Power outage map for Ballston outage on Feb. 4, 2019
Update at 1:25 p.m. — Power was restored to the entire neighborhood as of 1 p.m., according to Dominion spokesman Charles Penn. The cause of the outage, he said, was an issue with an underground switch. The extended outage prompted many Ballston restaurants to remain closed during lunchtime.
Earlier: Numerous office buildings, apartment and condo towers, and traffic signals are in the dark this morning due to a power outage in Ballston.
The outage was first reported around 8 a.m. Among the intersections without a traffic signal was the busy intersection of N. Glebe Road and Wilson Blvd, where traffic was beginning to back up when police arrived on the scene and started directing traffic.
Also affected by the outage is Arlington Central Library, which announced that it will remain closed until power is fully restored.
Dominion reports a total of 2,640 customers out in the area. The cause is listed as “pending investigation” and the estimated time of restoration is 10 a.m.-1 p.m.
ADVISORY ⚠️: A large power outage has been reported in Ballston. ACPD is responding to the area to assist with traffic control. Follow police direction and remember to treat all uncontrolled intersections as a FOUR WAY STOP. pic.twitter.com/G9eSih93QN
The Rustico restaurant in Ballston plans to open back up today (Friday) after a roughly three-week-long shutdown.
General Manager Ryan Cline says the bar will be open for business once more tonight, now that it’s managed to complete a series of repairs after a burst pipe flooded the bar with water in mid-January.
The process hasn’t exactly been a smooth one, as it’s required new flooring to be installed. Cline said another sprinkler head burst in the midst of the repairs, complicating matters further.
In all, Cline doesn’t expect that most regulars will notice much of a difference at the restaurant, which puts a heavy focus on both pizza and beer. But he hopes that the restaurant’s loyal customers will be eager to return to the watering hole.
Cline added that Rustico is planning a special celebration next Friday (Feb. 8) to mark the bar’s grand reopening.
The restaurant will offer new specials like pork belly tacos and “overloaded nachos,” with a variety of new stouts, sours and other beers on tap.
APS on Two Hour Delay — Arlington Public Schools is a two hour delays this morning amid a light coating of snow. Fairfax County Public Schools, meanwhile, is closed after initially announcing a two hour delay last night. [Twitter]
County Still Seeking Aquatics Center Sponsor — “Arlington County Manager Mark Schwartz has not given up on his goal of finding sponsors to help offset the cost of the Long Bridge Park aquatics center. ‘I remain optimistic that we will be successful” in finding partners,’ Schwartz told County Board members Jan. 29, though he offered no specifics.” [InsideNova]
ACPD: Get a Designated Driver for the Big Game — “Super Bowl LIII is slated for kick-off this Sunday, February 3, and, for many, this celebratory evening includes alcohol. Enjoy the game and festivities, but don’t drop the ball on safety. Make it your game plan to take a sober ride home – whether it’s by using a ride sharing service, taxi, public transportation, or designated sober driver.” [Arlington County]
Ballston BID to Launch ‘Club’ — “The Ballston Business Improvement District is launching a club for area residents… which appears to be a first-of-its-kind program in the region. When the club kicks off by the end of summer, members will enjoy exclusive benefits like discounts for restaurants and retail, in addition to events like yoga in the park and outdoor movies.” [Washington Business Journal]
Wardian Does It Again — “Michael Wardian, 44, of Arlington, Va. has won the first of seven marathons in the World Marathon Challenge in Antarctica.” [Canadian Running, Twitter]
Arlington Firm Makes Big Acquisition — “CACI International Inc. has reached an agreement to acquire LGS Innovations LLC for $750 million in a deal that extends Arlington-based CACI’s reach into the signals intelligence and cybersecurity markets.” [Washington Business Journal]
The location of a new childcare center at 4001 Fairfax Drive in Ballston (via Arlington County)
A map for a new playground at a new childcare center in Ballston (via Arlington County)
Arlington officials have given the green light for a new childcare center to set up shop in Ballston, in a debate that forced the County Board to weigh its years-long effort to expand access to childcare in the county against the vocal opposition of neighbors to the project.
