A leasing sign for a retail space on Columbia Pike slated for redevelopment (staff photo by Jay Westcott)
A scraped-off retail sign after a cabinetry store moved from Columbia Pike (staff photo by Jay Westcott)
Rappahannock Coffee and the vacant storefront next door on Columbia Pike (staff photo by Jay Westcott)
Rappahannock redevelopment site (via Arlington County)
Rendering of Rappahannock development (via Arlington County)
Rappahannock development location at 2400 Columbia Pike (via Arlington County)
Construction of an approved residential development at the Rappahannock Coffee site on Columbia Pike is on hold for now.
The approved six-story, 120-unit building with ground-floor retail and underground parking would replace three one-story retail buildings and a surface parking lot on the southeast corner of the intersection of Columbia Pike and S. Barton Street, at 2400 Columbia Pike.
Yao Yao, with YW Development, told ARLnow that his firm isn’t going to pursue redevelopment at this time, citing high and climbing interest rates and a generally poor economic outlook — including mixedsignals of a loomingrecession.
Instead, he is looking for a new tenant to fill the vacant retail space next to Rappahannock Coffee and Roasting and generate some income before moving forward with the project. It used to be occupied by Cabinet Era before the business moved to Falls Church.
Leasing agent Erik Ulsaker says the space will work as-is for a temporary retail concept. Any tenant would have to be okay with a termination option if, in three to four years, economic conditions improve and it comes time to build.
“This is a good space for startups, and people who want to get going on their business plans,” he said, adding that he and his business partner “welcome creative ideas,” like pop-ups.
“If it goes over well, it could be put into the development, as we’ve got 16,000 square feet of retail on the back end,” he said. “It’s a good way to test the market.”
YW Development’s proposal went before the Arlington County Board last year. It modified an existing, already-approved proposal for the site by adding 6,500 square feet, 15 residential units and 36 parking spaces while preserving existing building facades.
A representative tells ARLnow that residents may be able to start moving in this April, with interior finishing touches occurring through the summer.
“We’re in the home stretch,” says Joe Muffler, the Mid-Atlantic senior managing director of development for Mill Creek Residential. “We’re on schedule if not even slightly ahead.”
External construction will be done in the first three months of 2023 and internal finishes will be done in late summer.
Those who have driven on N. Kirkwood Road recently may have noticed people in orange vests conducting traffic and replacing asphalt, known as mill and overlay.
“We did the mill and overlay last week, and we’re working with utilities and utility connections, doing streetscape elements,” Muffler said. “That’s the big stuff right now.”
“The puzzle is not complete until YMCA advances. We’ve constructed an alley on the north side and a pedestrian alley on the west side,” Muffler said. “Eventually those will connect… those are streets the county will have for pedestrian and vehicular traffic.”
The multimodal path through the developments in the block bounded by Washington Blvd and N. Kirkwood Road (via Arlington County, edited by ARLnow)
After dealing with the “continuous challenge” of supply chain and labor shortage issues, Mill Creek Residential is “excited to bring more people to the neighborhood starting early next year,” Muffler said.
Rainy day in Rosslyn (staff Photo by Jay Westcott)
While the pandemic prompted a well-documented exodus to, and development of, sleepy suburban and exurban towns, the Rosslyn Business Improvement District says it has identified a different Covid migration pattern.
About a quarter of Americans reported moving to cities where they could be within a 15-minute walk or bike ride of grocery stores, healthcare and parks, according to a national survey by the BID.
The survey also found 41% plan on moving to be within walking or biking distance of their preferred amenities — including coffee shops, schools and gyms — in the next one to three years. That’s in contrast with places that prioritize mobility by motor vehicle, with sidewalks and bike lanes as a relative afterthought.
Amenities that Americans want within 15 minutes of them (via Rosslyn BID)
The idea of being in a place within a 15-minute walk or bike ride from these amenities, dubbed a “15-minute city,” was developed by French-Colombian academic Carlos Moreno. He says his aim is to “rebalance” localities that have been designed to boost productivity rather than well-being. The Mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, popularized his idea when lockdowns kept people closer to home than usual, and efforts to realize Moreno’s idea took hold there and in otherEuropeancities.
