development

Morning Notes

By ARLnow.com

Candlelight Vigil for Hit and Run Victim — Friends of Zorigoo Munkhbayar gathered on the Rhodes Street Bridge Sunday night to mourn the 23-year-old’s tragic death. Munkhbayar was hit by a car — which then fled the scene — as he was walking down Route 50 early Friday morning. [Ode Street Tribune]

Residents Still Waiting for Promised Traffic Lights — Some residents are asking: Why haven’t traffic lights been installed at the intersections of N. Qunicy Street and 9th Street and Wilson Blvd and N. Pollard Street? After all, Arlington County has already collected tens of thousands of dollars from developers with the express purpose of installing traffic lights at the intersections. [Sun Gazette]

Clarendon Urgent Care Center Opens — Mid Atlantic Urgent Care opens today at 3301 Wilson Boulevard in Clarendon. The seven-day-a-week medical office encourages walk-in visits from patients with non-life-threatening illnesses or injuries. [Mid Atlantic Urgent Care]

Disclosure: Mid Atlantic Urgent Care is an ARLnow.com advertiser.

Flickr pool photo by BrianMKA

Board Approves Apartment Complex in Virginia Square

By ARLnow.com

The Arlington County Board has approved a new two-building, 534-unit apartment complex on the eastern end of Virginia Square.

The board voted unanimously on Saturday to approve the complex, which includes a 13-story building and a 6-story building connected via an elevated glass skywalk. The complex will be located on the block currently bordered by Wilson Boulevard, Fairfax Drive, N. Kansas Street and N. Lincoln Street. The block is currently home to small low-rise office buildings and surface parking lots.

The new complex, tentatively dubbed Virginia Square Towers, will include nearly 13,000 square feet of ground floor retail space, 630 underground parking spaces and a central public plaza with benches and a water feature.

Running through the central plaza will be a new cobblestone street, to be labeled 9th Street N. The street will be narrow, with wide sidewalks, so that bicycles and pedestrians will be “privileged” while cars will only be “tolerated.” One of the project’s designers said he envisioned an “active and friendly” street where people would be comfortable “playing stick ball in the middle of the road.”

Developed by the Dittmar Company, the buildings will include six dedicated affordable housing units and are expected to attain LEED Gold green building certification. The complex will also be “district energy ready,” meaning it could utilize heating and cooling from a central neighborhood source, which is consistent with the goals of Arlington’s new Community Energy Plan.

As part of the conditions for approval, Dittmar agreed to pay up to $36,000 for the installation of multi-space parking meters along the project’s frontage, $75,000 for the installation of a new traffic light at N. Kansas Street and Wilson Boulevard, $75,000 for public art in the Virginia Square Metro station area and $2.2 million to the county’s affordable housing fund.

A few residents of the Virginia Square Condominiums, located across Lincoln Street from the new complex, expressed concern about the new building’s rooftop water tower obstructing their view. Other than that, little concern was raised about the project during the meeting’s public comment period.

Residents of Building Near Construction Collapse Scramble to Find New Homes

By ARLnow.com

First they were forced to flee their apartments as the ground around it slid into a huge construction pit. Then they were told that the money to pay for their hotel rooms was being cut off. Now, about 30 residents of the Swansen Apartments, at 1625 N. Ode Street in Ft. Myer Heights, are being evicted from the still-condemned apartment building, as a three-way legal battle brews.

What started on Aug. 7 as a construction site mishap — the failed retaining wall, the muddy landslide, the threat that the apartment building might collapse — has gone from bad to worse for the Swansen residents, who say they were being told as late as Aug. 23 that they would be able to move back in to their Rosslyn-area apartment building.

That all changed on Aug. 26, residents say, with an email from landlord Mark Swansen.

Currently, the building has been condemned by Arlington County due to the failure of sheeting and shoring on the adjacent construction site which has damaged gas lines as well as the property on the north side of the building… You should make alternative living arrangements in light of the uncertain status of the building. No rents will be due commencing in September and we encourage you to utilize the rent monies to find new living arrangements. At this time, due to this unfortunate and unexpected turn of events, we do not have a reasonable timeline for when the building will be put back into a usable, safe and satisfactory condition, if ever. It is unfortunate that it has come to this, but your safety is our primary concern. Please make arrangements to remove any belongings from the building directly through this office.

