Crystal City

Buffalo Wild Wings Opening Pushed Back

By ARLnow.com

The new Buffalo Wild Wings in Crystal City (at 23rd Street and Crystal Drive) held an employee orientation session for a couple dozen new hires last night.

During the orientation, the glow from the galaxy of overhead flat screen TVs illuminated a relatively wide open, comfortable-looking space. The decor looked a bit more sleek than your standard, suburban Buffalo Wild Wings location. The huge floor-to-ceiling windows facing the street also helped to add a more urban feel.

An employee coming out of the orientation revealed that the restaurant’s opening date has been pushed back. Instead of opening on Monday, as originally planned, the restaurant is now expected to open to the public on Thursday, Dec. 16, he said.

Power Outage in Crystal City

By ARLnow.com

(Updated at 10:25 a.m.) Nearly 300 Dominion customers are without power in Crystal City and Pentagon City this morning.

The outage is due to scheduled work to replace an underground cable along Crystal Drive, according Dominion spokesperson Le-Ha Anderson. Power should be restored by 4:00 this afternoon, she said.

In addition to buildings, the power outage is also affecting traffic lights in the area. We’re hearing that the traffic lights are dark at the intersections of 15th Street South underneath Jefferson Davis Highway and 15th Street South and Hayes Street (since restored).

Blind Item: Food Truck Follies

By ARLnow.com

It’s been a while since we did a blind item, but this one was too ridiculous to pass up.

Which Rosslyn and Crystal City businesses have been calling the police on the new Bada Bing sandwich truck? Cops have shown up at the truck at least eight times since it launched just over a month ago, we hear.

Officers show up, dutifully check out the truck’s license and examine whether it’s parked legally, and inevitably leave without finding a violation.

Two businesses in particular have been very proactive about calling the cops when Bada Bing shows up in their neighborhood.

“It happens at those two locations pretty much every time we go there, sometimes multiple times per day,” said Bada Bing owner Nicholas Terzella

Bozzelli’s Italian Deli Opens in Crystal City

By ARLnow.com

Yet another restaurant has opened in Crystal City.

Bozzelli’s Italian Deli served its first customers around 11:00 this morning. It will be open tonight until 8:00 tonight, an employee told us over the phone.

The new Bozzelli’s (the original is located in Springfield, Va.) is serving its “famous subs” and fresh-made salads today. Hand-tossed pizzas, soups and pasta will make it onto the menu within a couple of days, we’re told. An employee said they’re still working out the kinks.

“The ink on the Certificate of Occupancy is not even dry yet,” he said.

The deli is located at 2600 Crystal Drive, on the ground floor of the Concord apartments. Its phone number is 571-970-4570.

Bozzelli’s will be open seven days a week for lunch and dinner. According to the deli’s web site, it may eventually serve breakfast.

The opening of Bozzelli’s follows two other recent restaurant openings in Crystal City: Chick-fil-A and Jimmy John’s. The opening of another, much larger restaurant, Buffalo Wild Wings, is expected in about two weeks.

Update at 1:05 p.m. — Owner Mike Bozzelli, who was on hand for today’s soft opening, tells friend-of-the-blog Doug Wendt that he’s planning a formal grand opening event “in the near future.” Despite the cold and the rain, Wendt says some customers chose to eat outside on the tables that Bozzelli’s is sharing with the Starbucks next door.

Photo via Facebook

Crime Report: Restaurant Patrons to the Rescue

By ARLnow.com

The latest Arlington County crime report shows that mid-to-late November has been somewhat slow, crime-wise. Most of the crimes reported by Arlington Police from Nov. 17 to 23 were of the standard larceny/burglary variety.

One such incident stands out, however. Two young men from Alexandria were taken into custody in Crystal City after their alleged cell phone theft was foiled by a group of restaurant patrons.

LARCENY FROM A PERSON-ARREST 11/18/10, 2200 block of Crystal Drive. On November 18 at 7:50 pm, two men entered a restaurant and took a phone off a table. Several patrons of the restaurant stopped the suspects until police arrived. Darius Williams, 18, of Alexandria, was charged with Grand Larceny from a Person and Wearing a Mask or Hood to Conceal Identity. He was held on a $3,000 bond. Jamal Walker, 18, of Alexandria, was charged with Grand Larceny from a Person. He was held on a $2,500 bond.

The rest of the crime report, after the jump.

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Morning Notes

By ARLnow.com

Passenger Protests, Midwest Weather Could Cause Airport Delays — Flying out of Dulles or Reagan National Airport today could be a challenge. On the busiest travel day of the Thanksgiving holiday, thousands of passengers are planning a nationwide, grassroots revolt against the TSA’s use of full-body scanners. Instead of going through the machines, they will protest by insisting on a time-consuming pat-down. That, combined with a storm system in the upper Midwest could cause delays. So far, however, flights at DCA and IAD are on time. More from the Washington Post.

Crystal City Renaissance Hotel To Open in March — A new LEED-certified Renaissance Hotel is coming to the quickly-developing area south of Crystal City and north of Potomac Yard. The hotel, located at 2800 South Potomac Avenue, is expected to open in March 2011. Rooms will initially start at $299 per night, according to HotelChatter.com.

