New interior of Ireland’s Four Courts (via Instagram)
New interior of Ireland’s Four Courts (via Instagram)
Food at Ireland’s Four Courts (via Instagram)
New interior of Ireland’s Four Courts (via Instagram)
New interior of Ireland’s Four Courts (via Instagram)
New interior of Ireland’s Four Courts (via Instagram)
New interior of Ireland’s Four Courts (via Instagram)
New interior of Ireland’s Four Courts (via Instagram)
Under-construction exterior of Ireland’s Four Courts (via Instagram)
Just over a year after a car plowed into Ireland’s Four Courts, seriously injuring several people and sparking a devastating fire, the pub is set to reopen.
Four Courts is planning to reopen to the public this coming Thursday, managing partner Dave Cahill tells ARLnow. Some private reopening events are likely to take place between now and then, in part to make sure staff get up to speed.
Photos posted by Four Courts to its Instagram account over the past week or so show construction wrapping up, with a new bar, a new mural, and a new library room stocked with books.
The crash that closed the beloved Courthouse watering hole, located at 2051 Wilson Blvd, happened on Aug. 12, 2022.
The driver of the rideshare vehicle that slammed into the building and caught fire was not charged. Police say he suffered a medical emergency prior to the crash.
In all, 14 people were injured, including eight who were taken to local hospitals. All three pub-goers who suffered serious, potentially life-threatening injuries were released from the hospital by the next month.
Before and after photos of concrete sculpture Compassion by Una Hanbury, which has sat between Wilson and Clarendon Blvd since 1969 (via Arlington County and courtesy anonymous)
A concrete sculpture of an adult embracing a child has been moved from its home of nearly six decades, a planted median in Courthouse, and possibly damaged in the process.
This week, the statue — missing a chunk of concrete — could be seen on a pedestal of soil and flowers on a nearby sidewalk, surrounded by construction work.
A gift to Arlington County in 1969, the sculpture was decommissioned due to its age and significant damage it sustained from the elements, according to Arlington Cultural Affairs. The 54-year-old sculpture was moved as part of the decommissioning process and is set to be destroyed and replaced with a bronze replica.
“Over its nearly 55 years in the public realm, time and weather took their toll, eroding the surface and rendering the sculpture unrecognizable,” Arlington Cultural Affairs spokesman Jim Byers told ARLnow. “Due to the condition of the original sculpture, two independent conservators agreed that the sculpture could not be repaired.”
Una Hanbury, an England native, made the work — entitled Compassion — to pay tribute to Arlington’s values. It was one of several works she completed in the Mid-Atlantic, including large-scale commissions for the Medical Examiners Building in Baltimore and St. Mark’s Lutheran Church in Springfield, Virginia.
During discussions about what to do with the aging sculpture, Hanbury’s grandson, Colin Poole, recommended recreating Compassion in bronze to match its original likeness, says Byers.
Fittingly, Poole is set to take on the replica, as he is a professional artist who apprenticed under his grandmother.
When it was still in one piece, Poole had “digitally scanned the weathered concrete sculpture, milled a replica in foam, and enveloped it in clay,” Byers said.
“Using his grandmother’s sculpting tools and referencing other sculptures she had crafted during that era, Poole skillfully reproduced the surface textures, and the renewed form was cast in bronze for longevity,” he continued.
Some of the material of the original sculpture will be incorporated within the base of the new piece, but the rest will be destroyed. Byers said this is the industry standard when a work of art is decommissioned due to severe deterioration.
The recreated bronze statue is set to be installed later this fall, somewhere “close to its original location,” Byers said. He added that he expects the piece to be incorporated into the county’s Public Art collection — adding to the roughly 70 permanent public art projects in Arlington.
“A dedication event is being planned for some time after the installation of the artwork,” he said.
The recasting is being funded by Greystar, the developer overseeing two new apartment buildings and transportation upgrades to the neighborhood.