Arlington County Planning Commission member Daniel Weir embraces the concept, saying it is better for people and the environment.
“Cities are for people, not cars, and we should be able to get our needs met within a 15-minute walk or bike ride,” he said. “Once upon a time, in living memory for our grandparents, every city in America — from Luray, Virginia to Manhattan — was a 15-minute city. Sometime after the war, we got the idea that cities were about highways and cars, and people had to make way. Now, we’re seeing auto-oriented infrastructure and development is one of the most flawed social experiments of all time.”
Arlington is now trying to at least partially unwind auto-oriented development along Langston Blvd and Richmond Highway, but has yet to tackle the suburban neighborhoods that fall outside its primary planning corridors. Still, the county, which has no singular city center, has had a number of “15-minute cities” spring up through transit-oriented development, which began in the 1960s.
Transit-oriented development created compact urban villages of Rosslyn, Courthouse, Clarendon, Ballston, Pentagon City and Crystal City along the Orange and Blue Metro lines, and is facilitating more development on the bus-connected Columbia Pike.
“The 15-minute city approach is consistent with many facets of the Arlington Comprehensive Plan and is more intrinsic in Arlington’s principles for compact and transit-oriented development,” says Erika Moore, a spokeswoman for Arlington County Dept. of Community Planning, Housing and Development.
Where the pandemic is helping advance the 15-minute city concept in Arlington is via an expansion of uses permitted in the county’s densest zoning districts.
“This is creating potential for expanded uses, including workshop spaces, breweries/distilleries, indoor agricultural such as hydroponics, and animal boarding,” she said. “This blending of retail, restaurants, entertainment, and destination uses, along with offices in smaller, non-traditional formats may prove beneficial to residents living in any of Arlington’s mixed-use corridors or in close proximity to them.”
No longer does a Rosslyn resident, for instance, need to drive to a lower-density part of Arlington to board their pet.
While Rosslyn has transformed from downtown district to 15-minute city, BID President Mary-Claire Burick says the county, property owners and the BID must keep “working together to keep our urban center active and accessible.”
Burick says her organization supports the mixed-use developments and the amenities they’re bringing.
“We support Arlington County’s planned investments in public green space and critical transportation infrastructure — such as the removal of the Fort Myer Tunnel,” she added, “and further building out Rosslyn’s network of pedestrian and bike facilities — which are essential in helping make our amenities even more accessible.”
The BID will focus on “economic resiliency efforts, as well as our community events, programming, and placemaking, all which help create an urban downtown where people want to be,” Burick said.
The empty Key Bridge Marriott building (staff photo by Jay Westcott)
A woman runs by the empty Key Bridge Marriott building (staff photo by Jay Westcott)
Barriers prevent accessing the parking lot of the empty Key Bridge Marriott building (staff photo by Jay Westcott)
Rendering of the proposed buildings for the Key Bridge Marriott site (via Arlington County)
Rendering of the proposed buildings for the Key Bridge Marriott site (via Arlington County)
Key Bridge Marriott site in Rosslyn (via Arlington County)
A project to redevelop the Key Bridge Marriott building appears to have stalled with no indication of picking back up.
That may be related to signs of financial distress for the property owner and developer, Woodridge Capital Partners.
The Arlington County Board approved the project at 1401 Langston Blvd in Rosslyn — on a prominent plot of land overlooking the river and parts of D.C. — on March 24, 2020. The applicant, Woodridge affiliate KBLH, LLC, proposed to partially demolish and renovate the existing hotel and construct two new residential buildings: one with 151 condo units and one with 300 apartments.
Six months after the Marriott shuttered the hotel in July 2021, the Washington Business Journal noted no signs of progress on the project. ARLnow checked permit records and found only one new permit has been filed since, back in February 2022.
Meanwhile, a search of property records indicates Woodridge is behind on its 2022 real estate taxes, owing $426,488, which was due in October.