The email, obtained by ARLnow.com, was copied to three email address from the D.C.-based law firm of Braude & Margulies, which specializes in construction law. Swansen declined to comment on the email when reached by phone, and has not responded to subsequent requests for comment.

The apartment building’s gas lines must be turned back on before residents can be allowed back in, according to Arlington County Inspections Services Division Chief Shahriar Amiri, but residents say that necessary gas line work has been held up thanks to wrangling between Swansen, Clark Construction and developer JBG.

(The construction pit, located along Wilson Boulevard between Ode Street and Oak Street, will eventually transformed into JBG’s planned Sedona and Slate apartment complex.)

“The construction company told us that the building was stable; however, the gas lines for our apartment building were not holding pressure and thus it would need to be replaced,” one resident told us. “Our landlord… stalled this from happening and did not give the construction company permission to work on the building. So, from that point on, no work has been done to the building.”

“The tenants… are likely being used as pawns in their legal maneuvers,” said the relative of one resident.

Swansen residents say they’ve been given until Sept. 24 to move their belonging out of the apartment. Meanwhile, they say that developer JBG, which has been paying for hotel rooms and meals at the nearby Courtyard Marriott hotel, notified them on Friday afternoon — a day before the arrival of Hurricane Irene — that they would no longer pay for the hotel after Tuesday morning. Later, JBG sent an email saying they were pushing the checkout date back a week, to Sept. 6.

Finding a new apartment in the area at that’s as affordable at the Swansen Apartments is providing to be very difficult, residents say.

“The issue here, is that our building was super affordable, and quite a steal for the area,” one resident said. “The neighborhood of Rosslyn easily runs for $2,000 for a one bedroom, and over $1,900 for a studio. This is about $600 more than what I was paying for the apartment with Swansen.”

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Civic Associations Weigh in on ‘Big Box’ Development Potential

By ARLnow.com

Two area civic associations are weighing in on the potential for ‘big box’ retail development on the industrial areas near Shirlington.

Last week the County Board voted to advertise a change in its zoning rules that would require planned commercial buildings over a certain size to seek a ‘Special Exception Use Permit’ from the Board. As we exclusively reported, the move was in response to interest in the industrial sites along Four Mile Run — near Shirlington — by large-format retailers like Walmart.

After our article ran, we asked the leaders of two nearby civic associations what they thought of the Board’s action and the potential for large-format retail development in the area.

Dr. Alfred O. Taylor, Jr., president of the Nauck Civic Association, said he was happy that the Board took the first step to ensuring that large-scale development in the area is given due consideration by the community.

The Nauck Civic Association participated in the decision to seek a Special General Land Use Permit for the Rosenthal [car lot] site and two additional sites in the designated Shirlington Crescent/Four Mile Run Drive area. The community had undertaken years of study of the area, but the study was curtailed a couple of years ago due to budgetary restraints and never adopted. The Association supports the action of the County Board in that it will bring back a continuation of the study previously worked on for a number of years and especially the results of a traffic study that is not binding if the by-right option is exercised under the present zoning. A change in the GLUP will allow the residents of Nauck have a say in the future development of the area.

John Breyault, president of the Long Branch Creek Civic Association, echoed Dr. Taylor’s support of the Board’s action.

Given that property’s proximity to the Long Branch Creek Civic Association, I am very glad to see that the County short-circuited any attempt by Wal-Mart to develop the property “by right” without Board approval (and, presumably, community input).

A big-box retailer like Wal-Mart has a big impact on the surrounding neighborhoods.  We are glad that the County Board has ensured that there is an opportunity for robust community input into the planning process for this property.  We look forward to participating in that process.

We reached out to two entities that represent business and developer interests in Northern Virginia, but both declined to comment on the record.

Video: More Changes Coming to Crystal City

By ARLnow.com

Crystal City is changing, and thanks to the new Crystal City Sector Plan it will change dramatically over the next 40 years.

But what does the plan mean for residents? Why is there going to be a new streetcar line, an increase in density and more affordable housing?

The county-run Arlington Virginia Network has just released an interview with County Board Chairman Chris Zimmerman that attempts to answer some of those questions.