Break-in and sexual assault suspect (photos courtesy ACPD, photo composition by ARLnow)
A 34-year-old D.C. man was arrested last month in a high-profile Arlington sexual assault case.
Police say they suspect Geremy Bridgeforth is the man who broke into a woman’s apartment in Virginia Square on April 2 and sexually assaulted her. That attack was followed by a subsequent early-morning apartment break-in on April 12, in Courthouse, in which the victim was touched inappropriately.
Blurry surveillance photos of the suspect were released by police a few days later.
In an update in the case Thursday afternoon, Arlington County police announced additional charges against Bridgeforth, who according to court records was arrested on July 14.
Following a comprehensive criminal investigation, the Arlington County Police Department’s Special Victims Unit is announcing charges have been obtained in the April 2 incident in the Ballston-Virginia Square neighborhood. Geremy Bridgeforth, 34, of Washington D.C. is charged with Burglary with Intent to Commit Murder/Rape/Robbery and Object Sexual Penetration. During the course of the investigation, detectives determined that between April 1 and April 2, the suspect entered additional residences in the 3900 block of Fairfax Drive and stole property. He was charged with Burglary (x2), Credit Card Theft (x2), Credit Card Fraud (x2) and Petit Larceny related to those offenses. Additionally, Mr. Bridgeforth was charged with Burglary with Intent to Commit Murder/Rape/Robbery and Aggravated Sexual Battery in the April 12 incident in the Clarendon-Courthouse neighborhood. He is being held without bond in the Arlington County Detention Facility.
Bridgeforth has a number of prior arrests and convictions in Arlington dating between 2015-2021, according to court records, for crimes including fare evasion, trespassing and indecent exposure. Most recently he served a net two months in jail on the 2021 indecent exposure charges, court records suggest.
Multiple residents told ARLnow at the time that the Courthouse break-ins followed the installation of new smart locks, which some claimed would leave apartment doors open even when an app said it was locked.
Inside the renovated Ellen M. Bozman County Government Center (staff photo by Jay Westcott)
Inside the renovated Ellen M. Bozman County Government Center (staff photo by Jay Westcott)
Inside the renovated Ellen M. Bozman County Government Center (staff photo by Jay Westcott)
A cavernous space inside the recently-refurbished county headquarters in Courthouse could one day be filled with public art.
Arlington County has commissioned acclaimed artist Kipp Kobayashi, known for his art displays in hospitals, airports and government buildings, to suspend a public art project in the lobby of the Bozman Government Center at 2100 Clarendon Blvd.
Kobayashi is turning to Arlington residents for inspiration before he gets started. He is seeking public input via a survey to learn about the different routes residents take to get to some of their favorite places in Arlington.
“Please tell us your stories, memories, and experiences of Arlington County by sharing a special route that you currently take or have taken through Arlington County,” the survey says. “The route should be to a place that you find especially meaningful. Examples are a park, place of worship, restaurant, friend’s house, bike trail, bench, etc.”
Feedback received through Sept. 30 will help inform his designs, according to the county.
“With a background in urban design, Kobayashi’s public art method involves extensive field observation and personal interactions to identify the individual elements that together form the identity of a place,” a press release said.
Kobayashi and county staff will also be at the Arlington County Fair this week during indoor hours for people to share their experiences in Arlington directly with the artist.
In April, the county unveiled the interior renovations to its headquarters. The project began in September 2021 and cost approximately $4.8 million.
The artwork’s design, fabrication, and installation have a set budget of $200,000, county spokesman Ryan Hudson said.
The funding comes from the county’s Public Art Trust & Agency account, which is earmarked exclusively for the Courthouse area, Hudson added. The trust relies on contributions from developers rather than resident tax dollars.
According to his website, Kobayashi’s art stems from his experiences growing up as an Asian American, “leading to a lifelong interest in deconstructing preconceived notions of who and what we are to understand better unique patterns that present a more nuanced interpretation of identity and cultural belonging.”