Real estate taxes on 1401 Langston Blvd (via Arlington County)
Evidence of a worsening financial situation for Woodridge is stronger on the West Coast. In Los Angeles, where the company is based, it undertook a $2.5 billion redevelopment project to convert the top two floors of an iconic hotel in Los Angeles, the Fairmount Century Plaza Hotel, into expensive condos. It also built two 40-story condo towers on the site, with units costing $2-12 million.
Woodridge finished the renovated Century Plaza hotel in the middle of the pandemic and the condo towers last summer, as L.A.’s housing market began to falter. It had managed $200 million in presales in 2019.
Now, an affiliate of Woodridge called Next Century Partners is set to lose its stake in the project via a foreclosure auction scheduled for Dec. 14, commercial real estate data group CoStar reported.
Farther north, a ritzy hotel in San Francisco’s Nob Hill neighborhood, owned by Woodridge, closed after the company defaulted on a $56 million loan from Deutsche Bank.
Woodridge did not respond to requests for comment. Oaktree Capital, an affiliate of one of the project’s backers, declined to comment.
“The only upcoming groundbreaking Woodridge will be involved on is one that will find it beneath a patch of clover,” a reader quipped in a tip, suggesting that the project may need to change hands to move forward. “Next developer please!”
Terry Arma speaks during the Planning Commission meeting Monday, Dec. 12, 2022 (via Arlington County)
In the eight years local architect Brian Harner sat on the Arlington Planning Commission, he says he never saw more than 15 people show up for a meeting.
Last night (Monday), some 90 people registered to speak on the county’s proposal to allow by-right development of buildings with two to six — or even up to eight — units in districts that are now zoned exclusively for single-family homes.
“This is a divisive issue and there’s a lot of intensity around this,” Harner said of the proposal to allow what is dubbed “Missing Middle” housing.
The meeting marked a step forward for the proposal but a final vote on whether to adopt any zoning changes is still at least three months away. Monday’s meeting was devoted to public speakers and the Planning Commission will reconvene Thursday to decide whether to approve the county’s request to advertise public hearings on the draft plan as it is currently written.
“The Commission is hearing this item tonight for the specific purpose of giving feedback to the County Board about what is and what is not within realm of consideration at hearings that would be conducted in the spring,” Planning Commission Chair Daniel Weir said. “We aren’t here tonight to solve the problem — that is the County Board’s job. We are here tonight to give the board advice and guidance on how to tee up the issues and their conversation.”
The challenge for Arlington County is to draft a policy that encourages by-right development of homes that households making less than $200,000 annually can afford and helps to undo the lasting impacts of racially restrictive zoning policies, all while managing community concerns such as parking, school and infrastructure capacity, loss of neighborhood character and tree canopy.
County planner Matt Ladd says compared to the status quo, the proposed policies may spur the construction of homes affordable to more households earning upwards of $100,000, which would “benefit greater percentages of all racial groups.” That differs from Arlington County’s current affordable housing efforts, which are targeted at those earning 60-80% or less of the area median income.
Single-family homes are currently, on average, only attainable for households earning $200,000 or more, he said. On racial equity, the county determined the Missing Middle proposal would allow more households of color to buy in or remain in four census tracts — areas that already have percentages of people of color higher than the county average of 39%.
This draft puts some decisions to the Arlington County Board, including whether to establish a cap of no more than 42 Missing Middle-type developments per year, whether to allow up to six or eight units in a building and whether the number of units should be dictated by lot size.
“We are at a crisis and we must take bold action to build a county that is affordable, sustainable and welcoming to all,” said resident Noah Higgins, advocating for no development caps or density restrictions.
Some real estate agents in attendance disputed the notion Arlington has a housing crisis.
Retired agent Diane Dunston said on Monday, 290 homes were for sale, of which 45 had three bedrooms or more and were less than $1 million.
“Are there buyers who say they can’t find a home in Arlington? Of course there are, but what they’re really saying is, ‘I can’t find a home I like,” she said.
