Clarendon

Banks Opening, Closing in Clarendon

By ARLnow.com

One bank branch is closing in Clarendon while another is opening up.

The PNC Bank at 3033 Wilson Boulevard will be closing after Feb. 18. The bank’s lease is up and, with rent steeply rising, it decided to move its operation into an existing branch several blocks down the road at 2601 Clarendon Boulevard.

Meanwhile, a Burke & Herbert Bank will be opening on Feb. 22 at 3020 Clarendon Boulevard, in the new Clarendon Center development. Burke & Herbert has about two dozen locations throughout Northern Virginia.

It’s been a relatively busy 9 months for banks in Clarendon. A MainStreet Bank branch opened at 1000 North Highland Street last summer.

Mad Rose Tavern to Bring High-End Drinking to the Masses

By ARLnow.com

(Updated at 4:10 p.m.) Mad Rose Tavern, a new restaurant and watering hole coming soon to Clarendon, will be many things to many people.

It is a Modern American-style restaurant with Irish, Italian, French and Asian influences. It is a restaurant, bar and lounge that will have extensive outdoor seating. It is a place to get small plates and half bottles of wine, or hearty entrees and tall glasses of beer. What it is not, according to dining room manager Scott Arnold, is a place where only the wealthy will be able to enjoy the finer things in life.

“We’re going to be providing a high-end product at a moderate price,” Arnold said enthusiastically. “I want to give you the best freaking product out there, within reason, for the same price everybody else is charging for crap.”

The best example of Arnold’s luxury-for-the-masses concept is wine. He says the restaurant is going to great lengths to have the best wine available for any price. But the biggest difference will be with high-end wines. Instead of marking a wine that costs $100 wholesale up to $300, like many restaurants do, he said the Mad Rose price might be around $150.

Arnold said his goal is to provide the absolute cheapest price for high-end wines — retail included.

“In-store or online, I will be cheaper,” he said.

With two fulls bars, drinks will be the main attraction at Mad Rose Tavern. The bar will feature 20 beers on tap, all of which will be artisan or craft brews, with the exception of Guinness. Miller Light, Amstel and other “mainstream” beers will only be available by the bottle.

Mad Rose will feature about 20 Irish whiskeys and 40 Scotches. The wine list will hover around 100 different wines, at least at first.

“It’s all about shock and awe,” enthused Arnold, adding that he would have stocked 200 wines had there been enough storage space at the restaurant’s prime 3100 Clarendon Boulevard location.

Alcoholic beverages won’t be the restaurant’s only focus, however.

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Bronx Pizza Coming to Clarendon

By ARLnow.com

Signs are now up in the windows, announcing that Bronx Pizza is coming to a small storefront at 3100 Clarendon Boulevard.

The New York-style pizza joint was supposedly hoping to open in December when the Washington Business Journal first reported on its existence. At this point, it appears that the store may open this summer.

Bronx Pizza is the brainchild of Caribbean Breeze owner Mike Cordero, who is channeling his Bronx roots to help amp up the restaurant’s authenticity.

“As many of you know, I grew up in the South Bronx, working at a Mom and Pop pizza shop and became quite the pizza maker through the years,” Cordero wrote to friends in December. “I am bringing that originality to VA.”

“Décor will be very NYC, think Babe Ruth, Micky Mantle with a touch of Sopranos,” Cordero added.

Operating in an area already chock full of pizza joints, Bronx Pizza hopes to win customers with its late night business. The store may stay open as late as 5:00 a.m.

Clarendon-Courthouse Power Outage Blamed on Substation

By ARLnow.com

Much of Clarendon and Courthouse was in the dark Saturday night, at the peak of dinner and drinking time.

The 76-minute power outage forced restaurants like Fireworks in Courthouse to close for the night, while it drove business to other establishments where the lights stayed on, like Adams Corner and Spider Kelly’s.

Dominion spokesperson Le-Ha Anderson said 9,500 customers were affected by the outage, which occurred when a piece of equipment failed at the company’s substation at 3245 Wilson Boulevard.

One Twitter user reported: “I was at Northside [Social] when the transformer blew right behind the building. Big flash + bang, lots of smoke in the street.”

“Crews swiftly replaced it and we had all customers restored quickly,” Anderson said.

Is Kitty O’Shea’s Being Forced Out?

By ARLnow.com

A new restaurant called “Wilson Tavern” is coming to 2403 Wilson Boulevard in Courthouse, according to a state liquor license application filed earlier this week.

That’s news to Danny McFadden, owner of Kitty O’Shea’s, which is the current occupant of 2403 Wilson Boulevard.

“That’s the first I’ve heard of it,” a befuddled McFadden said when reached by phone this afternoon. McFadden said his lease is up in 2015 and he has no plans to leave. The pub was named D.C.’s Best Irish Bar last year by the Washington City Paper.

The application for Wilson Tavern was filed by a company called 2403 Wilson Blvd LLC. According to the Virginia State Corporation Commission, the registered agent for the company is Raymond Schupp, the building’s landlord. Schupp’s development company lists the building in its list of commercial properties.

So far, Schupp has not responded to requests for comment. McFadden says he’s worried that Kitty O’Shea’s may be getting the boot.

“I’ve gone through crap [with the landlord] for three years,” he said. “He’s got a track record of rolling over small guys.”

“I’ve got to call my attorney,” McFadden said, before ending the brief conversation.