Some of Kobayashi’s recent displays include hundreds of hand-folded paper planes, called “Collective Transitions,” at Meacham Airport in Fort Worth, Texas, and “hundreds of custom-made fishing flies swirling together in a central grouping,” called “Emergence,” in Central Washington University in Ellensburg, Washington.
Kobayashi was selected by a committee that met several times over the course of a year to define goals for the project, review artist submissions and select an artist.
The committee will also recommend the final artwork design.
The interior of Ireland’s Four Courts, under construction as of August 2023 (courtesy Dave Cahill)
Rendering of new Four Courts exterior facade (courtesy Ireland’s Four Courts)
Damage inside Ireland’s Four Courts as of 9/15/22 (staff photo)
Damage inside Ireland’s Four Courts as of 9/15/22 (staff photo)
Damage inside Ireland’s Four Courts as of 9/15/22 (staff photo)
Damage inside Ireland’s Four Courts as of 9/15/22 (staff photo)
Ireland’s Four Courts on fire and an injured person being helped after a vehicle crashed into the pub (photo courtesy Craig Smith)
Aftermath of car crashing into Ireland’s Four Courts (staff photo by Jay Westcott)
Immediate aftermath of the crash at Ireland’s Four Courts, before the fire spread (photo via Alan Henney)
One year and three days ago, a rideshare vehicle plowed into Ireland’s Four Courts, seriously injuring several patrons and sparking a devastating fire.
Six months after the crash, the pub began to rebuild and has since targeted reopening in August. With construction still in progress as of mid-August, managing partner Dave Cahill tells ARLnow he aims to throw open the doors in early September.
Cahill says the interior is getting its final finishes. Photos he shared show a cozy interior with a large stone fireplace, dark wood paneling and brass light fixtures. A large wood fireplace and some stained glass survived the fire and are prominently featured as well.
We are working on finishes and pass our inspections towards end of month. It will be just after Labor Day hopefully . pic.twitter.com/aQEOic8rGG
A greenish-blue and gold exterior will replace the old red-and-black façade. Inside, the layout of the pub will be more or less the same, though there will be some new features, including a new draft beer system.
The pub marked the anniversary of the crash in a Facebook post on Saturday.
Today is the one-year anniversary of the accident which closed the pub. In that time the level of support that we have received from our local community in Arlington and our friends across the country has been heartwarming.
We want to thank all of you. We look forward to welcoming everyone back to the pub soon. Please continue to follow our social media pages for updates on our reopening date.
The driver, who was reportedly suffering a medical emergency, was not charged. All three pub-goers who suffered serious, potentially life-threatening injuries in the August crash were released from the hospital by the next month.
New vape shop at 2305 Wilson Blvd (staff photo by Jay Westcott)
New vape shop at 2305 Wilson Blvd (staff photo by Jay Westcott)
New vape shop at 2305 Wilson Blvd (staff photo by Jay Westcott)
(Updated at 12:30 p.m.) A new vape shop is set to open in the coming months in a prominent Courthouse storefront on Wilson Blvd.
“Tobacco Vape Cigars” is moving into the former home of SuperStar Tickets at 2305 Wilson Blvd, the very visible building at the corner of Wilson Blvd and N. Wayne Street.
Where there once was SuperStar Tickets’ name in black, there’s now a new white, red, and yellow declaring the business set to waft in soon. The shop is in the midst of a build-out and isn’t open yet, building owner Omar Sider told ARLnow, but it is expected to start selling in the coming months.
SuperStar Ticket hasn’t shuttered but simply no longer needs a prominent, large storefront due to employees now working remotely, Sider told ARLnow. He owns SuperStar Tickets as well as the building. He said the business is doing quite well, with some live events setting attendance records.
“Live events are bigger than ever,” Sider said. “Covid’s silver lining… is that it gave us a reset button to restructure.”
With no reason to work out of the building, leasing out the space provided a chance for cash flow. There was other interest in the building but the vape shop was able to move in immediately, Sider noted.
The shop owners own “60 or 70” other businesses across the country. The lease is for three years, though the business owners initially wanted a longer commitment.