The single-family detached home and significant tree on Fairfax Drive, with Wakefield Manor in the background (via Google Maps)
The single-family detached home and significant tree on Fairfax Drive (via Google Maps)
Renderings of a proposed 12-story apartment building at 2025 Fairfax Drive (via Arlington County)
An aerial view of 2025 Fairfax Drive and the surrounding properties (via Arlington County)
The historic Courthouse Manor (via Google Maps)
The historic Wakefield Manor apartments (via Google Maps)
The historic Wakefield Manor apartments (via Google Maps)
Renderings of a proposed 12-story apartment building at 2025 Fairfax Drive (via Arlington County)
Renderings of a proposed pedestrian walkway between 2025 Fairfax Drive and the Wakefield Manor apartments (via Arlington County)
Renderings of a proposed 12-story apartment building at 2025 Fairfax Drive (via Arlington County)
A new developer has reprised long-dormant plans to turn a house, a large tree and two surface parking lots near Courthouse into apartments.
D.C.-area developer Fortis Companies proposes building a 166-unit, 12-story apartment tower at 2025 Fairfax Drive, along a frontage road for Route 50 that dead-ends in front of a complex of historic brick apartment buildings. It also proposes an underground parking garage and an interior walkway between the nearby apartments and Fairfax Drive.
This application, filed in February and processed in October, takes over previously approved plans to build a 104-unit, 12-story building on the site.
The new building would be located on the southeast corner of Fairfax Drive on the same block as the existing, historic Wakefield Manor and Courthouse Manor garden apartment complexes. In 2011, the Arlington County Board guaranteed the preservation of these buildings when it approved the original site plan.
The approved development “was never constructed, for a variety of reasons,” says Andrew Painter, an attorney representing Fortis, in a presentation. “We believe the proposed building will, at long last, fulfill the county’s land use, density, height and diversity goals for the site, and deliver high quality architecture and a building within easy walking distance of many community amenities.”
Fortis Vice-President of Acquisitions Matt Bunch says a design team spent two years studying the site and the 11-year-old plans to come up with a new proposal.
“We’re very excited to bring this project to fruition in a way that satisfies the existing residents’ parking needs, improves project overall viability and addresses the county’s planning guidance,” he said in the same presentation. “We believe this underutilized site is an excellent opportunity to provide new, smart-growth housing within the county that is easily walkable to the Courthouse Metro station.”
A parking garage accessible from N. Troy Street will have 30 parking spaces set aside for Courthouse Manor and Wakefield Manor residents.
The site is less than half a mile from the Metro station as well as bus stops along 15th Street N. Also a half-mile away is the Inn of Rosslyn, which is also slated for redevelopment.
“The site is subject to the Fort Myer Heights North Plan (2004), which seeks to balance preservation and redevelopment with an emphasis on affordable housing, historic buildings, open space, significant trees and neighborhood scale,” the county says in a virtual walking tour of the site. “The building façade will be comprised of brick and metal panels with stone and pre-cast concrete accents.”
Wakefield Manor and Courthouse Manor were later preserved from future development through a transfer of development rights involving the old Wendy’s site in Courthouse.
“Courthouse Manor (1940) and Wakefield Manor (1943) were designed by notable architect, Mihran Mesrobian,” according to the county. “Both buildings are known for blending Art Deco and Moderne styles with traditional Classical Revival characteristics. They are recognized as unique garden-apartment buildings and identified as ‘Essential’ properties on the Historic Resources Inventory.”
Proposed apartments at the YMCA redevelopment site (via Arlington County)
Proposed apartments at the YMCA redevelopment site (via Arlington County)
Renderings for a redeveloped YMCA facility in Arlington (via Arlington County)
Original renderings for a redeveloped YMCA facility in Arlington (via Arlington County)
Renderings for a redeveloped YMCA facility in Arlington (via Arlington County)
Renderings for a redeveloped YMCA facility in Arlington (via Arlington County)
The current conditions at the YMCA in Arlington (via Arlington County)
The exterior of the YMCA in Arlington (via Arlington County)
Plans to redevelop a local YMCA may have too many apartment units and not enough community benefits, county planners say.
The YMCA is proposing to tear down its existing facility on N. Kirkwood Road in Virginia Square and build an 87,850-square-foot facility with indoor swimming pools, pickleball and tennis courts, a fitness space and a conference and lounge area, as well as 203 parking spaces. To finance the project, the nonprofit is building a separate 7-story, 374-unit apartment building.
