Clarendon

Trader Joe’s Could Open in Clarendon by Late Spring

By ARLnow.com

At the Lyon Village Civic Association’s meeting last night, officials from Traders Joe’s revealed additional details about their hotly-anticipated Clarendon store.

The company still hasn’t signed a lease, we learned; it’s waiting for the Arlington County board to approve a site plan amendment for the space it wants to occupy in the Clarendon Center development. That approval is expected next Tuesday, with county staff recommending the changes laid out in the amendment.

With the lease signed, Trader Joe’s expects to be able to open in late spring or early summer. No specific dates were discussed.

Company officials addressed two specific neighborhood concerns.

While acknowledging that parking will be a challenge for the store, especially with the crush of shoppers expected right after opening, the company is working with the manager of the Clarendon Center parking garage to alleviate potential underground traffic jams that could push cars onto neighborhood streets. Colonial Parking will assign an employee to direct traffic in the garage during certain times, we’re told.

Company reps also addressed worries about the aesthetics of the store. They promised to beautify areas of the store visible to neighbors, like an elevator that will be visible through the store windows. They pledged to decorate such areas with artwork rather than just with advertisements about food and sales.

One person who was at the meeting describes the crowd as “very receptive” to Trader Joe’s presentation.

A representative from Saul Centers, the developer behind the Clarendon Center project, will talk about Trader Joe’s with neighbors at the Lyon Park Civic Association meeting tonight Wednesday night at 7:30.

In related news, ARLnow.com has confirmed rumors that a large national chain restaurant has been eying a retail space in Clarendon Center. In fact, we’re told that the restaurant, said to be of the TGI Friday’s or Chili’s variety, was interested specifically in the 10,000 square foot space that will be occupied by Trader Joe’s.

“We think [Trader Joe’s] would be a better fit for the community,” a Saul Centers official told ARLnow.com. The official refused to name the restaurant.

Cava Eyes Spring Opening

By ARLnow.com

Cava is still coming to Clarendon.

It was July when we first learned that the upscale Greek eatery would be opening up in a 4,000 square foot space on Clarendon Boulevard. Despite questions about whether the restaurant might have scrapped its plans, we’re hearing that owner Ted Xenohristos is still very much moving forward with the Clarendon Cava.

According to a tipster, Xenohristos is telling people that the restaurant is 4-5 months away from opening. A banner will soon be posted outside the boarded-up storefront, and Facebook and Twitter announcements will soon follow, we’re told.

Cava currently has two locations: Rockville and Capitol Hill.

Tonight: Charity Happy Hour and Mad Men Cocktail Party

By ARLnow.com

A happy hour and a cocktail party are on tap in Clarendon and Bluemont tonight.

The Reading Connection, a group that helps improve literacy for at-risk youth, is holding a happy hour at Mister Days (3100 Clarendon Blvd) from 5:00 to 9:00 tonight. A $5 donation gets you great happy hour specials and a raffle ticket for prizes like an Amazon Kindle 3G or gift cards to local stores.

Then from 7:00 to 10:30 p.m., Covet boutique (5140 Wilson Blvd )is holding a “Mad Men Cocktail Party” that will let you “get in touch with your inner Peggy Olson or Don Draper.”

“Join Covet for a night of vintage cocktails and party fare to celebrate life when people smoked through doctors appointments, air travel was sophisticated and men wore fedoras,” the store’s Facebook page beckons.

Upgrades to Clarendon Dog Park Rely on Bond Issue

By ARLnow.com

The Clarendon dog park soon won’t be just for the dogs any more. The park at Herndon Street and 13th Street is set to receive a $1.7 million face lift over the next year and a half. The project will transform what is essentially an open field adorned with plastic lawn chairs into a sleekly-designed green space that will be part dog park and part “person” park.

That is, unless the park bond fails in November.

All but $350,000 of the park’s funding relies on voters passing a $5.975 million park bond next month. If the bond fails, a new, piecemeal construction plan will likely need to be conceived.

“We would have to regroup and figure out how to proceed,” said Scott McPartlin, an urban planner with the county. “I don’t think anyone has the answer to that at this point.”

The current plan for the new park includes benches and picnic tables, a water feature, a demonstration garden, planed trees, solar panels to power a portion of the park’s features and a water reclamation system.

If the bond is passed, McPartlin expects construction to begin in late spring or early summer of 2011, to be completed by spring of 2012.

The county is currently conducting an online survey to determine a name for the park. With the exception of “Companionship Park,” the name choices — “James Hunter Park,” “Merchant’s Park,” “Nesmith Park,” and “Wheeler Park” — each have historical significance for the area.

Update at 12:45 p.m. — McPartlin clarifies that the $350,000 in funding already secured will go toward the dog park (in county parlance, a “community canine area”). The $1.3 million from the park bond will be used for the other improvements. Regardless of whether the bond passes, McPartlin says, the community canine area portion of the plan will move forward.

Trader Joe’s Will Likely Get Its Regulatory Wishlist

By ARLnow.com

Arlington’s long-standing policy of encouraging grocery store development in the county is helping to pave the way for Trader Joe’s to open in Clarendon.