The Board voted unanimously last night (Tuesday) to award the Bright Horizons Children’s Center with the permits it needs to open a new location on the first and second floors of a building at 4001 Fairfax Drive.
The new center will have room for about 145 kids in all, and include a 4,700-square-foot playground in the small courtyard between the building and an adjacent set of condos at 1001 N. Randolph Street.
The playground, in particular, worried neighbors. Matt Nyce, a board member at the nearby EastView Condos, told ARLnow via email that the location was a “totally inappropriate” place for a playground, given its proximity to two exhaust fans and how close it would be located to homes on the first floors of the two buildings.
But Board members were convinced that some of those concerns were a bit overblown — as Erik Gutshall put it, the Board judged the childcare center unlikely to be “an overwhelming detriment” to quality of life in the area, or to property values.
Officials would acknowledge that the playground would be a bit of a tight fit in the courtyard, and that it would occupy some of Ballston’s very limited open space. But, as the Board weighs a comprehensive overhaul of its zoning regulations governing childcare centers, members also said that they were willing to allow designs that may not be absolutely perfect if it means expanding options for Arlington parents.
“This is not a willy nilly one-off, but consistent with a direction the county seeks to go,” Gutshall said. “This is an evolution as we rethink what is acceptable for our ground floor uses.”
The Board did not make the decision lightly, however. Board member Katie Cristol, a lead backer of the county’s childcare overhaul, said she even considered pushing for a deferral of any decision on the matter, particularly after the Ballston-Virginia Square Civic Association decided to oppose the project.
Collier Cook, the group’s president, told the Board that he worried that dropping a playground on the site would rob the nearby residents of some crucial open space.
And, as an EastView resident himself, Cook said he understood the concerns of his neighbors. One, Andres Delgado, told the Board that the prospect of additional noise was particularly concerning for people who live in the building and work from home.
“We have neighbors who live on the first floor and it goes right into their living room,” Delgado said. “Noise is a big concern for them.”
Similarly, he said neighbors are worried about smoke from the nearby parking garage impacting the kids’ health.
But Zach Williams, an attorney representing Bright Horizons, said the company made every effort possible to address those playground concerns. The childcare center plans to pay for a timer to ensure the exhaust fans aren’t operating while children are outside, and Williams said they even agreed to shrink the playground by 200 square feet to give residents some more breathing room.
Yet, with the county’s ordinances requiring that the center add 75-square-feet of playground space for each child outside at any given time, Williams said Bright Horizons can’t do much more to address those issues.
“We don’t have a lot of flexibility, but we’ve tried to do as much as we can,” Williams said.
Board members commended those efforts and made another point for neighbors worried about noise — considering the way the area is zoned, a new bar or nightclub could easily move into the space instead and set up outdoor seating, which could prompt even more substantial noise concerns than the childcare center.
“It would be completely irresponsible for us, I believe, to suggest we can prevent change from happening,” said County Board Chair Christian Dorsey. “The other ways in which this property could change could be all manner of degrees more intense.”
With this approval in hand, Williams said the center plans to open by January 2020. Bright Horizons is also on the cusp of opening another childcare center in Courthouse, which also faced its fair share of pushback from neighbors last year.
A map of proposed improvements for the Ballston Pond (via Arlington County)
Some long-awaited improvements could finally be on the way for the Ballston Pond, which could help keep trash out of the waterway and help better manage stormwater in the area.
County officials are planning a community meeting to discuss the project tomorrow (Wednesday) at Arlington Central Library (1015 N. Quincy Street). The gathering is set to start at 7:30 p.m.
The meeting is the first on the pond improvements since 2012, and the county has been eyeing some work on the small body of water since early 2011.
The pond, located near the intersection of I-66 and Fairfax Drive, was originally designed as a way to collect stormwater runoff from the highway back when it was first built decades ago. But sediment from the water built up in the pond over the years, and a combination of invasive plants and trash have also plagued the area.
Accordingly, the county has long sought to install new trash control devices and other new vegetation buffers around the pond. Officials have also decided to replace a walkway around its perimeter, particularly as it nears the CACI office building and AVA Ballston apartments, and add a new “boardwalk” along a section the pond as well.
