Deer near Donaldson Run (Flickr pool photo by Eric)

Board Approves Hospital Land Swap Option — The Arlington County Board has taken a first step to completing a deal to swap land with Virginia Hospital Center. The Board unanimously approved a non-binding Letter of Intent giving the hospital an option to purchase five acres of county-owned property adjacent to it. [Arlington County]

Apple iPhone Launch Day — A man has been camped out in front of the Clarendon Apple Store since Wednesday, in anticipation of today’s launch of the iPhone 6S and 6S Plus. The man, whose name is Joe, said it was his fourth year camping out for a new iPhone. [WJLA]

New Play Area Coming to Butler Holmes Park — Butler Holmes Park, which is tucked into a little corner of the Penrose neighborhood near Route 50, is getting a new, $414,000 pre-school play area, to complement the park’s existing playground and rain garden. “Besides whimsical tot lot features like a basket swing, see-saw and fairy tale structure, the project also includes safe play surfaces, a new park staircase and walkway, picnic tables and grills and signage,” said a press release. [Arlington County]

NSF HQ Purchased — An Atlanta-based real estate investment fund has purchased Stafford Place I, the Ballston office building that’s currently headquarters to the National Science Foundation. NSF will be moving out in 2017 and the buyer plans to “aggressively” market the property, which it purchased for $210 million. [Bisnow]

County Board Approves House Purchase — Arlington County will purchase a house at 2827 N. Harrison Street for $728,000, with the intention of knocking it down and using the property to enlarge Chestnut Hills Park. “This is another example of how the County is looking for every opportunity to add to our parks and open space,” said Arlington County Board Chair Mary Hynes. [Arlington County]

Flickr pool photo by Eric


Earlier this week we reported that some residents were upset with loophole in Arlington’s parking code that allows commercial trucks to park for extended periods of time in front of schools, libraries and other county properties.

But trucks aren’t the only hulking masses taking up space on the side of local roads. Here’s what one peeved resident wrote us this morning:

Storage pods are very popular nowadays with all the moving that goes on in Arlington, but usually they are picked up in a few days and require a county permit. This pod has been on 1st Road South in front of Butler Holmes Park for over three months. We have called the Boxcart company, and were told they would pick it up. They didn’t, and why would they – they are getting free storage of the pod courtesy of Arlington. We have called the county twice. They said they would look into it because they should be charging a fee to Boxcart – much more interested in revenue generation than getting this storage unit off our street. They didn’t even do that, as the storage unit is still sitting there with no permit.