A resident was seriously hurt after trying to confront a thief in his backyard.

The incident happened around 3:30 p.m. Friday on the 6200 block of Washington Blvd, in the Highland Park-Overlee Knolls neighborhood between East Falls Church and Westover.

Police say the resident saw a man standing in front of the shed behind his house and went to confront him.

The suspect then “picked up the victim’s tool box and attempted to leave the area,” said an Arlington County Police Department crime report. “The victim grabbed the suspect in an attempt to prevent him from leaving and a physical altercation ensued, during which the suspect struck the victim multiple times. The victim then fell to the ground and the suspect fled the scene on his bicycle.”

“The victim sustained serious but non-life threatening injuries and refused the treatment of medics,” ACPD said. “The suspect is described as a Black male, approximately 40 to 50 years old, 5’6″ tall, 150 to 180 pounds, wearing all black clothing and a black hat. The investigation is ongoing.”

In its weekend crime report, ACPD also reported an attempted robbery in Clarendon on Thursday night and an armed robbery of a taxi driver in Lyon Park late Saturday night.

ATTEMPTED ROBBERY, 2021-07290227, 3100 block of Wilson Boulevard. At approximately 10:50 p.m. on July 29, police were dispatched to the report of threats. Upon arrival, it was determined that the male victim was in the area when he was approached by the two known male suspects who began throwing rocks at him. The suspects then demanded that the victim give them money and fled the scene on foot when the victim confronted them. Suspect One is described as a White male with a thin build, approximately 19 years old, 5’10” tall with dark hair, a goatee and mustache, wearing a black backpack. Suspect Two is described as a White male with a thin build, approximately 18 years old, 5’5″ tall with blond hair, wearing a black backpack. The investigation is ongoing.

ROBBERY, 2021-07310275, 200 block of N. Fillmore Street At approximately 11:50 p.m. on July 31, police were dispatched to the report of an armed robbery in progress. Upon arrival, it was determined that a cab was dropping off passengers when two dark colored SUV’s pulled up and blocked in the cab. A male suspect then approached the rear passenger side door, brandished a firearm and demanded money. The suspect stole wallets and a cell phone from the victims before fleeing the scene. The suspect is described as a Black male in his early 20’s, approximately 5’6″ tall, with a skinny build. He was wearing a black mask, white tank top and dark colored pants. The investigation is ongoing.

Flickr pool photo by Kevin Wolf


The Crossing Clarendon (staff photo)

(Updated at 2:10 p.m. on 8/3/21) Upscale health club chain Life Time is opening a huge new fitness center at The Crossing Clarendon, a stretch of retail formerly known as Market Common Clarendon.

Life Time’s opening is currently expected to happen in the first few months of 2023, said Andrew Kabat of Regency Centers, which owns the multi-block development, which mixes retail, residential and office space.

“It’s really such an exciting, well-rounded lifestyle offering that I think will be a massive statement for this community,” Kabat said. “Being very high-end and luxury focused, it fits in well with the Clarendon community.”

The gym will occupy 113,000 square feet of space at 1440 N. Edgewood Street, where, up until recently, an Equinox gym was expected to move in. In February, Regency Centers sued Equinox, alleging breach of contract.

The Crossing has undergone a recent renovation and rebranding and, starting with Life Time, Regency Centers is on the cusp of announcing several other new retail tenants.

The new gym will take up 5,000 square feet on the ground floor as well as the entire second, third and fourth floors, compared to the nearly 30,000 square feet of space Equinox was set to occupy. Life Time will offer workout spaces, a spa, a co-working space and room for group fitness classes, as well as a food and beverage component and places to drop off kids.

“It’s just that well-thought out,” said Kabat, who helped to land the leasing deal with the company. “Their brand, the way they’ve really integrated themselves into the community — they’re a lifestyle brand. They’ll offer a lot of different amenities.”

Unlike most other Life Time locations, the Clarendon outpost is in more of an urban setting, spanning multiple stories, rather than occupying a freestanding facility in a suburban area, he said. The fitness center will also be “the catalyst” for other exciting announcements, Kabat said.

The building that Life Time will occupy was an vacant office space when Regency Centers acquired it in 2016. It was gutted and a fourth floor was added, and construction was completed last summer. Between Life Time and Tatte Bakery and Cafe, which is also moving in on the ground floor and is expected to open in early September, the building will be 93% leased.