County planners say the baseline for this project is around 270 units and that the YMCA it needs to provide more community benefits to build beyond that.
The reason for the 104-unit gulf is a disagreement over whether the gross floor area of the recreation facility should be excluded from the overall project area. This number determines, for instance, the size of a developer’s affordable housing contribution, either in cash or in on-site units.
The nonprofit’s attorney, David Tarter, says it is financially necessary to exclude the entire facility from density calculations and cites the “best in class” facility as a community benefit to be included in the benefits package.
“This full exclusion is necessary to provide the YMCA the resources needed to construct the proposed YMCA facility,” Tarter writes in the nonprofit’s site plan application.
On its website, the nonprofit says the new building “will serve an estimated 11,415 children, adults and seniors annually, creating 108 new permanent living wage positions and 175 construction jobs.”
Other benefits include three open spaces totaling about an acre and an east-west pedestrian and bicycle connection through the site.
County planner Michael Cullen says past precedent for site plans and ordinances support including the building’s square-footage in density calculations. He said in a presentation these extra 104 units “must be earned through a comprehensive community benefits package” that goes beyond earning LEED Gold certification in exchange for more units.
He says the nonprofit will also have to do more for affordable housing to obtain approval to build apartments in the first place. In the Washington Boulevard and Kirkwood Road Special GLUP Study governing the site, the land is zoned for commercial use.
The county developed the plan, with community input, to guide the YMCA development and two other projects on the same block.
That includes Terwilliger Place, which Arlington Partnership for Affordable Housing completed this September on the American Legion site, and a 270-unit apartment building dubbed Modera Kirkwood, on which Mill Creek Residential broke ground in December 2020. The latter could be completed next year.
Projects in this situation “have generally been expected to achieve greater achievements in accordance with the affordable housing master plan,” Cullen said.
Arlington Dept. of Community Housing, Planning and Development spokeswoman Erika Moore says the county is discussing with the applicant ways to offset the 104 units with more sustainability and affordable housing commitments. Potential approaches will be discussed at a Site Plan Review Committee meeting, a date for which has not yet been set.
The public review process has just kicked off for the project. An online feedback opportunity, which opened on Tuesday, will run through Monday, Dec. 19.
A no-left-turn sign at 7th Street N. and N. Glebe Road, where Insight proposes a left-turn lane (via Google Maps)
A rendering of the proposed ground-floor grocery store that is part of the Ballston Macy’s department store redevelopment (via Arlington County)
A rendering of the proposed development for the Ballston Macy’s department store (via Arlington County)
A proposed left-turn lane off of N. Glebe Road in Ballston could be the smallest, yet most scrutinized traffic change in 10 years.
As part of the planned redevelopment of the Ballston Macy’s, Insight Property Group proposes to add a left-turn option at the intersection of 7th Street N. and N. Glebe Road. It will be for drivers going southbound on Glebe who want to turn onto a proposed private drive abutting the planned grocery store, which will be located at the base of Insight’s proposed 16-story, 555-unit apartment building.
“It was the most thoroughly vetted transportation scenario in the time that I’ve been with Arlington County,” transportation planner Dennis Sellin, who has worked with the county for 10 years, told the Planning Commission last night (Monday).
Transportation changes for the Ballston Macy’s development (via Arlington County)
During the meeting, the Planning Commission gave a green light to the redevelopment, which will go before the Arlington County Board for approval later this month.
After the Transportation Commission voted to defer the project solely on the basis of the left turn, Planning Commission members supported a condition for the project that county staff work with Insight and the Virginia Department of Transportation to come up with more pedestrian-oriented options for the intersection.
“I do not think it’s reasonable to hold up the project for this, given that there’s apparently continued good faith work on the intersection to improve its pedestrian-friendliness,” Commissioner Jim Lantelme said. “I want to make clear that the Planning Commission… expects that any option possible to make this intersection more pedestrian-friendly will be pursued.”
Sellin said a half-dozen staffers, including two top transportation officials, have thoroughly vetted the left-turn lane. They published a 64-page memo justifying the turn lane and will study how the grocery store changes traffic before adding any pedestrian mitigation measures.
