development

Demolition Nears For New Wilson Boulevard Office Project

By ARLnow.com

Demolition work is expected to begin in early-to-mid December for a new office building on the 1700 block of Wilson Boulevard.

Crews will tear down three small buildings that most recently housed Arlington Motorcar Service, Medical Service Corporation International and the Fashion Dreams tailor. The work will make way for a five-story office building that will include 108,000 square feet of medical office space, 28,000 square feet of ground-level retail and 230 underground parking spaces.

Construction is expected to begin in February or March, once demolition is complete.

The demolition and construction work will require pedestrian traffic to be rerouted around the sidewalk closest to the development, but will not affect vehicular traffic, according to development manager Carolyn Desmond.

The project is being funded by the commercial development division of construction firm Skanska USA. So far, the company has not lined up any tenants, Desmond said.

The building is expected to be ready for occupancy by mid-2012.

Contractor Vacates County-Owned Four Mile Run Drive Property

By ARLnow.com

Believe it or not, this run-down building at 3600 South Four Mile Run Drive has only been vacant for a couple of weeks.

Alberici Constructors, which recently wrapped up its work on the expansion of Arlington’s Water Pollution Control Plant, had occupied the building and the surrounding lot and the  for nearly four years. Although the property is now vacant, it’s still leased through early next year, when the plant’s final construction phase is expected to conclude.

The building and a large, adjacent lot have been owned by Arlington County’s Parks Department since July 17, 2002, when it was purchased with bond money for $3.6 million, according to county media relations manager Mary Curtius.

Curtius says a decision has not yet been made on what will happen to the 75,000 square foot property once it’s returned to the Parks Department. The property is across the street from an existing park, the county’s 22.4 acre Jennie Dean Park.

Arlington Is Big Winner at N. Va. Developer Awards

By ARLnow.com

The commercial real estate trade group NAIOP handed out its Best of Northern Virginia awards in Tysons Corner last night, and Arlington fared quite well.

Seven out of 17 awards went to Arlington properties.

The big winners included Courthouse’s new Fire Works Pizza restaurant and the county’s new Dept. of Human Services office, which both won awards for best interior.

Among the other winners were Monday Properties’ marketing effort for 1000 Wilson Blvd in Rosslyn, and Vornado’s renovation of 220 20th Street in Crystal City.

See the full list of winners in PDF form here.

Proposed Designs for a Revamped Rosslyn Gateway Park

By ARLnow.com

No matter how nice of a job county groundskeepers do, Rosslyn’s Gateway Park can’t escape the fact that it’s an urban park that’s surrounded by busy roads, largely devoid of things to do, and filled with so many paved paths and concrete structures that it hardly feels like a green space at all.

That’s why Rosslyn property owner JBG has been making a big push for the county to revamp the park while it plans to redevelop some of its own nearby properties.

Above are renderings of two possible options for revitalizing the park, both of which have been presented to the community during recent public meetings.

“Scheme 2” is the most striking option. It would remove many of the concrete structures, including a large bridge that connects two sections of the park that are currently separated by Fort Myer Drive.

“The idea is to make it more accessible, because some of these concrete structures serve as barriers to entry into the park,” says Cecilia Cassidy, executive director of Rosslyn BID and Rosslyn Renaissance. “It’s actually a great park, once you get inside it.”

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Lee Center Demolition to Begin Soon

By ARLnow.com

The historic Lee Shopping Center near Route 50 and Pershing Drive is not long for this world.

The complex is being torn down to make way for a new mixed use development, and the demolition work is expected to begin at some point within the next month.

Construction crews will first salvage the shopping center’s limestone facade, for re-use in the new development. Then, the demolition will begin.

Utility work is expected to begin after that, and the actual construction of the building should start by the end of the winter, according to owner Equity Residential. The first tenants in the new complex are expected to move in by the summer of 2012.

Neighbors, including residents in the adjacent Equity-owned Sheffield Court apartment complex, are being told to expect construction hours between 7:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. on weekdays.

Equity has promised to work with the contractor to make sure construction vehicles enter the site through Route 50 and not through neighborhood streets.

The 2201 North Pershing project, as it’s known, will consist of nearly 200 apartments and a block-long first floor retail space that will wrap around to Route 50 / Arlington Boulevard.

Equity says it hasn’t signed up any retail tenants yet, but that hasn’t stopped locals from not-so-quietly making their wish lists known.

“The underserved South of Courthouse, or SOCO, neighborhood, has high hopes for a coffee shop, ice cream store and a small upscale grocery as well as a much needed bank,” one Barton Street resident told us in an email.

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Developer Moves Forward With Clarendon Project

By ARLnow.com

The now-empty lot at the corner of 10th Street and Washington Boulevard near Clarendon is finally ready for some construction.