“We will see how it goes. They are paying what we are asking,” Sider said. “And they were pretty adamant.”
Sider was born in Arlington and currently lives in the Woodmont neighborhood. He’s owned the building since 2010 and put it back on the market in 2017, though he never ended up selling it.
Sider understands why some would want a business besides a vape shop in that prominent storefront but, he says, the building sat unused essentially for the last three years.
“It has to have some cash flow,” Sider said. “At least for now, it will be [a vape shop], but maybe in a couple of years, we will think about building it out for something different in the community.”
Scene of fatal moped crash on Clarendon Blvd (photo courtesy anonymous)
A 44-year-old Arlington man died after he crashed into a light pole while riding a moped.
The crash happened around 9:45 p.m. Friday on the 1900 block of Clarendon Blvd, in the Courthouse area. The force of the crash caused the light pole to topple onto the sidewalk and reportedly left the moped rider in cardiac arrest, with significant facial injuries.
Police are investigating the crash but note that the moped was being driven at a high rate of speed.
One local resident who emailed ARLnow said the stretch of Clarendon Blvd where the crash happened is dangerous due to a steep downslope and bend in the road.
“This intersection is very unsafe and drivers go way too fast down the steep hill,” the resident wrote.
The Arlington County Police Department is investigating a fatal single-vehicle crash that occurred on the evening of August 11, 2023.
At approximately 9:44 p.m., police were dispatched to the 1900 block of Clarendon Boulevard for the report of a crash with injury. The preliminary investigation indicates the driver was travelling eastbound on Clarendon Boulevard on a moped at a high-rate of speed when the vehicle left the roadway and struck a utility pole.
The adult male driver was located unresponsive on the scene and was transported to an area hospital where he was pronounced deceased.
The driver of the moped has been identified as 44-year-old Solomon Zeleke of Arlington, Va.
The cause of the crash remains under investigation. Anyone with information related to this incident is asked to contact Detective S. Lafley at [email protected] or 703-228-4052. Information may also be reported anonymously through the Arlington County Crime Solvers hotline at 1-866-411-TIPS (8477).
Rock commemorating the Uvalde mass shooting in 2021 (courtesy Moms Demand Action)
More than 100 painted rocks commemorating victims of gun violence seem to have gone missing from a garden in Courthouse.
The Arlington chapter of Moms Demand Action suspects someone may have stolen most of the 150 rocks in “Hope Garden,” a memorial garden located near Courthouse Plaza.
“Sometime in the last week, most of the rocks were stolen. Now about 25 remain,” says Susan Koch, the group leader, adding that she has “no idea who did it or why” and that members are “heartbroken.”
The garden near the intersection of N. Courthouse Road and 15th Street N. was dedicated in 2019. Since then, Koch says many group members have painted rocks and placed them in the garden to honor friends and relatives affected by gun violence, either through tragic loss or enduring trauma.
Apart from the stolen rocks, the rest of the garden remained untouched, she said.
Koch said the group plans to ask for the community’s support to restore the garden but she remains wary of future incidents occurring.
“We’re going to paint more rocks for sure to try and make up for the ones that were stolen,” Koch said. “But…how do we protect them from not being stolen again?”
Founded in 2012 after the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, Moms Demand Action has emerged as a platform for some 10 million members to advocate for statewide and national gun safety measures.
Over the last decade, the local chapter has worked with elected officials, including Del. Patrick Hope (D) and State Sen. Barbara Favola (D), on gun safety laws, including a series of bills, such as universal background checks and “Red Flag” laws, passed by the General Assembly in 2020.
The group also discusses gun safety with schools and community organizations and works with local nonprofits, such as Doorways, which provides resources to victims of domestic violence.
“We have a program called, ‘Be Safe,’ which basically tells people how important it is to store their guns safely,” Koch said.
She emphasized that the group is not “anti-gun.” Instead, its members advocate for gun safety education as a crucial aspect of weapon ownership.