New Office Complex Under Consideration for Pentagon City

By ARLnow.com

(Updated at 6:20 p.m.) Arlington’s Long Range Planning Committee (LRPC) is considering a plan to build a collection of tall office buildings and hotels on a large, vacant parcel of land in Pentagon City.

The “PenPlace” site, as it’s called, is a 12-acre parcel owned by Vornado/Charles E. Smith. Its only inhabitants over the past decade have been a Marriott Residence Inn, Nell’s Carryout and the occasional traveling circus. Once considered as a possible location for the new Nationals stadium or an “Arlington County Conference Center,” the site has laid fallow for years.

Last month the LRPC considered a number of possible uses for the site (all of which preserve the existing Marriott hotel and add new streets to break up the large “superblock”):

  • A “baseline” project featuring a collection of low-to-mid rise hotels
  • A “low density” project featuring a collection of 5- to 12-story apartment buildings and an office building
  • A “medium density” plan featuring five 8- to 12-story residential buildings and two 15- to 16-story office buildings
  • A “high density” scenario featuring four 15- to 22-story office buildings and a 7- to 12-story hotel.

In the end, the committee at least one member of the committee concluded that the “high density” plan — which includes nearly 1.9 million square feet of office space and a centrally-located open space — “seem[ed] to be most appropriate.”

Only the baseline project, however, would be acceptable under the current Pentagon City Phased Development Site Plan (PDSP), which was first approved in 1976. The others would require the County Board to revise the PDSP before it could approve a site plan for the overall complex.

The nearby Aurora Highlands and Arlington Ridge civic associations, however, are both on record supporting the existing PDSP, which “does not allow for any more additional office development,” according to the latest Aurora Highlands Civic Association newsletter.

“Approving additional office buildings would severely change the planned vision for the Pentagon City Metro Station Concept Plan,” civic association officials wrote. “Because office buildings generate the most traffic and air pollution, impacts that would affect the health, safety, and general welfare of the public, this Metro station was planned for a Pentagon City with an emphasis on residential development and specifically limited office development as compared to the intense office development in Crystal City and Rosslyn.”

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Report: Redevelopment Threatens Affordable Housing on the Pike

By ARLnow.com

A new report on affordable housing in Northern Virginia suggests that the redevelopment of Columbia Pike will make it difficult to preserve affordable housing along the corridor.

The report, commissioned by the Northern Virginia Affordable Housing Alliance, examined three major corridors where redevelopment is underway: Alexandria’s Beauregard corridor, Fairfax County’s Baileys Crossroads area and Arlington’s Columbia Pike corridor.

All three areas, the report says, are affordable thanks to a “lack of private investment, along with poor transportation options and infrastructure” — attributes that have made the areas undesirable to more affluent residents. Now that the Arlington County is actively encouraging economic development and planning a new streetcar line along Columbia Pike, however, the “type of households” seeking to live on the Pike will likely change, leading to “opportunities” for the owners of existing affordable apartment complexes to “reposition their properties… to attract higher-income residents.”

According to the report, there are currently 7,736 affordable, privately-owned rental units along Columbia Pike. Even with the county’s planned efforts to preserve affordable housing on the Pike, however, the report cites county projections that predict 23 percent fewer affordable units by 2040 — a loss of nearly 1,800 affordable rentals.

That loss is expected to be concentrated among the 3,344 market-rate rentals that are affordable to residents who make between 60 and 80 percent of the area’s median income (AMI). About half of the Pike’s 80 percent AMI units are projected to be lost by 2040, while the county focuses its efforts on preserving all of the 3,151 units affordable to those making 60 percent AMI or below. Meanwhile, the county is forecasting a 447 percent increase in market rate (non-affordable) units, or nearly 6,500 new units targeting more affluent renters.

The Alliance is recommending Arlington set “more aggressive targets” for affordable housing on the Pike while offering affordable housing financing that’s more lucrative than that offered by private developers. The Alliance also recommends using reduced property taxes as a “carrot” for preserving existing market-rate affordable apartments.

EXCLUSIVE: Board Acts as Walmart Eyes Shirlington Site

By ARLnow.com

Arlington is taking action to fend off potential by-right development by big box retailers, like Walmart, in the county’s industrial areas.

