limber in Ballston.
Today (Thursday), VIDA Fitness is offering a “Glow Up! Power Yoga Class” from 6-7 p.m. at the Ballston Freshfarm Market (901 N. Taylor Street). The VIDA Ballston website describes the class as an outdoor yoga class aimed at improving flexibility and reducing stress.
VIDA has been holding free fitness classes the first Thursday of every month since May, with rotating themes and topics. The next fitness event — Pinot and Pilates — is planned for Sept. 5. The free classes are scheduled to run through November.
VIDA is planning to open its new Ballston location in the still-under-construction 4040 Wilson Blvd tower The opening date has not been announced, but staff said VIDA is eyeing an early 2020 opening.
CorePower Yoga, meanwhile, is scheduled to open at Ballston Exchange on Thursday, August 22, and has also been holding a series of free yoga events ahead of its launch.
Next Friday, August 9, the yoga studio will host a sunset yoga event from 5:30-6:30 p.m at 4201 Wilson Blvd. The event is free and open to the public, though attendees are encouraged to bring their own mat and water. Another free yoga class is scheduled for Monday, Aug. 30.
Maizal is planning to open tomorrow (Thursday) with a free food giveaway.
The new restaurant serves South American street food, like arepas, yuca fries, plantains and street corn.
For its Aug. 1 grand opening in the Quarter Market food hall in Ballston Quarter mall, Maizal will be offering a free arepa and a side — with the purchase of a drink — from 11:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m. and again from 5:30-8:30 p.m., according to a PR rep for the mall.
Employees could be seen preparing fresh ingredients in the restaurant’s open kitchen this morning, but a manager said it would not be serving customers today.
Fira Jaya (left) and Kate Murphy (right) in Good Company Doughnuts and Cafe
Doughnuts for sale at Good Company
Godo Company Doughnuts and Cafe
Godo Company Doughnuts and Cafe
Doughnuts for sale at Good Company
(Updated 11:20 a.m.) Bad traffic on Glebe Road is partially to blame for the success of a new donut shop.
The veteran-owned Good Company Doughnuts & Cafe (672 N. Glebe Road) is celebrating a better-than-expected first few months after opening in April.
“We beat our expectations for the first 90 days,” said Kate Murphy, one of the owners of Good Company. “We’re at about 20 percent higher sales than we’d expected.”
“We sell about 400 doughnuts a day and 600 on weekends,” Murphy elaborated. “So that’s about 3,000-4,000 per week, not including orders.”
Murphy said the eatery has also seen higher levels of catering and wholesale accounts than they had anticipated. Plus, Good Company is getting good reviews: ranking 4.5 stars out of 5 on Yelp with 66 reviews.
It all adds up to a promising start for the business, despite being across the street from a big food-centric mall on the less-trodden side of N. Glebe Road, where otherrestaurants have struggled.
Many of the store customers are neighbors. Restaurants that rely heavily on workers as the customer base can tend to see declines on weekends, but Murphy said having neighbors as a reliable source of customers has given them boosted weekend sales.
Murphy once ran a donut shop in New Hampshire before she moved to Arlington. She said Sunday was the store’s least busy day, but at Good Company it’s the busiest.
The embrace from the nearby residential communities is partially because Good Company is one of the few new, independent restaurants in the area on the western side of Glebe Road.
“The neighborhood is really anxious to have something on this side of Glebe Road so they don’t have to play frogger with traffic,” Murphy said.
There are other Ballston-area donut and pastry shops like Dunkin Donuts and the new Sidekick and District Doughnuts in Ballston Quarter. Murphy said her store has had to adapt and incorporate some unique flavors and offerings, but for the most part the shop is the kind of classic donut-and-coffee shop the clientele grew up visiting.
“We’re more traditional,” Murphy said. “People still come for the classics… We roll the dough out and hand-cut each of them.”
Honey Dip — fancy talk for “glazed” — is the restaurant’s most popular item, followed by chocolate frosted with sprinkles. The latter is a particular hit with children.
But Murphy isn’t a donut-luddite. Maple bacon donuts are now a staple of the store, and while Murphy said her old shop had maple donuts, they wouldn’t have thought to add bacon.
One of the biggest challenges the restaurant faced early on was building a quality staff, which Murphy attributed to the low unemployment rate in the area. But now, Murphy said she has assembled a team that lives up to the store’s name and is more comfortable handing the reins over to catch a break during the day — critical given that the baking starts at midnight or earlier for the following day.
5th Road N. adjacent to Mosaic Park (map via Google Maps)
Overhaul work underway at Mosaic Park in Ballston
Overhaul work underway at Mosaic Park in Ballston
Overhaul work underway at Mosaic Park in Ballston
Utility work on the under-construction Mosaic Park will close a road in Ballston for the next three weeks.
County crews are closing 5th Road N. between N. Quincy and Pollard streets on weekdays from 9 a.m.-3 p.m. The closures kicked off yesterday (Monday) “to accommodate utility work” for the park and are set to wrap up on Friday, Aug. 16, according to an Arlington Alert.
The road is just south of the Gold’s Gym in Ballston, on the southern edge of Mosaic Park.
The utility work is the start of a long-planned effort to overhaul Mosaic Park, with a new playground, athletic court and water feature, among other upgrades. The park, once largely a grass field with some playground equipment, is currently fenced off and mostly mounds of dirt and construction equipment.