In total, the building has eight retail spaces on the ground floor: Tatte and Life Time are the only two publicly-announced tenants at this time, but Regency Centers is getting ready to announce five more, Kabat said. Each of these deals was agreed to during the pandemic.

“Once we add those other five users, we’ll be at 98-99% leased,” he said. “We feel good that we’ll be 100% leased by end of the year.”

Among the building’s ground floor spaces is the former location of beloved live music venue Iota Club and Cafe, which closed in 2017.

The leasing announcements are in addition to other changes coming to The Crossing Clarendon, including a new pedestrian plaza near Barnes and Noble. Recently, custom framing store Framebridge opened at The Crossing, along Clarendon Blvd.


“The Red Room” at Barry’s in Clarendon (courtesy of Barry’s)

(Updated at 1:15 p.m.) A year after closing due to the pandemic, Clarendon gym Barry’s is preparing to reopen later this summer.

The gym, which first opened in Clarendon in January 2020, had a short run before it had to shut down operations in August because of the coronavirus. Now, the bootcamp-style gym is gearing up to reopen its doors at 2825 Wilson Blvd this summer, a company representative said.

Barry’s — formerly Barry’s Bootcamp — started in Los Angeles in 1998, and the Clarendon outpost was the international fitness chain’s first Virginia studio. The gyms are known for their difficult workouts and a club-like atmosphere, complete with playlists and dim lighting, to help gym-goers push through.

The gym has not yet determined its new hours of operation, according to the representative.


(Updated at 9:15 a.m.) A theft suspect in Pentagon City ran onto the tracks Sunday afternoon, causing major delays for riders.

The theft was reported around 2 p.m., from a store on the 1200 block of S. Hayes Street, a block that includes the Pentagon City mall and the Pentagon Centre shopping center.

The man was spotted by officers at the Pentagon City Metro station and fled onto the tracks. Officers were unable to locate him during their initial search, but he was seen again at the Metro station around 4:45 p.m. Arlington County police along with Metro Transit Police and Pentagon police were then able to establish a perimeter and take him into custody.

Trains were halted in the area and a shuttle service established before the suspect, a 27-year-old Maryland man, was finally taken into custody.

More from ACPD and social media:

LARCENY (Significant), 2021-07180152, 1200 block of S. Hayes Street. At approximately 2:08 p.m. on July 18, police were dispatched to the report of a larceny. Upon arrival, it was determined that the suspect entered a business, allegedly selected merchandise and left without paying. The suspect fled from responding officers into the Pentagon City Metro and entered the tracks. The tracks were searched with negative results. At approximately 4:42 p.m., the suspect was observed inside the Pentagon City Metro. A perimeter was established, and with the assistance of Metro Transit Police and Pentagon Force Protection Agency, the suspect was taken into custody and transported to an area hospital for treatment of non-life threatening injuries. While in custody, he provided false information to officers regarding his identity. Deallen Price, 27, of District Heights, MD was arrested and charged with Grand Larceny, False ID to Avoid Arrest, Obstruction of Justice and Trespassing.

Monday’s Arlington crime report included a number of other notable incidents, including:

  • A woman was arrested Friday afternoon after robbing a store at the Pentagon City mall and handing the stolen items to a teen boy while fleeing into the Pentagon City Metro station.
  • A man drove onto the sidewalk and struck a man he had recently argued with at a Buckingham area restaurant early Sunday morning.
  • A man in his 50s or 60s exposed himself to a man along Wilson Blvd in Ballston Friday afternoon, then started masturbating and following the victim while continuing to masturbate.
  • A man grabbed a woman inappropriately and pulled her towards him, while she was sitting outside a business in the Clarendon area early Saturday morning.

More from the Arlington County Police Department, below.

(more…)


(Updated at 11:30 a.m.) Multiple gunshots were fired in Clarendon early this morning, reportedly after a large fight.

The shooting happened around 1:15 a.m. near the intersection of Wilson Blvd and N. Garfield Street, in the area of the United Bank and steps from the Cheesecake Factory and Mexicali Blues.

“Arriving officers established a perimeter and located evidence confirming multiple shots had been fired in the area,” the Arlington County Police Department said in a press release this morning. “During a canvass, officers located an unoccupied, parked vehicle in the 1300 block of N. Garfield Street which had been struck by two stray rounds.”