“There’s a recommendation to not allow any right turns on red at any of the lights in the intersection,” he said. “That’s a movement we’ll take under further consideration. Our primary concern is safety, our secondary concern is operations.”
The left-turn lane is a non-negotiable for the grocer, who has otherwise been “insanely flexible” as the project has changed throughout the public process, according to Insight’s Managing Principal Trent Smith.
“We’ve shrunk their store, changed their ramps, taken away their parking… we changed their loading, we’ve done eight or nine things that took all sorts of reworking and they’ve stuck with us and have been great, reasonable partners throughout,” Smith said.
Insight’s attorney, Andrew Painter, says the unnamed grocer required the left turn based on “decades of experience in urban configurations.” He added that for a decade, the grocer has desired to be in Ballston, which already has a Harris Teeter nearby on N. Glebe Road, a quarter-mile away.
Some Planning Commissioners noted their regret that the project does not do more to provide on-site affordable housing.
“This space here, in the heart of Arlington, in Ballston, where there’s access to transit, and now a grocery store, we have nothing,” Commissioner Devanshi Patel said.
Initial renderings of the proposed Arva Apartments, looking east at the mews and courtyard on N. Wayne Street (via Arlington County)
A view of the proposed Arva Apartments, looking north across Arlington Blvd (via Arlington County)
Initial renderings of the proposed Arva Apartments, looking southeast at Pershing Drive and N. Wayne Street (via Arlington County)
Initial renderings of the proposed Arva Apartments, looking southwest at Arlington Blvd and Pershing Drive (via Arlington County)
Another view of the proposed Arva Apartments, looking southwest at Arlington Blvd and Pershing Drive (via Arlington County)
A view of the proposed Arva Apartments from Pershing Drive, looking southwest at a public passageway through the building (via Arlington County)
The Days Inn motel (via Google Maps)
The Days Inn motel (via Google Maps)
An aerial view of the Arva Apartments site, where the Days Inn is, on Route 50 (via Arlington County)
Arlington County planners say designs for the Days Inn redevelopment on Route 50 don’t pay sufficient homage to the motel’s mid-century modern bones.
Applicant and owner Nayan Patel — doing business as Arlington Boulevard LLC — proposes to replace the 128-unit, 2-story motel across the street from the Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall with apartments and 3,000 square feet of retail.
Possible community benefits include a slow-speed, shared-use drive that provides a pedestrian and cycling connection to the Arlington Blvd Trail, protected bike lanes and on-site committed affordable housing units. Residents of the the 251-unit, 8-story building at 2201 Arlington Blvd will have access to an off-leash dog run.
The Arva Apartments will borrow its name from the 67-year-old building’s original name, the Arva Motor Hotel — a portmanteau of Arlington, Virginia. It will feature reconstructions of the hotel’s triangular sign and glassy lobby exterior.
But the county says the project designers, STUDIOS Architects, can do more to emphasize this history.
The Pershing Drive General Land Use Plan study, a 2021 document that outlines the community’s vision for this site, says architectural features should honor the motel’s mid-century design or the history of the adjacent Washington-Lee Apartments. It also says the developer should incorporate the existing triangular sign and the two-story, glassy lobby at the corner of Pershing Drive and Arlington Blvd.
The motel was formerly the Arva Motor Hotel, a portmanteau of Arlington, Virginia
“While the proposal incorporates a recreated sign and a lobby area that resembles the original lobby, the structures themselves are not actually preserved,” county planner Peter Schulz said in a presentation. “Staff also believes that the architecture above the ground level does not do enough to honor either the mid-century design of the existing motel or the historic Washington-Lee apartments.”
STUDIOS Architecture Principal Ashton Allan said in a presentation that the designs embrace the Moderne and mid-century modern styles and blends them with other styles in Lyon Park to do something new.
“As we set out to add our design to this collection, we wanted to draw inspiration from history, but also make our own statement in this chorus of voices,” he said.
Silver Diner construction in Ballston (staff photo by Jay Westcott)
The Ballston Silver Diner is finally opening this month, which means the Clarendon location is closing after 26 years.