The county drained the pond to clean it up a bit back in 2013, then spent the next few years removing unwanted plants growing nearby and securing the necessary easements to let the project go forward.
But with all that work finally completed, the county is now finalizing designs for the project and hopes to get work started later this summer.
So long as the community signs off on the designs, the County Board could vote to send the project out for bid this spring.
Board Approves Water Main, Fire Station Projects — “The Arlington County Board today approved contracts for two capital improvement projects, one to bring Fire Station 8 into the 21st century, and the other to replace a 90-year old water main with a larger pipe that will better serve the Cherrydale and Waverly Hills neighborhoods.” [Arlington County]
‘Say Yes to the Dress’ Star in Arlington — “TLC’s Say Yes to the Dress Atlanta’s Monte Durham will be on campus next Tuesday, January 29th from 7:30-8:30 at Ballston Center. Durham will announce the Portfolio In Motion fashion show Designer of the Year.” [Twitter]
Snow, Cold on the Way — “A powerful arctic cold front is set to blast through the Washington region Tuesday evening. It could have disruptive effects, with rain quickly changing to snow during the evening commute and then rapidly freezing over roads.” [Capital Weather Gang, Twitter]
New Publishing Schedule this Week — Readers may notice some regular ARLnow features publishing at different times and/or days this week. For instance, this Morning Notes post is publishing at 7:30 a.m., while an opinion column that usually publishes on Thursdays is scheduled for this afternoon. We are trying out a new schedule this week — let us know what you think.
A Ballston office building that’s sat largely empty ever since a federal agency moved out a few years back could soon lure a bevy of new tenants to the space.
The Arlington Square building, located at 4401 Fairfax Drive, looks set to experience a bit of a revitalization. The County Board is set to consider a series of zoning changes for the property tomorrow (Saturday) to lure in two tenants, and other retailers look to be on the way as well.
Built in 1988, the eight-story building was long the headquarters of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. But the agency took off for Falls Church in 2014, as part of a series of federal tenants leaving the area, and the building has been “mostly vacant” since then, county staff wrote in a report to the Board.
The Brookfield Property Group bought Arlington Square for $33.5 million back in 2017, paying substantially less than its previous owner did in acquiring it for $53.9 million in 2010, according to county property records. The developer now “intends to attract a variety of uses and tenants to occupy the building,” staff wrote.
Specifically, the building’s owner is looking for a zoning change in order to lease out about 2,800 square feet of space on its ground floor to a “private college.” The Board report doesn’t name the institution looking to move into the space, but it does say that it will offer classes on nights and weekends, with “degrees in a Master of Business Administration, Bachelors of Science in Business, Bachelors of Science in Information Technology and general studies and electives programs.”
A behavioral therapy provider, known as “Mind Body Health,” is also hoping to move into about 2,400 square feet of space on the building’s second floor. The business is currently based in Courthouse, in a building at 2200 Wilson Blvd, and is looking for a new permit to operate in the space.
Brookfield is also planning on adding two retailers to the ground floor, to further “activate the streetscape,” staff wrote. One, the soup-and-salad restaurant Zoup!, has already posted signs at the location. The other looks to be Poke It Up, according to a report from Eater D.C., a chain with a location in the Pentagon City mall.
County staff are recommending that the Board sign off on the proposal, hailing its potential to bring more business to “a building that has sat largely vacant for five years.”
The Board has certainly put an emphasis on reversing the county’s rising office vacancy rate in recent years — though Amazon’s arrival in Crystal City and Pentagon City will make a huge impact on that effort, officials have warned that neighborhoods like Ballston and Rosslyn still have some catching up to do.
Signs posted at Rustico in Ballston, which is temporarily closed.
Tarps cover furniture at Rustico in Ballston, which is temporarily closed.
Water damage from a “renegade sprinkler” has resulted in the temporary closure of the Rustico restaurant in Ballston.
The pizza and beer-focused eatery has been shuttered to allow for renovation work since last Tuesday (Jan. 15), and a series of tarps currently cover its bar.