ARLnow.com first reported last month that Trader Joe’s was prepared to sign a lease in the Clarendon Center project if it could get some regulatory issues ironed out. Among them: the retailer wanted permission to have dedicated parking, wanted to display its products outside the store, and wanted a loading dock provision modified.

“I think we managed to work through all three issues,” Arlington County Planning Division Chief Robert Brosnan told us last night. “We do have a policy for shared parking, but we also have a policy for grocery stores, and it really is in the name of encouraging a grocery store that we will modify those requirements in this case.”

Brosnan said he expects county staff to recommend the changes, and for the board to take up the issue at its November board meeting (on either Nov. 13 or Nov. 16). After that point, Trader Joe’s will likely make the final decision on whether to sign a lease.

The site plan amendment process for Trader Joe’s was “not abnormally fast,” Brosnan noted. He added that some additional steps may be required for the store to get permission to display products outside.

Northside Social to Hold “Pigtoberfest” Tomorrow

By ARLnow.com

If you’re in Clarendon tomorrow night, and you find yourself wondering where the smell of barbeque is coming from, look no further than the big red building at the corner of Wilson Boulevard and Fairfax Drive.

Northside Social will be smoking not one but two pigs on its patio tomorrow, part of the cafe’s inaugural “Pigtoberfest.” The pork will be accompanied by side dishes and several rare Octoberfest beers and pumpkin ales.

The event starts at 6:30 p.m. and costs $35 per person plus tax and tip. Weather-permitting, outdoor seating will be available.

Call 703-465-0145 to make a reservation.

Restaurant 3 To Be Featured on Sunday Night Football

By ARLnow.com

What better imagery to air during a Washington Redskins game than a restaurant that’s in the midst of a “Bacon Week.”

Clarendon’s Restaurant 3 reported on its Twitter feed today that an NBC Sports camera crew was filming b-roll around the restaurant this afternoon. The footage is expected to air during Sunday night’s game between the ‘Skins and the Indianapolis Colts.

The game will include a tribute to the late “Grandpa Hogette” Ralph Campbell, one of the co-founders of the Washington Redskins Hogettes, who was buried at Arlington National Cemetery last week.

Restaurant manager Leslie Foster says they made all nine items on the Bacon Week menu for the crew, who filmed the process from creation to consumption. Foster said the large lunchtime crowd played along with the filming.

“It was crazy today,” she said. “Everybody was really excited they were here.”

In other Bacon Week news, Foster says the restaurant is booked solid through Wednesday. However, Bacon Week has now been extended to Saturday, Oct. 23. It was originally supposed to end on Thursday, Oct. 21.

Photo via @3inClarendon

Cooch, Tea Party Leaders to Spend Election Night in Arlington

By ARLnow.com

If the election results go their way, the Tea Party will be partying in Arlington on Nov. 2.

The Clarendon-based Leadership Institute, a sort of conservative political training camp, will host “an election night victory party for 350 conservative and Tea Party activists.”

Those activists are expected to include:

  • Ken Cuccinelli, Virginia Attorney General
  • Morton Blackwell, President of the Leadership Institute
  • Brent Bozell, President of the Media Research Center
  • Jenny Beth Martin and Mark Meckler, Co-Founders and National Coordinators of the Tea Party Patriots
  • Grover Norquist, President of Americans for Tax Reform
  • Tony Perkins, President of the Family Research Council

The Leadership Institute is inviting journalists and bloggers to the event, billing it as a “one-stop conservative central” to get reaction to election results from leaders of the conservative movement.

According to a press release, the theme of the party is “Replacing the ruling class with constitutional small government conservatives.”

Morning Notes

By ARLnow.com

Views at Clarendon Could Be Model for Other Churches — Could more cash-strapped urban churches follow the Views at Clarendon model, selling land rights and allowing mixed-use development on church grounds? One of the architects of the affordable housing project says he’s getting calls from interested parishes around the country. A neighbor’s lawsuit challenging the project is currently on appeal. More from the Washington Examiner.

Marine Rape Trial Goes to Jury — The jury in the rape and abduction trial of 21-year-old Henderson Hall Marine Jorge “George” Torrez will resume deliberations at 9:00 this morning. Torrez faces 17 charges stemming from two separate attacks in Arlington in February. More from ABC7.

Metro Board to Vote on Blue and Orange Line Rehabilitation — Later this month, the Metro board will consider a $272 million plan to “rebuild major portions of the Blue and Orange lines to improve customer service.” If approved as expected, the work could begin in late 2011. More from the Washington Post.

Flickr pool photo by BrianMKA

Bacon Week Starts at 3 Restaurant

By ARLnow.com

A bacon martini. Maple bacon ice cream. Bacon on a stick. Pork wrapped in bacon.

Today is the beginning of Bacon Week at 3 Restaurant in Clarendon, and the eatery has a ramped up the creativity to generate a three-course bacon menu. There’s also a bacon happy hour from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m., and a bacon-making class at 2:00 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 16.

The restaurant’s affinity for all things bacon has even earned it a segment on an upcoming Travel Channel special called “Bacon Paradise.”

Bacon Week runs through Oct. 21.

See photos of some of the dishes here.

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