The new Silver Diner at N. Glebe Road and Wilson Blvd, next to Target, is planning to officially start serving on Wednesday, Dec. 14, a restaurant spokesperson told ARLnow.
The planned diner was first announced more than five years ago. The locally-owned chain was originally supposed to open in Ballston in the summer, but the timeline slid later as many construction projects experienced delays due to supply chain and staffing issues.
The new 6,700-square-foot location will be a mile away from the existing Clarendon diner. It’s set to have a full bar plus 244 seats, including 191 indoors and 68 on its outdoor patio. The patio will be open “seasonally.”
There will be 100 parking spots, 40 spots more than the Clarendon location. Parking will be free with a 2-hour validation.
The restaurant will have roughly the same hours as the Clarendon location, opening at 7 a.m. seven days a week and closing between midnight and 3 a.m.
The opening also signals the closing of the Silver Diner in Clarendon, which has sat between Wilson Blvd and N. Irving Street for more than a quarter of a century. The closure has long been expected and will make way for a new development that’s set to include a hotel, gym, and a 286-unit residential building.
That Silver Diner will shutter on Sunday, Dec. 11, the spokesperson said. The purpose behind moving only a mile away was to “maintain [Silver Diner’s] neighborhood presence in Arlington.”
Il Radicchio between Rosslyn and Courthouse (staff photo)
Rhodeside Grill between Rosslyn and Courthouse (staff photo)
The alley between Rhodeside Grill and the National Science Teachers Association building (staff photo)
The National Science Teachers Association building (staff photo)
The National Science Teachers Association building (staff photo)
Massing for a proposed apartment building (via Arlington County)
Massing for a proposed apartment building (via Arlington County)
A long-dormant plan to redevelop an aging office building and two restaurants between Rosslyn and Courthouse has been revived.
D.C.-based The Fortis Cos. has filed a conceptual site plan application to build a seven-story, 85-foot-tall apartment building at the intersection of Wilson Blvd and N. Rhodes Street.
It would replace an office building at 1840 Wilson Blvd belonging to a nonprofit organization, the National Science Teachers Association, as well as Il Radicchio (1801 Clarendon Blvd) and Rhodeside Grill (1836 Wilson Blvd).
In November of 2005, the Arlington County Board originally approved a site plan that would have retained the NSTA building, demolished the restaurants and replaced them with a new, six-story office building with nearly 62,000 square feet of office space and 10,000 square feet of ground-floor retail and restaurant space.
Three years later, the County Board granted an extension on the project until 2011. A state statute in the wake of the 2007-2009 Great Recession automatically extended the validity of the site plan amendment until July 1, 2020. The County Board has since granted another extension until July 1, 2023.
Fortis intends to file a site plan amendment in the first quarter of 2023 seeking another extension of the site plan until 2026, according to the application.
“It is anticipated that the property’s nonprofit owner NSTA will remain as a tenant on the property until the redevelopment occurs,” the application says.
Meantime, the applicant is seeking feedback from the county on a number of aspects of the plan, including the building’s proposed height.
Land use attorneys who filed the application say the proposed seven-story building complies with the maximum 16-story height limit for apartments developed in this zoning district, but it is taller than recommended in the Rosslyn-to-Courthouse Urban Design Study.
“While the Study recommends 5 stories/55 feet at this location, the proposed height will provide a visually appropriate bookened for this block in a manner that is in character with the surrounding development and helps meet the county’s development goals,” the application says.
The study allows for height flexibility in exchange for affordable housing commitments, community facilities, special design considerations and new streets, it continues.
This is the latest proposal to switch from a proposed office building to an apartment building, as office vacancies deepen and developers continue pursuing housing developments.
And this is not the only long-dormant project Fortis has reprised this year. The Washington Business Journal reported in September that the company is taking on a stagnating apartment project at 2025 Fairfax Drive, a half-acre parcel in the Radnor-Fort Myer Heights neighborhood.
Fortis has seen to completion other apartment buildings in Clarendon, Rosslyn and Pentagon City, as well as the Residence Inn in Courthouse.