“We don’t want to take people’s guns away. We just want them to be safe,” Koch said.
Koch said the group might go to the police and file a report. Whatever the outcome, she noted the incident would not “break” them.
A vacant office building in Courthouse in December 2022 (via Google Maps)
(Updated at 5:15 p.m.) One pocket of Arlington County has the most office space on the market and seeking tenants in the D.C. area, according to a new report.
A submarket made up of Courthouse, Clarendon and Virginia Square tops the charts for its “availability rate” — which includes any offices that can be leased now or in the next year — because of its high concentration of older office buildings.
“There are a number of dated 1980s-constructed buildings that sit idle as tenants continue to re-evaluate their office needs and often move to newer or renovated buildings in different submarkets,” says Ben Plaisted, vice chairman at commercial real estate company Savills, which produced the report.
In this submarket, Arlington Economic Development staff says 80% of offices were built more than 20 years ago.
“National and regional trends show that new leases tend to prefer buildings built in the past 10 years,” the county’s economic development arm said in a statement. “As a result, submarkets with newer product tend to have lower availability and submarkets with older product tend to have higher availability.”
Across Arlington, vacancy is concentrated in older buildings: about 75% of vacant square footage is within buildings at least 30 years old, says AED.
In response, why Arlington County is trying to infuse old office buildings with a mix of emerging businesses, such as research and development, artisan workshops, breweries and distilleries, and even pickleball courts.
Office availability rates and rents in the D.C. area (courtesy Savills)
AED provided a few caveats to the report.
It says Savills combined Courthouse, Clarendon and Virginia Square into one submarket, while another real estate company, CoStar, only combines Courthouse and Clarendon. That changes the overall availability rate.
Without Virginia Square, Clarendon-Courthouse has the second-highest availability rate in Northern Virginia and the D.C. area, behind Herndon, according to July 2023 data from CoStar, AED said.
Including Virginia Square means adding one major construction project to the mix: George Mason University’s FUSE building, says AED. The new facility has over 100,000 square feet listed as available for tenants.
The economic development division also says availability rates should be taken with a grain of salt.
“Availability rates can mask available square feet, as submarkets vary greatly in size,” AED said. “Therefore, the same amount of available square footage would appear as much lower availability rates in larger submarkets.”
Like other parts of the nation, Arlington is seeing tenants seek out smaller offices in higher-quality buildings, dubbed the “flight to quality.”
Overall, the report notes Arlington has some of the highest rent prices in the D.C. area, which is due to building quality plus proximity to D.C. and Metro. Over 60% of Arlington’s office product is listed by CoStar as Class A, or those built recently with attractive amenities and high rents, among other features.
“[Tenants] are willing to pay top dollar for high quality space but by reducing their footprint, they are not increasing their overall real estate costs,” Plaisted said. “The war for talent continues to be prevalent in the market and occupiers are looking to incentivize staff to be at the office by upgrading their physical location and space.”
Not everyone is reducing their footprint, however. AED says a half-dozen Arlington-based firms, from consulting firms to to government contractors, expanded their offices over the last year.
Meanwhile, a handful of British tech firms recently opened outposts in Arlington, while shipbuilding company Huntington Ingalls moved some of its offices from D.C. to National Landing.
Arlington has scored some commercial real estate wins with retention of tenants. The only notable tenant that AED says — to their knowledge — fully moved out of Arlington over the past year is the tech company Ostendio, which is now fully virtual.
Faregate modification coming to the Pentagon City and Courthouse stations (courtesy WMATA)
Taller faregates are coming to a pair of Arlington Metro stations to combat fare evasion.
The ongoing fare enforcement effort led Metro to design taller doors for its gates. Those are now being rolled out, with installation at the Fort Totten station expected to be completed overnight tonight, and the Pentagon City up next.
After that, another eight stations are in line to get new faregates by early fall, including the Courthouse station.
Metro officials argue that those committing crimes in the Metro system are often fare evaders, thus cracking down will help keep riders safe.
