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SoulCycle Officially Picks Clarendon for New Location, Eyes Early Summer Opening

By Alex Koma

SoulCycle is officially opening a new studio in Clarendon, meaning that Arlington will soon be the home of the popular company’s first expansion into Virginia.

The company recently posted signs saying a new location is on the way for a space 2700 Clarendon Blvd, in “The Loop” section of the Market Common Clarendon development. The studio will sit next to the Apple store and the “Origins” cosmetics store.

Permit applications last month initially indicated that SoulCycle was mulling an expansion to Clarendon, but the company previously declined to discuss its plans for the area.

Now that things have firmed up a bit, however, a SoulCycle spokesperson told ARLnow that the company is “aiming for late May, early June” to open the new studio. County permit records show that the studio will occupy both the first and second floors of the building.

The owner of the Market Common property, Regency Centers, previously used the storefront set to welcome SoulCycle to display information about the impending redevelopment of its other properties across Clarendon Blvd. Construction work on that effort kicked off last week.

Regency announced that a “luxury fitness” company would become the first tenant in that space, and a source familiar with the matter told ARLnow that the building will soon become home to an Equinox gym.

That confirms a Washington Business Journal report from July 2017 that the health club was coming to the Market Common development, though it was initially unclear where it would be located. Equinox owns a majority stake in SoulCycle, and the companies often open locations near one another.

SoulCycle currently operates four locations in D.C., according to its website.

Work Could Soon Get Rolling on New Crystal City Bowling Alley

By Alex Koma
1/8

Arlington officials could soon clear the way for a new bowling alley and arcade to set up shop in Crystal City.

The County Board is set to sign off this weekend on plans to open a new “Bowlero” location in the base of The Buchanan apartment building at 320 23rd Street S.

The bowling alley announced plans to expand to the neighborhood last fall, and is now lining up the permits it needs to convert nearly 52,000 square feet of space into a combination entertainment center and full-service bar and restaurant.

Bowlero is now set to move in next to the existing Bar Louie restaurant and Legal Seafood, taking the place of the tech company GDIT and the Queen Amannisa Uyghur restaurant.

According to plans included in a county staff report, visitors will enter the establishment from 23rd Street S., passing through a large video game arcade space. A full bar will sit at the center of the space with as many as 32 bowling lanes surrounding it, according to the report.

County staff are generally supportive of the company’s plans, writing to the Board that the bowling alley will “increase the livelihood of the area, provide diverse cultural and civic facilities to a vast array of demographics and will be an overall quality addition to Crystal City.”

The Board is set to vote on permits attached to the project at its meeting Saturday (Jan. 26). The matter is slated for the Board’s consent agenda, generally reserved for non-controversial items that pass without debate.

Bowlero previously said it was hoping to open the new location sometime in “mid-2019.” The company also operates locations in Centreville and Leesburg.

Should it win the permission it needs, Bowlero’s addition to the neighborhood will be one in a series of big changes for this section of Crystal City.

Not only have several new restaurants, including Federico’s, Los Tios and Fiona’s Irish Pub, decided to set up shop along 23rd Street S., but JBG Smith is also planning on adding an Alamo Drafthouse and other retail offerings nearby as part of its “Central District” project.

Rowing-Focused Fitness Studio Plans Expansion to Ballston

By Alex Koma
1/3

A D.C.-based rowing fitness studio is expanding to Ballston sometime later this year.

DC Row plans to set up shop in the base of the 672 Flats apartment building at 672 N. Glebe Road, according to Jordan Newsome, one of the studio’s executives. The new, mixed-use building is located just across Glebe Road from the Ballston Quarter development.

The studio opened its first location at The Wharf in Southwest D.C. last May, and Newsome dubs it the region’s “first and only boutique strictly rowing studio.”

“What that means is that all of our workouts focus on rowing as the main component, with 10 minutes of floor exercise and ‘getting to know your rower’ worked in the mix,” Newsome wrote in an email.

Newsome added that the studio also offers “free classes to seniors, military and first responders once a month,” and plans to launch a “youth program with partners such as the local Boys & Girls Club to introduce rowing to at-risk youth” later this spring.

As for an opening date, Newsome says DC Row is targeting “mid-2019” to start welcoming fitness enthusiasts.

“We look forward to being a new addition to the community,” Newsome said.

The six-story 672 Flats development opened this past summer, and also managed to attract a new doughnut shop to its ground floor this fall.

Panda Tea House ‘Coming Soon’ to Pentagon City Mall

By Catherine Douglas Moran

Panda Tea House is set to open at the former site of Kokee Tea in the Fashion Centre at Pentagon City mall.