Wilson’s on Whitlow’s is “Coming Soon” — TBD has photos of Wilson’s on Whitlow’s, the new Tiki bar above Whitlow’s on Wilson. Owner Greg Cahill says the bar’s opening is “coming soon,” pending county permits. Place your bets in the comments section on what will come first: the area’s first snowfall or the opening of Whitlow’s rooftop bar. More from TBD.

Flickr pool photo by BrianMKA

Buffalo Wild Wings Sets December Opening Date

By ARLnow.com

It now appears that Buffalo Wild Wings will be opening its Crystal City location in December, after all.

An insider tells us that the wings, beer and sports joint is planning to open on Monday, Dec. 13 (Update: Thursday, Dec. 16). Last month we told you that the restaurant’s opening would either be in December or February, depending on the pace of progress.

The restaurant is located in a large, glass-paneled retail space at the corner of Crystal Drive and 23rd Street, across from Jaleo. Crews were hard at work preparing the interior when we peeked inside yesterday afternoon.

This will be the sixth Buffalo Wild Wings location in the area. It will be one of two that are near a Metro station (in addition to the Rockville location) and the closest to D.C. proper.

Morning Notes

By ARLnow.com

Airport Body Scanner Company Is Based in Crystal City — One of the companies behind the controversial “naked” body scan machines in U.S. airports is located right here in Arlington. Recently, writer Annie Lowrey visited the company’s Crystal City offices to see how they were handling the controversy. More from Slate.

AT&T Rolls Out Pentagon City Store — AT&T’s new wireless store in the Pentagon City mall opened its doors yesterday, just in time for the holiday shopping rush. The store features “a state-of-the-art, hands-on design to engage customers and provide a ‘try before buy’ service experience,” according to a press release.

Verizon Activates New Cell Site — “In a continuing effort to provide the best wireless service for local residents in the Arlington County, Va., Verizon Wireless has expanded its network with a new cell site,” a company press release says. “The new cell site provides increased wireless voice and 3G data coverage in the neighborhood near 22nd Street North.” Verizon did not elaborate on the site’s exact location.

Crystal City ArtJamz Reviewed — The ladies from the DC on Heels blog created their own personal masterpieces at ArtJamz in Crystal City last week. What exactly is ArtJamz, you ask? The explanation, with plenty of photos, from DC on Heels. (Disclosure: ArtJamz is an ARLnow.com advertiser.)

Flickr pool photo by Philliefan99

Jimmy John’s Opens in Crystal City

By ARLnow.com

The new Jimmy’s John’s sandwich shop in Crystal City quietly opened its doors to customers for the first time today.

In fact, the opening was so quiet that the Jimmy John’s web site doesn’t even list Arlington as one of the chain’s locations yet (a listing should be added tomorrow, we’re told). Nonetheless, a steady stream of excited customers streamed into the store around lunchtime today.

The restaurant, located at 2450 Crystal Drive, is open from 11:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. seven days a week (except major holidays). It offers corporate catering and delivery service to the Crystal City/Pentagon City area via phone at 571-257-7261.

Jimmy John’s has a short and simple menu but a large and loyal following, much like Chick-Fil-A, which just opened down the street.

Morning Notes

By ARLnow.com

Panel Discusses Energy Plan Options — The task force in charge of helping to craft a Community Energy Plan for Arlington met yesterday to discuss options for providing “district energy” in the county’s denser areas. District energy would centralize heating and cooling in an area, serving multiple buildings. One of the big questions posed to the task force by its energy consultant was whether the company that provides the district energy plant should be county-owned, a public-private partnership or privately-owned. More from TBD.

Gunston to Get New Field, But Board Cuts Canopies — On Tuesday, the board approved a $715,000 contract to replace the synthetic field turf at Gunston Middle School. But they stripped out $120,000 in funding that county staff had allocated for shade canopies over the bleachers. More from the Sun Gazette.

Hotel Protest in Crystal City Tomorrow — Workers are expected to picket in front of the Crystal City Sheraton tomorrow to protest supposed abuses of workers’ rights by the hotel’s parent company. The rally has the backing of local organized labor. More from dclabor.org

BRAC Delays Could Keep Thousands of Jobs in Arlington

By ARLnow.com

So much for deadlines.

Sept. 15, 2011 was supposed to be the date by which some 5 million square feet of military-occupied office space in Arlington — 17 percent of the county’s office inventory — would be moved out as a result of the Base Realignment and Closure Act.

Now, it appears that most of that leased space will still be in use by the military through 2012 and beyond.

A new report by commercial real estate firm Cassidy Turley that examined lease renewals suggests that BRAC relocations are years behind schedule. According to the firm, “[BRAC-related] leases totaling 2.3 million square feet have been extended through 2013 or later.”

And yesterday Rep. Jim Moran threw another wrench in the stalled relocation process. Per a provision Moran inserted into a Defense Department funding bill, the DoD’s Inspector General will be investigating the planned BRAC relocation of 6,400 jobs — many from Arlington — to the Mark Center project in Alexandria.

Moran has been working “to suspend or delay the move into the Mark Center site until the necessary transportation improvements to prevent a traffic nightmare on I-395 are implemented,” according to a statement announcing the investigation.

Such a delay could ease some of the economic pain the county will experience as a result of BRAC job losses.

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