Mad Rose Tavern Previews Beer List

By ARLnow.com

Clarendon’s Mad Rose Tavern is “getting close to opening day,” according to a new update on the bar’s Facebook page.

Once it opens, managers say the bar will feature a “legendary liquor selection,” including an emphasis on Scotch and Irish whiskeys.

General Manager Seamus Phillips told TBD that the extensive renovation of the bar’s space on the ground floor of 3100 Clarendon Boulevard has cost more than a million dollars. Pending county inspections, the tavern should open in early February, Phillips said.

As part of last night’s Facebook update, Mad Rose gave beer geeks something to look forward to with a sneak peak of its work-in-progress beer list. Selections included:

  • Full Sail Bump In The Night
  • Lagunitas Brown Shugga
  • Left Hand 400 Lb Monkey
  • Rogue Chocolate Stout
  • Sam Smith Oatmeal Stout
  • Great Lakes Dortmunder Gold Lager
  • Gulden Drak
  • Lagunitas sumpin sumpin
  • Tuppers Kellar Pils

Gone in 90 Seconds in Clarendon

By ARLnow.com

(Updated at 3:30 p.m.) How quickly do you think your car would get stolen if you left it directly outside a 24-hour store, on the side of a busy Clarendon street, with the keys still in the door?

Try 90 seconds, according to a woman whose Mitsubishi Eclipse was stolen from outside the 7-Eleven at 3000 Washington Boulevard.

The woman, who we will call “Lucy,” said she and a companion were “in a big rush” when they ran into the store, leaving the keys hanging from the driver’s side door.

“Stupid move on our part, but it was freezing and we ran in for literally 90 seconds,” Lucy wrote in an email. “We were running late and it was a dumb mistake.”

Lucy came out of the store, saw that the car was gone and called the police. The police took a report, but have so far not been able to locate the stolen car.

“[The] good news is we’re fully insured and no one was hurt,” Lucy wrote. “Some valuables in the car, but all replaceable. No sighting by anyone on who stole the car as it probably just looked like an owner since they had the keys.”

Despite being the victim of a crime, Lucy has been able to find humor in the situation. She described her stolen two-door Mitsubishi as “a total s–t car” and noted that “we’re not upset about it… it’s actually sort of funny.”

Lucy added that she hopes others will learn from her dumb mistake.

“We just let our guard down living in the bubble of safe Arlington and want to send out a warning for others,” she wrote. “We’re city folk and only recently joined the more suburban scene (and love it). But, this was a reminder to not be idiots since crime can happen anywhere.”

Wilson Boulevard Shut Down in Clarendon

By ARLnow.com

Update at 3:30 p.m. — The road has reopened.

Wilson Boulevard has been shut down in the area of North Jackson Street and Washington Boulevard in Clarendon.

A vehicle collided with a utility pole, splitting it in half near the Hess gas station. Dominion is on the scene replacing the pole, which has transformers on it, complicating the process.

No word on when the street will reopen.

Clarendon Mardi Gras Parade Date Set

By ARLnow.com

Last year, the Clarendon Mardi Gras parade became a St. Patrick’s Day parade due to a snow-related postponement.

This year, the two holidays are close enough together that organizers are planning to make the parade a joint Mardi Gras/St. Patrick’s Day affair.

The Clarendon Mardi Gras/St. Pat’s parade will place take this year on Fat Tuesday, March 8. Further details are still in the works.

(St. Patrick’s Day is Thursday, March 17.)

Crime Report: Apple Store Caper

By ARLnow.com

The Apple Store in Clarendon, with its pricey electronics on display for all to touch and try out, is no stranger to thefts and attempted thefts. Last week things got a little more interesting when one of the suspects allegedly tried to flee from police on foot.

POSSESSION OF STOLEN PROPERTY-ARREST 01/12/11, 2700 block of Clarendon Boulevard. On January 12 at 3:30 pm, four men were observed stealing from an electronics store. Police responded and one suspect was apprehended after a short foot pursuit. The three remaining suspects were stopped at the store. Antoine Nicholson, 21, of Washington D.C., was charged with Possession of Stolen Property with Intent to Sell. He was held on a $1,500 bond. Wayne Goodwin, 20, of Washington D.C., was charged with Petit Larceny and Possession of Stolen Property. He was also held on a $1,500 bond.

The rest of the Arlington County crime report, after the jump.

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Morning Notes

By ARLnow.com

Clarendon Office Building Sells for D.C. Prices — The 200,000 square foot office building at 3101 Wilson Boulevard, located across the street from the Clarendon Metro station, has sold for a whopping $112.6 million.”Pricing was on par with building trades in Downtown DC,” reports GlobeSt.com. The building is home to a TD Bank and Georgetown’s continuing studies programs. [GlobeSt.com]

County Issues Bonds for Projects — Arlington County has sold $11.9 million in bonds at a relatively low 4.18 percent interest rate. The bonds will fund the last phase of Fire Station 3 in Cherrydale, a new park in Buckingham Village and initial construction of the Arlington Mill Community Center. Although a direct comparison is difficult, in July Arlington sold $73 million in bonds at an interest rate of 2.70 percent. [Arlington County]

Midsummer’s Night Dream Starts in Crystal City Next Week — It may be mid-winter, but Synetic Theater’s word-less production of A Midsummer’s Night Dream will start on Tuesday in Crystal City. [Shirlington Village Blog]

Flickr pool photo by Kevin H

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