An employee for Kokee Tea told ARLnow that spot closed in the food court at 1100 S. Hayes Street, but was not able to say exactly when it closed.

Kokee Tea has several other locations in Virginia, including Centreville, Fairfax and Springfield.

A banner at the shuttered storefront says that Panda Tea House is “coming soon” and will serve Thai hand rolled ice cream. The menu also offers bubble tea, according to its website.

Panda Tea House opened a location at Dulles Town Center in September.

New Pilates Studio Opens Its Doors in Ballston

By Alex Koma
1/4

A new pilates studio has just opened its doors in Ballston, led by an instructor who formerly taught classes at a now-shuttered studio in Shirlington.

Praxi Pilates started offering classes over the last few weeks after moving into a space at 4141 N. Henderson Road late last year, owner and lead instructor Carey Galst Cavalcante told ARLnow. The studio is located in a mixed-use building off of N. Glebe Road, near the neighborhood’s Harris Teeter store.

Cavalcante says she’s been teaching pilates since moving to the D.C. area from California back in 2012, with the bulk of her classes located at the “My Thrive Pilates” studio in Shirlington.

But when the pilates chain shuttered last spring, closing locations in Courthouse and Falls Church as well, Cavalcante said she started “looking for places to continue teaching” and increasingly became convinced that she should simply strike out on her own.

“The majority of my clientele had lived in Arlington, North Alexandria, those kinds of areas, so Arlington made sense,” Cavalcante said. “And this new space is a little bit hidden, but it’s really ideal.”

Cavalcante concedes that the 3,400-square-foot studio lacks “street presence,” considering that it faces a courtyard off the street, but that makes it ideal for participants looking to center themselves during classes.

She’s already offering both group and private classes in the space, with reformer, mat and circuit pilates on offer.

“We’ve got a good group together from the other studio already, simply because many of these folks have known each other for many years and come to class together,” Cavalcante said. “Now, we’re just trying to build from there and get clients in the door.”

To that end, Cavalcante plans to hold an “open house” for curious potential clients. The event will run from 1-4 p.m. on Jan. 27.

New SoulCycle Studio Looks Bound for Clarendon

By Alex Koma
1/2

A new SoulCycle studio looks to be on the way for Clarendon, perhaps marking the chain’s first expansion into Northern Virginia.

Permit applications filed with Arlington County suggest that the cycling studio is targeting space at 2700 Clarendon Blvd, in “The Loop” section of the Market Common Clarendon development. The studio would sit next to the Apple store and the Origins cosmetics store.

Spokespeople for SoulCycle declined to comment on the matter.

Hilary Shure, marketing events manager for Market Common owner Regency Centers, added that “at this time we do not have a lease executed with any merchant” for the space in question.

“As always, we work to keep our merchant mix vibrant and entertain calls on a regular basis from interested entrepreneurs,” Shure told ARLnow via email.

But permit details on the county’s website show that a yet-to-be announced company is hoping to open a “new fitness studio on the first and second floor” of the development. The applicant has been working with county inspectors on the project since Nov. 5.

Regency is currently using the storefront to display information on the eventual redevelopment of its Market Common properties around Clarendon in the coming years.

It was also briefly home to the athletic retailer Lululemon, as the shop made a temporary move to account for renovation work at its original location this summer. The store moved back to its space at 2847 Clarendon Blvd in September.

SoulCycle, among the country’s most popular cycling studios, currently operates four locations in D.C.

New ‘Anytime Fitness’ Gym Coming to Rosslyn

By Alex Koma
1/3

A new, 24-hour gym is on the way for Rosslyn.

Construction is now underway on a new “Anytime Fitness” location at 1919 N. Lynn Street, in the base of an office building near the road’s intersection with I-66 and Lee Highway.

Club owner Russ Sharafeyev told ARLnow that he managed to start work on the new gym about two weeks ago, and is currently “looking at opening closer to [the] end of Q1 2019.”

The gym will offer 24/7 access for its members, and is set to become the first Anytime Fitness location in Arlington — the chain currently has two other gyms in Alexandria.

Sharafeyev hopes to start offering pre-sale deals starting on Jan. 2, and is planning a host of events in the coming months.

“We are looking to do some cool things like giveaways of electric scooters and raising money for good causes with community help,” Sharafeyev wrote in an email.

The building the gym will be located in was once home to Caffe Aficionado, which shuttered after its owners were charged with money laundering and conspiracy to commit credit card fraud.

New 7-Eleven Opens Along Lee Highway

By Alex Koma

A new 7-Eleven convenience store along Lee Highway in Northwest Arlington is now open for business.

The store is located at 5747 Lee Highway in the Leeway-Overlee neighborhood, and now has signs posted in its windows looking for new employees.