Faregate evolution (courtesy WMATA)
More, below, from a WMATA press release.
Metro has begun installing new higher, stronger faregates at Fort Totten Station as part of a systemwide rollout. The design improves upon the original prototype door following months of testing and modifications. The new doors are now 55-inches tall, twice as strong, and more resilient.
The installation at Fort Totten is expected to be completed overnight, followed by Pentagon City. The faregate modifications will be installed in phases with plans to retrofit faregates throughout the system over the next year. The first 10 stations are expected to be completed by early fall.
“Over the past several months, our team has been testing different prototypes to get to this final design. We have already seen a reduction in fare evasion and expect the higher gates will be more of a deterrent,” said Metro General Manager and Chief Executive Officer, Randy Clarke. “The bottom line is fare evasion is not okay, and we will continue our efforts to ensure everyone is respecting the community’s system and each other.”
The new design includes an L-shape door panel that extends over the faregate to minimize gaps between the openings. The increase in barrier height from the original 28 to 48-inch prototype to 55 inches will also make it more difficult to jump over faregates. The new height is taller than a hockey net or nearly half the height of a standard basketball hoop.
The swing doors are made of a polycarbonate which is 200 times stronger than glass, lighter weight, and more durable. The final design also includes more robust hinges and a more powerful motor to strengthen the door. As stations are retrofitted with the new barriers, Metro is also raising the height of fencing and emergency gates.
Metro will install a single door panel for all regular faregates, and double door panels at the wider gates for accessibility and wheelchairs. Following Fort Totten and Pentagon City, the first phase of new faregates will be installed at Bethesda, Vienna*, Mt Vernon Sq, Addison Rd, Congress Heights, Wheaton, Federal Center SW, and Court House stations. Metro will notify customers prior to work beginning at stations through in-station signage and on Metro’s Faregate Retrofit Project page.
In addition to the faregate modifications, Metro’s stepped-up enforcement efforts have also helped to change behaviors and reduce fare evasion.
Last month, Metro also launched a new income-qualified reduced fare program, Metro Lift, to provide a 50 percent fare discount to customers who qualify for SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) benefits in the District, Maryland, and Virginia. To-date, more than 1600 customers have enrolled, taking nearly 17,000 combined trips.
For more information about Metro’s comprehensive efforts to modernize its fare system, visit wmata.com/faremodernization.
A year and a half ago, developer Greystar agreed to take on public improvements on behalf of the county in exchange for more units at its redevelopment project. The 423-unit, 20-story residential building dubbed “The Commodore” also has 17,000 square feet of ground-floor retail and an underground parking garage.
The upgrades include pavement, sidewalk, curb and gutter improvements to public streets and the sidewalk adjacent to the California Tortilla, Brooklyn Bagel and Ireland’s Four Courts.
Greystar also agreed to improve and relocate traffic signal equipment and install parking meters — or pay to cover the costs of these upgrades — and install historic markers and a communication conduit.
Designing and constructing these upgrades has progressed on a separate track from the apartment building, and the developer and county staff are still working on getting a civil engineering plan approved, according to a county report.
The long approval timeline could have jeopardized when tenants would move in because the initial agreement conditioned occupancy permits on these street upgrades getting done, the report said. This weekend, the Arlington County Board relieved the developer of this requirement so it can open the apartments this fall and complete the projects on a new schedule.
County staff say the civil engineering plan could happen later this summer.
One reason for the slow progress, per the report, is that Greystar has to coordinate with its other Courthouse development project on the nearby Wendy’s site, which will deliver “similar, though not as extensive” public improvement projects.
“This has resulted in the applicant being delayed in completion of the Off-Site Improvements work in a timely manner, as delays related to design work are compounded by the long lead times required for delivery of materials and installation of the improvements,” it says.
“The Commodore” redeveloped a site that once had a series of single-story commercial buildings called the Landmark block. Together, the two projects are set to realize a significant part of Arlington’s vision for Courthouse’s development.
