CEB

‘Common Ground’ Food Hall in Rosslyn Pushes Opening to Next Spring

By Alex Koma
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Hungry diners in Rosslyn will need to wait a bit longer for a new food hall slated to open in one of the neighborhood’s new skyscrapers.

Social Restaurant Group, the same company behind Clarendon night-life spots Bar Bao and Pamplona, plans to someday open the “Common Ground” food hall in the Central Place building at 1800 N. Lynn Street. However, SRG co-founder Mike Bramson told ARLnow that the company is currently targeting the “end of spring 2019” to open its doors, despite previously hoping to do so before the end of this year.

The main hold-up in moving forward on the project is the permitting process, Bramson said, a common complaint among Arlington restaurateurs.

“We are at the mercy of the permitting office,” Bramson said. “We will move quickly once we receive those.”

Bramson hasn’t revealed many details about the new eatery, but he says it will be located on the second floor of the massive skyscraper across from the Rosslyn Metro station, “above the McDonald’s overlooking the plaza.” The building sits directly across from the CEB Tower, a 31-story structure rapidly attracting businesses and retailers of all kinds, and is already home to ground-floor restaurants The Little Beet and Sweetgreen.

SRG is also working to open the new “The Lot” beer garden in Clarendon, another project it’s hoping to wrap up this spring.

Photo 2 via Google Maps

New ‘Open Road’ Restaurant in Rosslyn Skyscraper Pushes Back Opening to Next Year

By Alex Koma
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A new bar and restaurant bound for the ground floor of the CEB Tower in Rosslyn is pushing back its opening date slightly, now aiming to start serving patrons next year.

The Metropolitan Hospitality Group, which also operates Circa Bistro in Clarendon, announced plans to bring a second “Open Road” restaurant to the area last summer. The firm had hoped to open it up sometime this fall, but MHG President Matt Carlin told ARLnow that “the permit process has definitely taken longer than we thought.”

But he says the project is still moving forward, and the company is “expecting our permit at the end of the month.”

“Then it will be approximately [a] six-month buildout,” Carlin wrote in an email. “And [we’re] hoping to open in May/June 2019.”

The company first brought the concept, which features a vast beer selection and Southern-style menu options, to Merrifield several years ago. However, Carlin says the Rosslyn location will be a bit different than the original.

The restaurant itself will be located in the plaza area directly in front of the building, with awnings and outdoor seating accompanying it. Then, below the plaza, MHG is also planning a separate bar attached to the restaurant dubbed “Salt,” which will be accessible via N. Lynn Street.

The tower itself is the largest building in Rosslyn, and only just opened last year. It’s currently in the process of adding new office tenants, and has already signed other retailers including Compass Coffee and Cava.

Convene Opens New Penthouse Meeting Spaces in Rosslyn

By Vernon Miles

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.

Convene, a New York-based company offering flexible meeting and event spaces, has moved into a new space in Rosslyn.

The Rosslyn Convene location opened last Thursday (Nov. 1), occupying the top two floors of the CEB Tower at 1201 Wilson Boulevard.

Inside the new offices are full-service meetings and event spaces and amenity services for building tenants like research and advisory firm Gartner Inc., from whom Convene is subleasing the 35,000 square-foot space.

The company offers flexible workspaces, but the focus of the new office is on providing spaces for building tenants.

Convene will also manage a full-service culinary program, offering meals and pantry services to building tenants.

The new occupancy comes at a crucial time for Rosslyn, which is in the process of reducing its 29 percent office vacancy rate with new tenants like Nestle and Cerner.

“Opening Convene at 1201 Wilson is an exciting moment for Convene, for both tenants of CEB Tower and companies located the Rosslyn and D.C. area,” said Michael Burke, vice president of real estate and development at Convene, in a press release. “This space is a perfect example of how Convene’s approach to partnering with landlords benefits both property owners and tenants, and we are excited to expand our presence in the nation’s capital and serve the Rosslyn business community in more places and more ways.”

Convene is signed to the space for 14.5 years.

This is the second Washington, D.C. area location for Convene, which also operates a 15,000 square-foot location in Tyson’s Corner.

Photo via @RosslynVA

New Rosslyn Observation Deck Holds Contest for First Tours of the Space

By Anna Merod

The owners of a new Rosslyn observation deck are holding a contest to give people the opportunity to catch a first glimpse of the views from the space at CEB Tower at Central Place before it officially opens this summer.

Four winners will be able bring up to four guests each to tour the observation deck, located at 1201 Wilson Blvd. Entry for the contest ends Thursday.