“The preliminary investigation indicates a large group had been involved in a fight at this location prior to the shooting,” the press release continues. “Witnesses reported observing a SUV and burgundy sedan flee the scene. No injuries related to the shooting have been reported. There is no suspect(s) description at this time.”

A nearby resident reported hearing five shots.

Initial reports suggested the shots might have been fired from a vehicle — a detail that could not be immediately confirmed — and that someone was treated on scene by medics.

“The treated individual was intoxicated and not cooperative with the investigation,” ACPD spokeswoman Ashley Savage tells ARLnow. “It was determined that their injuries were not related to the shooting.”

Police are asking for the public’s help as they continue to investigate.

“This remains an active criminal investigation. Anyone with information or home surveillance that may assist with the investigation is asked to contact the Arlington County Police Department’s Homicide/Robbery Unit at 703-228-4180 or [email protected],” the press release said. “Information may also be reported anonymously through the Arlington County Crime Solvers hotline at 1-866-411-TIPS (8477).”


Pints of ice cream from Nicecream (courtesy of Nicecream)

Arlington-based Nicecream will be celebrating National Ice Cream Day this Sunday (July 18) by offering free scoops of its frozen-to-order ice cream.

Guests can get one free scoop all day at any of Nicecream’s four locations across the D.C. area, including its original spot at 2831 Clarendon Blvd in Clarendon. For founder Sandra Tran, it’s a nice gesture after weathering COVID-19.

“The past year was scary and very, very tough for us. We are happy to have be on the other side of the pandemic and want to celebrate with the community,” she said.

It’ll also be a sweet relief from a scorching week.

Nicecream uses liquid nitrogen to freeze servings of ice cream right in front of guests. Popular flavors include Nutella, Wild Blueberry, Cherry Bourbon Chocolate Chunk and Sweet Corn.

Nicecream’s Clarendon location closed for about a month and a half last year due to the pandemic. Adapting to the decline in in-person customers, Nicecream introduced national shipping and expanded its delivery capacities.

The company opened its first storefront in Clarendon in May 2014.


Two Arlington Public Schools programs offering alternatives to traditional high school will soon be housed in the same building.

New Directions Alternative Program, currently located in the Thurgood Marshall Building in Clarendon, will join the Langston High School Continuation Program located in the Langston-Brown Community Center along Lee Highway before the start of the 2021-22 school year.

“We are moving New Directions from the Marshall Building to Langston this summer,” said APS spokesman Frank Bellavia. “This is an efficiency for us since many New Directions staff work at Langston.”

New Directions helps students who have trouble in traditional school settings, need strict monitoring or are under court supervision, according to APS. Students successfully exit the program by graduating, returning to their home high school or transferring to the High School Continuation Program at Langston.

One person who contacted ARLnow questioned whether the new location will be a downgrade for students.

“The program diligently serves justice-involved youth, teaching them to reconnect with the Arlington community while achieving their high school diplomas,” the person wrote. “The location has always been important to their success through partnerships with multiple establishments in Clarendon.”

The building at 2847 Wilson Blvd is privately owned and rented to APS. It also houses the Employee Assistance Program, which provides free, confidential, professional assistance and counseling to APS and county employees and their families.

“EAP will remain in there for a little while longer,” Bellavia said.

Arlington County has a little under four years left on its eight-year lease, said realtor Bill Buck, who has already started marketing the space to potential renters on behalf of Steve Woodell, the owner.

Woodell, who runs a funeral home in Alexandria, has owned the building since 1979, when it was Ives Funeral Home. APS moved in about 21 years ago, he said.

Buck said Langston “is a better facility for the students” and he is happy for the students moving buildings.

“[EAP] will likely also leave before the end of the term,” Buck said. “What’s going to happen in the future, I don’t know. We have had interest from people that wanted to build an office building there, but the county would like to see retail on the first floor.”

Buck said he would like to see the space turned into a 100,000-square foot affordable housing building — not an office or retail space that would contribute to the glut of such amenities in Clarendon.

“I think it’d be great for affordable housing,” Buck said.


Organizers have pulled the plug on this year’s planned Clarendon Day celebration.

For the second year in the row, one of Arlington’s biggest street festivals will not be happening. The Clarendon Alliance, which organizes the fall event, made the announcement yesterday.