Thanks to a $48 million bank loan, local developer Ironwood Realty is moving forward with construction of a 163,000 square foot mixed-use building on the site, which was most-recently home to a CVS Pharmacy. Work is set to begin in the next 2-3 weeks, according to the Washington Business Journal.

When completed, the development — dubbed Garfield Park at Clarendon Village — will house 149 luxury apartment units, 20,000 square feet of retail space and nearly 300 underground parking spaces.

Ironwood is also apparently eying some sort of redevelopment of the triangular block near Clarendon Metro known as the Silver Diner block.

In addition to Silver Diner, the block is home to a large parking lot, a service station, a used car lot, the Doctors Building and another small office building.

We’re currently not sure about the extent of Ironwood’s plans on the block. A company official has not returned our phone call.

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Crystal City Changes Have Businesses Seeing Dollar Signs

By ARLnow.com

If the sea of suits at the Bisnow “A Whole New Crystal City” conference at the Crystal Gateway Marriott was any indication, local businesses are quite interested in the neighborhood’s future.

With the newly-passed Crystal City Sector Plan calling for more housing, more offices and more ground-level retail, money-making opportunities abound. And for the representatives of non-profits in the audience, the dollars flowing into Crystal City also present cultural opportunities.

On Tuesday the board has approved the financing mechanism for $207 million in infrastructure improvements around Crystal City, raising the green flag for major private investments.

Speaking at the conference, the head of Crystal City’s biggest private property owner said he has two new projects in the planning stages. Mitchell Shear, president of Vornado/Charles E. Smith, said that the company is planning two mixed-use developments to replace two BRAC-impacted office buildings.

The plans would likely call for the demolition of the existing buildings. One such building was thought to be 223 23rd Street, which housed the G-40 street art exhibit earlier this year.

Shear also brought up the possibility of making Crystal City more “green” by implementing a district energy system (centralized heating and cooling plants serving numerous buildings). District energy, he said, would be consistent with the county government’s energy goals, as stated in the current draft of the county’s community energy plan.

Despite all the changes planned for the neighborhood, officials said that some things would not change.

Crystal City Business Improvement District President Angela Fox told that audience that the famous Crystal City Underground (or, in the preferred local parlance, “interior walkways”) will be a part of the “new” Crystal City. She said local residents have expressed a desire to keep the walkways — which provide shopping options in addition to a means to get from place to place comfortably in bad weather.

Renovations Coming to Ballston Common Mall

By ARLnow.com

The owner of Ballston Common Mall is “in the planning stages” of major renovations to the 24-year-old facility. The existence of the renovation plan was revealed at a real estate conference in Rosslyn this morning.

The plan may also involve the building of office space above or in place of the current Macy’s department store.

No timeline was given for the renovations. Ohio-based Forest City Enterprises owns the 580,000 square foot mall, which attracts 1,000,000 visitors per year.

Flickr pool photo by Tim Kelley.

Morning Notes

By ARLnow.com

Views at Clarendon Could Be Model for Other Churches — Could more cash-strapped urban churches follow the Views at Clarendon model, selling land rights and allowing mixed-use development on church grounds? One of the architects of the affordable housing project says he’s getting calls from interested parishes around the country. A neighbor’s lawsuit challenging the project is currently on appeal. More from the Washington Examiner.

Marine Rape Trial Goes to Jury — The jury in the rape and abduction trial of 21-year-old Henderson Hall Marine Jorge “George” Torrez will resume deliberations at 9:00 this morning. Torrez faces 17 charges stemming from two separate attacks in Arlington in February. More from ABC7.

Metro Board to Vote on Blue and Orange Line Rehabilitation — Later this month, the Metro board will consider a $272 million plan to “rebuild major portions of the Blue and Orange lines to improve customer service.” If approved as expected, the work could begin in late 2011. More from the Washington Post.

Flickr pool photo by BrianMKA

Morning Notes

By ARLnow.com

The Multi-Million Dollar Irish Pub — Samuel Beckett’s Irish Pub, expected to open in Shirlington at the end of November, is quite the ambitious undertaking. Owner Mark Kirwan is sinking $2.2 million into the project, according to the Washington Business Journal.

Another Road Gets Sharrows — The county added some bike-friendly sharrows to 15th Street North between North Courthouse Road and North Rhodes Street over the weekend. The sharrows remind drivers to share the road with bicyclists. More from Ode Street Tribune.

New Marymount Dorm Opens — Dozens of Marymount University students are moving out of the Ballston Holiday Inn and into the newly-completed Rose Bente Lee Ostapenko Residence Hall. The building, part of the university’s 26th Street Project, can house up to 239 students. More from the Sun Gazette.

Flickr pool photo by Micha84

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