Views from the 12,000 square foot deck feature much of the Georgetown waterfront, the Washington Monument, the U.S. Capitol building and more. According to the Washington Post, the space — expected to be a major tourist attraction — will also offer fourteen 55-inch touch screens that will highlight local landmarks. There will also be a bar with light food options.

Once it officially opens, the deck will charge $21 for admission, with reduced rates for students, seniors, children and the military. Admission will be free for Arlington residents.

Photo courtesy of Rosslyn BID

Rosslyn Post-It Note Chat Becomes Even More Elaborate

By Anna Merod
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Last week, a Post-it note conversation emerged between two office buildings in Rosslyn. Since then, the communication has become even more elaborate.

Occupants began moving in a few weeks ago at the new CEB office tower at Central Place, which is across the street from the office of Innovative Discovery, a legal services company.

Turner Richmond, an intern at Innovative Discovery, said his office’s first contact with the CEB building was on Feb. 2, when his office posted up a drawing of a monkey holding a bitcoin on a whiteboard. Later, employees in the CEB building responded with “hey” in Post-it notes, and the conversation was on.

Here’s a chronology:

  • Innovative Discovery put up a drawing of an alien on a whiteboard, in reference to the 1997 science fiction film Contact
  • Another office in Innovative Discovery’s building then wrote “5 o’ clock yet” in Post-it notes, prompting “sum where” from the opposite building. Innovative Discovery then wrote “over the” with a picture of a rainbow in Post-its.
  • When Valentine’s Day came around (on a Wednesday), Innovative Discovery wrote “Happy [Hump] Day,” with a camel in between “happy” and “day.” The opposite building replied “Yes, no?” with hearts, to which Innovative Discovery said in post-its, “Maybe? We just met…”
  • CEB wrote “Have a good weekend” and “TGIF.”
  • Later that same night CEB also wrote the flirty “U up?” message (seen above, to the right of the camel).
  • On Friday, in celebration of the Lunar New Year, Innovative Discovery also wrote “Happy New Year” with an image of a dog.
  • Innovative Discovery also posted a picture of an 8-bit Mario from Super Mario Brothers, using multiple Post-it note colors.

No word yet on how long the Post-it chat will continue.

Photos courtesy Turner Richmond

Morning Notes

By ARLnow.com

Icy fence (Flickr pool photo by Eric)

CEB Being Acquired — Arlington-based CEB Inc., one of the county’s biggest private employers, is being acquired by Connecticut-based Gartner in a $2.6 billion cash-and-stock deal. CEB is set to anchor one of the under-construction Central Place towers in Rosslyn once it is completed. [Reuters, Gartner]

Fisette Still Mulling Reelection Run — Jay Fisette, who is serving as Arlington County Board Chair for 2017, has not yet decided whether he’ll run for another four-year term. Fisette says he’ll make a decision in February, the Washington Post’s Patricia Sullivan reports. [Twitter]

What County Board Members Did for New Year’s — With the County Board’s traditional New Year’s Day organizational meeting moved to Jan. 3, what did County Board members do on Jan. 1 instead? Nothing too interesting, it turns out. [Falls Church News-Press]

Obama’s Military Farewell Ceremony — It tied up some traffic in Arlington, but yesterday afternoon the country’s armed forces bid farewell to President Obama and Vice President Biden on Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall. The event went well, minus one Army honor guard member fainting during the ceremony. [NBC News, Daily Mail]

Couple Married After 20 Years Together — An Arlington couple that first met 20 years ago in a D.C. nightclub finally tied the knot over the summer. Bob Kenney, a real estate agent, and Mark Treadaway, an airport executive, were wed in the backyard of their Woodmont home in front of 75 guests. [Arlington Magazine]

Nearby: Alexandria Flips Out Over Taco Bell — Residents in the West End of Alexandria are really worried about a proposed Taco Bell. In letters to the city’s planning commission, residents decried the potential for “late night riff raff,” “the devastating effects of an accident,” and “lowered home values.” One resident also relayed her personal experience of going to a Taco Bell that had run out of forks. There are four Taco Bells in Arlington County, including one on the Alexandria border and another in the Pentagon. [Washington Business Journal, City of Alexandria]

Va. Legislator Proposes N.C. Style Bathroom Bill — Del. Bob Marshall (R-Prince William) has proposed a “bathroom bill” similar to the controversial bill that because law in North Carolina. The bill would restrict transgender individuals from using certain bathrooms and would require school principals to “notify all parents if a student at their children’s school asks to be treated as a member of the opposite sex.” [Washington Post]

Flickr pool photo by Eric