Just before adjourning for the summer, the County Board quickly and unanimously passed an item that did not appear on the board agenda. The item, a request to advertise public hearings, is the first step to passing a zoning amendment that would effectively prevent Walmart, Target and other large-format retailers (including certain supermarkets) from building stores without the Board’s prior approval.

The Board took the action as Walmart eyes an industrial site near Shirlington, adjacent to I-395 and the former Washington Golf store, for potential development. A source tells ARLnow.com that the retail giant is in the very early stages of a plan to build one of its new, multi-story urban-style stores, like those proposed for the District and Tysons Corner, at the site, which is currently occupied by a large car storage lot. The store, according to the source, would be two to three stories high with a smaller footprint than the typical, suburban Walmart store.

The proposed zoning amendment advertised Tuesday night specifies that any building in a “C-1” or “C-2” commercial zone, with a “gross floor area of 50,000 square feet or more on any level” would be subject to prior approval by the County Board under a Special Exception Use Permit. The exception would also apply to buildings with 200 or more parking spaces. Under the current zoning ordinance, Walmart would be able to build a store on the Shirlington site “by right” — without Board approval — a source with knowledge of zoning issues tells us.

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Demolition Underway on Pentagon City Warehouses

By ARLnow.com

Demolition is underway on a block of empty warehouses on S. Fern Street in Pentagon City.

The warehouses, which used to house a DHL distribution office and a Danker furniture store, are being torn down to make way for a new 18-story apartment building called Three Metropolitan Park. The building will be the third in the Metropolitan Park development, across from Costco.

According to the county’s planning division web site, Three Metropolitan Park will consist of 411 apartments and 16,345 square feet of ground floor retail space, one block from the Pentagon City Metro station. The building will be 18 stories — or 202 feet — tall and will have 502 parking spaces.

The Washington Business Journal reports that the apartment building is expected to start renting by the beginning of 2014 at a construction cost of at least $160 million.

Photo courtesy @hoborocks

Neighbors Decry Tree Removal in Clarendon

By ARLnow.com

What was once a row of three bungalow houses amid a dense jumble of trees is now an empty dirt lot, and some neighbors are not very happy about it.

The lot, at the corner of N. Danville Street and 11th Street N., will eventually be transformed into a collection of four million-dollar luxury homes, featuring gourmet kitchens, granite countertops, stainless steel appliances, and spa-style baths with Italian marble, according to a brochure.

In the meantime, however, one neighbor has publicly voiced his or her opinion on the denuding of the lot with a handwritten sign that reads “Just what we need: less trees and more McMansions. Thanks!”

Another anonymous resident emailed ARLnow.com to vent his or her frustration.

“They leveled the entire property and it… is so sad — many of those trees have been on that site for longer than any of our families lived in Arlington,” the tipster said.

The houses are being built by McLean-based BeaconCrest Homes.

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Pike Planning Workshops Wrap Up Tonight

By ARLnow.com

Tonight county representatives will present the results of a week-long public planning and design process intended to help plan the future of Columbia Pike.

The “Work in Progress Presentation” will be held from 7:00 to 9:00 tonight at the Sheraton National Hotel (900 S. Orme Street). Planners will reveal the work that has been completed through a neighborhood planning day  — or “charrette” — last weekend and a series of “open design studios” during the week.

The process was designed to allow residents to participate in the planning of the on-going Columbia Pike corridor revitalization.

Earlier this month, a panel organized by the Columbia Pike Revitalization Organization gave a preview of what the future of Columbia Pike’s development might look like.

Panelists suggested that real estate investors are currently most interested in buying older, fully-leased apartment complexes on the Pike, renovating them and re-leasing for considerably higher rents. If there is new construction on the Pike in the current real estate climate, it will likely be limited to townhouses and 4-5 story wood frame apartment/condo buildings, they said.

Consultants who are advising Arlington County on ways to preserve affordable housing on Columbia Pike said that the county should eliminate the zoning that currently allows developers to convert garden-style apartments on the Pike to condos without County Board approval. They said that much higher density — 70-80 units per acre, compared to the current 25 unit per acre average — is required to support affordable housing.

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