The 7-Eleven replaces the longtime Lee-Lex Service Center, a fixture in the neighborhood dating back to 1978. The auto shop closed for good back in 2016.

The shop is now one of six 7-Eleven locations along Lee Highway alone, according to the chain’s website.

March of Dimes Moving HQ to Crystal City, Will Get $150,000 in County Incentives

By Alex Koma
1/2

The March of Dimes is officially moving its headquarters to Crystal City, now that county leaders have signed off on a $150,000 incentive package to lure the nonprofit to Arlington.

The County Board approved a deal with the research and advocacy organization at its meeting Saturday (Dec. 17). The March of Dimes will now move its main offices from White Plains, New York to an office building at 1550 Crystal Drive, bringing 80 jobs to the county in the process.

The nonprofit primarily focuses on advocating for the health of mothers and babies, and was founded by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1938. It currently has an office with 12 employees in Arlington, but it ultimately agreed to a full relocation to the county back in May.

“This organization’s work and legacy is inspiring, and we are honored that the strength of our community, as well as our proximity to the nation’s capital, led the March of Dimes to choose Arlington for its new home,” County Board Chair Katie Cristol wrote in a statement. “We look forward to a long-term and mutually beneficial relationship.”

However, the relocation wasn’t official until the Board could formally lend its approval to a deal with the nonprofit supplying it with $150,000 in incentive grants to be handed out between now and 2021, contingent on the group meeting certain targets.

The organization will have to occupy at least 25,000 square feet of office space in the county — its new lease at the JBG Smith-owned property calls for the company to occupy about 28,000 square feet of space — maintain at least 80 jobs, and “hold at least one regional or national event drawing at least 150 people from outside the region to Arlington County each of the three years of the performance agreement,” under the terms of the deal.

County staff estimate that the nonprofit will generate about $1.25 million in tax revenue for Arlington’s coffers over the next decade, justifying the incentive money, which has become an increasingly controversial tool since Amazon first started eyeing the area.

The March of Dimes will move into a building that will be quite close to some of the tech giant’s planned space in Crystal City, and at the center of a major redevelopment of the block set to kick off later this year.

Photo 1 via Google Maps

Chase Bank Branch Set to Open in Former Clarendon Walgreens Space Next Week

By Alex Koma
1/2

Arlington’s first Chase Bank branch is set to open in Clarendon next week.

Signs posted on the storefront at 2825 Wilson Blvd say that the new bank will open up this coming Tuesday (Dec. 18).

JPMorgan Chase has been hard at work at converting the former Walgreens Pharmacy into a new branch since earning construction permits late this summer. The building has sat empty since Walgreens closed last February.

The bank bought the space, designated by the county as a historic building, for $25 million back in January. That historic protection means that the county prohibited the bank from doing any work on the building’s exterior, but interior renovations were permitted.

The new Clarendon location is one of four new branches the bank is opening around the D.C. region in the coming months.

JPMorgan Chase kicked off a new round of expansion earlier this year, adding two new branches in D.C. and one in Bethesda alongside others in Boston and Philadelphia.

‘Good Sweat’ Cycling Studio Set to Open in Rosslyn Next Year

By Catherine Douglas Moran

(Updated at 9:40 a.m.) Good Sweat, an indoor cycling studio, is set to open in Rosslyn’s Colonial Village Shopping Center in early 2019.

Alessandra Hashemi, the founder of Good Sweat, told ARLnow that she is aiming for a March opening.

More than 180 people helped Good Sweat raise roughly $26,000 in 21 days, surpassing the studio’s goal of $25,000 in 25 days, the company posted on Facebook on Oct. 21. The money will fund the opening next year at 1711 Wilson Blvd.

A portion of the money from the campaign was donated to Arlington Street People’s Assistance Network to sponsor its “Sixth Annual Happy Hour Benefiting Veterans” on Nov. 7, Hashemi said.

The studio plans to have metered bike and offer classes in the mornings throughout the week and in the evenings on weekdays, according to a brochure sent to ARLnow.

“I have been indoor cycling for over 10 years, and I have seen it all (the good, the bad, the underwhelming),” Hashemi, said in the brochure. “Indoor cycling classes can be cathartic if you have amazing coaches, music and motivation.”

The brochure says that a percentage of every purchase will get invested in the community by hosting subsidized rides for low-income individuals and donating to a different local nonprofit every month, including Urban Alliance, A-SPAN Doorways for Women and Families and Arlington Food Assistance Center.

Good Sweat held two pop-up events earlier this year — a yin yoga class in February and a body weight boot camp in August.

The studio is currently selling discounted packages, some of which include pre-opening access, ranging from one drop-in class to unlimited access for three months.

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