Interim APS Superintendent to Be Named — The Arlington School Board is planning to name an interim superintendent at a special meeting tonight, following the departure of long-time APS Superintendent Patrick Murphy. The School Board is expected to select a search firm by early fall to find a new, permanent superintendent. [Twitter, InsideNova]
Plan for New Ballston Metro Entrance Advancing — “Arlington County staff have been given the ‘go-ahead’ to move forward with planning a second entrance at the Ballston Metro station, according to project manager Bee Buergler, but it could be another five years before it actually comes to fruition. The project is over 15 years in the planning, but until recently it’s been held up because the building that would be above it was being redeveloped and ran into delays.” [Greater Greater Washington]
Cross-Crystal City Corporate Clash — Crystal City-based prescription drug IT provider SureScripts is feuding with its future neighbor, Amazon, over the use of patient medical records. [Bloomberg]
ACPD School Donation Drive Returns — “Help Arlington County students start the school year prepared to succeed by donating new school supplies and other classroom materials during the Fill the Cruiser Back-to-School Supply Drive… on Thursday, August 15 from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.” [Arlington County]
Discussing Marymount’s Ballston Campus — “Colleges and universities have cracked the code to propel cities forward toward the future of education: focus on the campus experience, expand pathways to new careers, and partner with surrounding communities and cities to drive growth. In Arlington, Va., Marymount University has done just that.” [Medium]
National Night Out in Crystal City — The Crystal City Civic Association and Crystal City BID will be holding their first National Night Out event on Tuesday, Aug. 6. [Crystal City BID]
Post-Flood Trash Collection Update — “The County took special measures to assist residential curbside customers in trash collection efforts following the July 8 damaging storm. This service was in addition to the weekly trash collection by our contractors. Over 110 tons of trash was collected through this service, which is the equivalent of the total weight of 16 school buses. Most of this had to be hand collected and lifted by our crews.” [Arlington County]
The confectionary establishment is planning the donut party for tomorrow (Thursday) around 2 p.m. on the second level of the mall, across from Scout and Molly’s. The event is scheduled to last as long as there are still donuts to give out.
The eatery offers a range of donuts, from chocolate to various fruit flavors, though the website says the company does not offer gluten-free or vegan options.
District Doughnut is planning to open the Ballston Quarter location sometime within the next week, according to staff at another District Doughnut location.
Community member checks out the Arlington Public Library makerspace’s 3D printer
Arlington Public Library makerspace 3D printed Groot
Arlington Public Library makerspace sewing machine
Arlington Public Library makerspace
Arlington Public Library makerspace art projects
Arlington Public Library is extending the hours for its makerspace after staff say hundreds attended its grand opening.
The makerspace, located at Arlington Central Library (1015 N. Quincy Street) first opened in April, but staff celebrated the opening this past Saturday (July 20), with tours and workshops of the space, dubbeds The Shop. Over 500 people came out for the event, according to Maker Librarian Katelyn Attanasio.
Now the APL is expanding The Shop’s opening hours from fours hour a day — Monday through Thursday and on Saturdays– to five hours each day.
Many of the workshops for the space are already “booked through October,” said Attanasio. She added that the DIY drywall repair workshop seemed to be especially well received.
Yesterday, the makerspace displayed little Groot figurines that had been made with the Shop’s 3D printer.
The Shop allows patrons to use a variety of equipment, from woodworking tools, circuit parts, Wacom tablets, 3D printers, and Cameo cutters, among others. Attanasio told ARLnow she hopes people realize there is even more to the space, like opportunities for patrons to come in and digitize home movies and tapes.
“This is your library,” said Attanasio. “We don’t just have fancy tech.”
She said the library is looking for feedback from patrons on the space, including its workshops and equipment.
HQ2’s Towering Height — “Amazon.com Inc.’s planned pair of office towers at Metropolitan Park will have the same number of floors as the residential building next door. But the HQ2 buildings will lord over The Bartlett by nearly 60 feet. The 22-story HQ2 towers are expected to hit 322.5 feet at their highest point, according to plans submitted to Arlington County. JBG Smith Properties’ The Bartlett, with its Amazon-owned Whole Foods Market on the ground floor, is 22 stories but only 264-feet-tall.” [Washington Business Journal]
Retail Sales Up in Arlington — “Year-over-year retail sales in Arlington showed a boost in the first quarter of 2019, according to new data. Total retail sales of $767.2 million countywide were up 1.6 percent from $755.3 million during the first three months of 2018, according to figures from the Virginia Department of Taxation.” [InsideNova]
Univ. of Phoenix’s New Arlington Campus — The for-profit University of Phoenix this week will be celebrating the grand opening of its new Northern Virginia-D.C. Metro campus at 4401 Fairfax Drive in Ballston. [Eventbrite]
Heat Doesn’t Stop Youth Baseball Tourney — “Even as some events cancelled due to the extreme heat warning on Saturday, many people are still got outside. That included hundreds of young players from across the area who turned out for the Arlington Babe Ruth – Doc Bonaccorso Summer Classic Baseball Tournament in Arlington.” [WJLA]
A D.C.-based taqueria is opening a second location in Ballston.
El Rey is expanding from its original location at 919 U Street NW and opening at Ballston Exchange, near Dirt, across the street from Ballston Quarter mall.
In D.C., El Rey offers tacos, tequila-based cocktails, wine, sangria, beer and weekend brunch.