“We are working tirelessly to get things back up and running, and sincerely apologize for the inconvenience this may cause you,” a sign posted on its door says. “We’ll be cooking and pouring again in no time.”
The restaurant’s general manager, Ryan Cline, told ARLnow that the sprinkler dumped more than five inches of water into the restaurant in total, prompting all sorts of challenges for the staff.
“We are still doing repairs as fast as possible,” Cline wrote in an email. He added that he’s hoping to reopen the eatery by Feb. 1.
In the meantime, Rustico’s original, Alexandria location, at 827 Slaters Lane, is still open for business.
The restaurant opened up the Ballston space back in 2010.
An office building at 4420 Fairfax Drive in Ballston, slated for redevelopment (via Washington Capitol Partners)
An office building at 4420 Fairfax Drive in Ballston, slated for redevelopment (via Washington Capitol Partners)
A Ballston redevelopment project that’s been in the works for more than a decade now could soon face yet another delay, complicating Arlington’s push to build a second entrance for the neighborhood’s Metro station in the process.
Since 2005, a rotating cast of developers has sought to tear down the office building at 4420 Fairfax Drive and transform it into a mixed-use building instead. Current plans call for a new, 23-story structure to be built on the property, complete with 237 apartments and 9,200 square feet of retail space.
But the trio of companies backing the redevelopment effort — Washington Capitol Partners, Kettler Development and Bognet Construction — haven’t made much progress since buying the property for $21.8 million back in 2015. Like developer JBG Smith before them, they’ve been unable to so much as tear down the existing, five-story building on the site.
Accordingly, the developers are asking the county for a bit more time to complete the project, generally dubbed “the Spire at Fairmont.” The site plan governing the project is currently set to expire in July 2020 — they’re hoping the County Board will agree to push that deadline back to December 2022 instead.
But the companies are also envisioning a few other changes. Not only do they want to cut back on the number of parking spaces they’ll offer on the property — moving from 289 spaces down to 237 — but they’re asking for a change in their obligations regarding the planned western entrance for the Ballston Metro station.
When JBG first secured the Board’s sign-off on the project roughly 13 years ago, it agreed to partially design and build the new station entrance at the base of the new building. That was a crucial concession for county officials, who hope to ease Metro access for people living and working along N. Glebe Road.
Now, the project’s backers are asking the Board to let them hand over cash to fund the second entrance, instead of building it themselves. The developers are also proposing to let the county start work on the project, which will include the addition of two elevators to reach the underground station, right away by granting officials an easement to access the site. In exchange, they’re asking for an extension on some other zoning deadlines associated with the redevelopment.
The county seems inclined to accept the easement deal — staff are recommending that the Board agree to the arrangement at its meeting Saturday (Jan. 26). But officials seem a bit more uncertain about the proposal to accept cash for the station entrance, and the extension of the site plan deadline.
Some of that trepidation likely stems from the county’s history of challenges finding funding for the Ballston Metro project.
The county had hoped to win regional transportation funding for the new entrance, to the tune of about $72 million. But the complex structure of the deal hashed out by state lawmakers last year to provide dedicated funding for Metro meant that the very group set to send Arlington cash for the project — the Northern Virginia Transportation Authority — would lose tens of millions of dollars each year, diminishing the project’s chances to win the money any time soon.
Staff are suggesting that the Board defer any final decision on the matter until March, in order to allow negotiations to play out between the two sides.