We regret to inform the community that we have canceled Clarendon Day for 2021.

A compressed production timeline, increased costs, staffing changes, and the ongoing concern of Covid-19 and the delta variant make the viability of an event at this scale too risky.

Watch for more great programming on a smaller scale. We all continue to bring our community together and celebrate all that Clarendon has to offer!

The event is expected to return in the fall of 2022.

More than 1,000 people had already said on Facebook that they planned to attend Clarendon Day, which was scheduled for Sept. 25. It would have featured “several music stages, a large kid’s area, arts and crafts vendors, business and nonprofit exhibitors from Clarendon and the region, plenty of great food from local and regional restaurants, craft beers and Virginia wines, and more.”

Coronavirus cases have started rising both locally and nationally, though numbers remain relatively low in Arlington.

Other outdoor community events, like the Bands & Brews on the Boulevard event in Ballston next weekend, are still on at last check.

Hat tip to @clarendonnights


A new restaurant with a unique name is coming to Clarendon.

“Uncommon Luncheonette” filed yesterday for a building permit at 1028 N. Garfield Street. That’s the former location of Riverside Hot Pot, which closed last fall after about a year in business, and Bowl’d, which closed in 2017 after about two years.

The permit application seeks permission to make interior alterations but gives no clues as to what the restaurant will serve. There is nothing by the name “Uncommon Luncheonette” that could be found via search engine or social media.

An Virginia LLC by that name was formed last week, however. The address and attorney for the newly-formed company match that of Pentagon City restaurant Epic Smokehouse, which opened in 2012, though it’s unclear whether the two are connected. The owners of Epic Smokehouse could not be immediately reached for comment.

Hat tip to Chris Slatt


Whitlow’s recently closed in Clarendon, with hopes of opening elsewhere, but its former space will not be vacant for long.

The owner of the building at 2854 Wilson Blvd, which was unable to negotiate a lease renewal with the long-time local watering hole, appears to be dividing the restaurant — which includes a basement, a ground-level floor and a rooftop bar — into at least three separate tenant spaces, according to building permits.

The first tenant is likely to be Five Guys.

The burger chain confirmed to ARLnow that it will be opening a new restaurant in Arlington, but the opening is not expected until next summer.

“We’re a bit far out to confirm any dates, but we’re intending to open a new location in Arlington around summer 2022,” said Five Guys spokeswoman Jessica Lloyd.

The company has grown from one Arlington burger joint in the soon-to-be-redeveloped Westmont Shopping Center to an international chain with more than 1,400 locations in the United States alone. It currently has two Arlington restaurants: one down the street in Courthouse, at 2300 Wilson Blvd, and another at Reagan National Airport.

Permits posted in the windows, bearing the project name “Five Guys,” indicate that the property owner is first planning an asbestos abatement.

So far there’s no word on what else might open in the building, nor whether Whitlow’s is closer to finding a new location.

Hat tip to David Kinney


The Brass Rabbit Pub is coming soon to the former site of Bracket Room (staff photo by Jay Westcott)

(Updated at 1:40 p.m.) A new bar is coming to Clarendon, moving into the space formerly occupied by the Bracket Room.

Brass Rabbit Public House is coming to 1210 N. Garfield Street. At this point, little information is known about an opening date or specifics. It appears their Facebook page and Instagram were just created late last week, providing few details.

The pub is from Reese Gardner, who also owns Copperwood Tavern in Shirlington, Quinn’s on Corner in Rosslyn, Dudley’s Sport and Ale in Shirlington and The Pinemoor in Clarendon.

The restaurant’s website does say that the restaurant will serve “elevated pub fare with a healthy twist.” This includes “unique salads and lettuce wrap creations.” For those that don’t want to stick to rabbit food, there will also be burgers, wings, and sandwiches.

“To keep the place hoppin’,” as the website notes, there will also be 14 beers on draft, craft cocktails, house-infused cocktails, and an extensive wine list.

It will also have brunch, happy hour, and NFL and NHL game packages on the TVs.

The Bracket Room closed earlier this year after about seven and half years in Clarendon. It first opened in September 2013, saying it was offering a higher-end, “female-friendly” experience. It was co-founded by Chris Bukowski of “The Bachelorette” fame.


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