new store

Ground-Level Retail Enlivening Fern Street in Pentagon City

By ARLnow.com

It used to be a sleepy street full of warehouses and warehouse stores. Now the three blocks of Fern Street between 12th and 15th Streets are starting to come to life thanks to high-end apartments and a growing roster of ground-level retailers.

The block’s main attractions at this point are the Costco on the north side of the street and the Gramercy and Millennium at Metropolitan Park luxury apartment buildings on the south side. The relatively recent addition of a Dunkin’ Donuts has helped the block attract some more lunch and breakfast foot traffic — adding to the brave souls who patronize an old greasy spoon called Nell’s Carry Out, which resides in a trailer across from the old DHL warehouse.

Slowly but surely, though, more retail is arriving. A dry cleaner and a bank moved into retail bays at the Gramercy around the same time as Dunkin’ Donuts. A UPS Store is under construction down the block. And the U.S. Post Office that’s currently on Eads Street will eventually be moving to the ground floor of the Millennium.

There’s plenty more space to fill. One retail bay of special interest is a specially-designated restaurant space in the Millennium. The building’s leasing agent has been entertaining nibbles from some restaurateurs. We hear that Lost Dog Cafe has expressed interest, as has an Italian restaurant, identity unknown.

A half block off Fern Street is a privately-constructed park with lots of potential. The neatly-landscaped open space — courtesy of Kettler, the developer behind the Gramercy and the Millennium — is big enough to be much more than the defacto dog toilet that it currently serves as. In June, Kettler used it for a party that included “live music, local vendors, a tricycle race, food, drink and a variety of fun activities.” Next summer, management tells us, it will host a series of outdoor concerts.

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Crumbs Is Coming Soon

By ARLnow.com

Signs for the new Crumbs Bake Shop are up next to Lululemon and Red Mango on Clarendon Boulevard. Clarendon Culture reports the store is expected to open in December.

The storefront has nearly 900 square feet of space for the popular New York-based cupcakery. According to county records, the store’s initial floorplan calls for 10 indoor seats and no sidewalk cafe.

The new location still hasn’t been listed on the Crumbs web site.

Update at 10:00 a.m. — A Crumbs rep confirms: Opening “by the end of the year.” It seems plausible that the store could open sooner — the company started applying for permits in July.

Update at 2:30 p.m. — Added photos of the exterior and interior. I’m becoming more and more convinced that we’ll see a pre-Thanksgiving opening date.

Update at 2:50 p.m. — Contrary to what Clarendon Culture and ARLnow.com is being told by the company, a Crumbs spokesperson is telling TBD that the Clarendon Crumbs is hoping for a late September or early October opening. This morning, a rep at Crumbs HQ told us it “definitely” would not be open within a month. Sigh.

Update on 9/22 — Crumbs just emailed ARLnow.com to let us know that they’re planning on a mid-November opening.

Shoppers Flock to Newly-Opened Nordstrom Rack in Pentagon City

By ARLnow.com

The new Nordstrom Rack in Pentagon City opened its doors this morning to a large crowd eager to get their hands on some fashion bargains.

After the store opened, it ‘all hands on deck’ as the newly-hired employees manned every available checkout aisle and held signs aloft to show shoppers where the end of the checkout line was.

Of all the sections in the store, the shoe aisle seemed to be the most crowded this afternoon.

Nordstrom Rack Coming to Pentagon Centre

By ARLnow.com

Arlington shoppers are a month away from the grand opening of a new Nordstrom Rack store in the Pentagon City. The 33,912 square foot store, located in the Pentagon Centre shopping plaza, will replace Linen ‘N Things, which closed last year.

A full Nordstrom store is located across the street in the Pentagon City mall.

Nordstrom Rack is the retailer’s off-price division, selling merchandise from Nordstrom stores at 50-60 percent off the original prices.

The new Nordstrom Rack will be the company’s fifth store in the Washington area. The other stores are located in Fairfax, Woodbridge, Sterling, and Gaithersburg, Md. The Arlington store will be the closest Nordstrom Rack to downtown DC.

The new store’s grand opening is scheduled for August 26. The company is actively hiring at careers.nordstrom.com.

Special thanks to David Hillburg for the tip.

Morning Notes

By ARLnow.com

Arlington Science Teacher Wins Presidential Award  — A beloved H-B Woodlawn High School biology teacher has won a prestigious honor from the White House. Dat Le is among the 103 recipients of the 2010 Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching. Teachers from Huntingtown, Md. and Bristow, Va. are also among the recipients, although Le is the only inside-the-Beltway award-winner. He will receive a $10,000 prize from the National Science Foundation and a seat of honor at an awards ceremony later this year.