Memorial Bridge Potholes — Large potholes made for dangerous driving on the under-construction Memorial Bridge over the weekend, but crews started repairing the bridge’s pockmarked surface Tuesday. [Twitter, Twitter]
Poke Restaurant Coming to Ballston — Local restaurant Poke It Up is expanding with a second location. The restaurant, which first opened in the Pentagon City mall food court, is now planning to open this summer at 4401 N. Fairfax Drive in Ballston, next to a new soup shop, Zoup. [Eater]
Shutdown Costing Local Economy Big Bucks — “About $119.2 million per day is removed from the gross regional product each day the shutdown drags on, according to local economist Stephen Fuller, thanks to lost pay of federal workers, contractors and suppliers and the multiplied economic effects of their lost spending. That daily hit… drops to $46.4 million per day once federal workers are ultimately repaid their lost wages.” [Washington Business Journal]
Overturned Vehicle in Crystal City — A driver managed to flip his or her vehicle in a crash last night on 18th Street S., near the Crystal City Metro station. [Twitter]
Board Set to Endorse VRE Funding — “Arlington County Board members on Jan. 26 are expected to endorse a request by Virginia Railway Express (VRE) for state funding to support construction of a new Crystal City station. The transit agency will seek grant funding from the Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation, which if approved could cover up to 70 percent of the cost of construction. VRE will fund the rest.” [InsideNova]
Changes to State Inspection Stickers — “The stickers are smaller, in response to complaints that the new sticker placement on the bottom left of the windshield, which started in 2018, resulted in reduced visibility for drivers.” [Tysons Reporter]
Nearby: Alexandria Warns About Opioids — “The City of Alexandria has responded to four suspected opioid overdoses in the last 72 hours, including two fatalities. While recreational use of opioids is always dangerous and illegal, City officials are urging residents to be aware of the medical safety of the drugs, including heroin, that could be extremely concentrated or mixed with something unusual that is resulting in life-threatening situations.” [City of Alexandria]
Sponsored by Monday Properties and written by ARLnow.com, Startup Monday is a weekly column that profiles Arlington-based startups and their founders, plus other local technology happenings. The Ground Floor, Monday’s office space for young companies in Rosslyn, is now open. The Metro-accessible space features a 5,000-square-foot common area that includes a kitchen, lounge area, collaborative meeting spaces, and a stage for formal presentations.
So you’re on a winter trip down to sunny South Florida and you need to fly home ASAP, but you’re not sure how to get your car back home. You could use a car carrier service, but those can be costly and often have inflexible schedules.
Starting in March, Ballston-based startup ReloRides could give you another option.
The app connects owners looking to relocate their cars with drivers interested in getting paid for a one-way trip.
“Our platform enables people who need to relocate their vehicle to post the location, preferred dates, type of vehicle and price to pay,” said Jon Gallinger, COO for ReloRides. “We would connect that vehicle with a driver going in the same direction.”
Gallinger said there is a demand both for people looking to move their car from one point to another, but also a demand for people hoping to travel but don’t have cars. With ReloRides, the owner of the car would post an offer, something like “I have a Chevy Nova and I am coming back from Florida and want to go to New Hampshire.” Gallinger says the owner would list the car, the dates, and a price.
“The owner of the car offers flat fee and the driver says yay or nay,” said Gallinger. “We take a fee off what the owner pays, and the rest goes to the driver. The driver pays tolls and gas. It makes it easy on the owner.”
Gallinger said the alternative, car carriers that haul five or six cars, can be inconvenient for a number of reasons. They’re expensive, they take time to fill up with cars going to the destination, and the drop off locations are inflexible. Gallinger says he believes ReloRides can offer the same type of service for a fraction of the cost.
“Car owners have coverage, they should have coverage for a secondary driver,” said Gallinger. “Our terms and conditions require that the driver have liability coverage for anything caused by the driver… We do run background checks on all the drivers and screen them ahead of time. We won’t present a bad driver to the owner.”
But despite its potential, the startup does face one major big challenge.
“Haven’t booked any trips yet,” said Gallinger. “We had an owner who wanted to go from Denver to San Diego, but we couldn’t find a driver for that person. We’ve had that happen a couple times. It doesn’t have the critical mass yet for that to take off, but we feel that’s out there.”
Gallinger said the company has had the platform up for a little over a year but has done no advertising. The big advertising push for ReloRides is likely to come after the company’s website is upgraded.
Currently, 150 owners and drivers are signed up for the program. Gallinger says the company hasn’t been taking new signups until the upgrade is finished.
“We hope to get that up and running by March,” said Gallinger. “[That’s] the start of snowbird season, where people down south want to move their cars north. We want to be ready to go for that, then start marketing more heavily.”