Republicans Voters to Choose Congressional Nominee Today — Voters in Virginia’s 8th Congressional District are heading to the polls to choose which GOP nominee will face incumbent Rep. Jim Moran (D) in the fall. The Associated Press wins the award for the most concise, cynical take on the race:

In the 8th District, little-known candidates Matthew Berry of Arlington and Alexandria’s Patrick Murray, vie for the right to challenge 10-term Democratic Rep. Jim Moran in the heavily Democratic inner suburbs of Washington, D.C.

Polls are open from 6:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. today. Click here for a list of polling place.

Maggie Moo’s Closes in Shirlington, Yogiberry Moving In — Via Shirlington Village Blog, we learn that the Maggie Moo’s ice cream shop in Shirlington has closed. A Yogiberry frozen yogurt store will be moving in. Sign of the times?

Clarendon’s TangySweet Will Be the First of Its Kind

By ARLnow.com

Aaron Gordon is throwing the kitchen sink at his first Arlington project.

Gordon is not only opening a Red Velvet Cupcakery and a TangySweet frozen yogurt store side-by-side on Clarendon Boulevard, he’s also planning to make this his first foray into salads.

“A gourmet salad shop for everyone… I think that concept is well overdue for the Clarendon area,” said Gordon.

He says his as-yet-unnamed TangySweet salad concept will improve on the salad offerings of competitors like SweetGreen, Mixt Greens and Chop’t, which has a location in Rosslyn.

“We’ll make it better and have more to offer,” including more specialized meats, Gordon said. He expects a December or January opening date, depending on when construction wraps up on the building, which is part of the new Clarendon Center development.

The 36-year-old entrepreneur, who grew up in D.C. but spent ten years after college in Southern California, had praise for two of his soon-to-be competitors; he said he’s a fan of Bakeshop and Red Mango, both of which opened this year.

However, he was “not worried” when he heard that NYC-based Crumbs is planning to open a Clarendon location in August. He says Crumbs bakes its cupcakes as a central location and ships them to stores, rather than making them fresh in-store, which gives Red Velvet a competitive advantage.

Gordon says all the local competition “shows that [Clarendon] is a good market for us.”

“We love Clarendon because it’s young and thriving and there are a lot of fun concepts,” he said.

Photo courtesy of TangySweet, Inc.

TangySweet, Red Velvet Coming to Clarendon

By ARLnow.com

Cupcakes and pizza, that’s what Clarendon does!

On the heels of the announcement of the neighborhood’s eleventh and twelfth pizza restaurant (seriously) comes word that Clarendon will be getting its third cupcake bakery (after Bakeshop and Crumbs, which is opening in August or September) and second trendy frozen yogurt store (after Red Mango, opening later this month).

A “TangySweet Garden” and Red Velvet Cupcakery will be moving into a ground-level space on Clarendon Boulevard, in the new Clarendon Center development. The store will be located between Hard Times Cafe and the future Pete’s New Haven Apizza.

What’s a TangySweet Garden? We’re not sure, but we’re guessing it will have both a froyo and a salad component, a la Sweetgreen.

TangySweet and Red Velvet are both owned by the same guy, but it’s not clear whether the stores will occupy one unified space or if there will be separate storefronts.

Hat tip to @jamesp326 and @clarendonnights.

Update on 5/8 — Owner Aaron Gordon confirms that TangySweet and Red Velvet are coming to Clarendon. Gordon expects a December or January opening date, depending on when the Clarendon Center development is completed. He also confirms that the new TangySweet will have a salad component, but says they have not settled on a name for the store.

Afternoon Notes: New $104 Million School To Be Put To Voters?

By ARLnow.com

Voters May Be Asked to Approve New High School — The fate of a proposed new $104.6 million building for Wakefield High School may be put to voters. Assuming debt limit concerns can be addressed, Arlington Superintendent Dr. Pat Murphy would like to fund the project through a bond issue that would need to be approved by voters in November. More from the Sun Gazette.

Nordstrom Rack Sets Pentagon City Opening Date — A Nordstrom Rack clearance store is coming to the Pentagon Centre shopping center (which houses Costco, Best Buy and others, across from Pentagon City mall). The store will open on August 26, according to the company’s web site.

Arlington Firefighters Respond to Falls Church Crash — Arlington firefighters responded to the scene of a scary-looking car wreck involving a flipped-over SUV and a car that crashed into a telephone pole. The wreck happened near the Broadale Village Shopping Center on Broad Street in Falls Church last night. One person was taken to the hospital. The Falls Church Times has photos.

Red Mango Sets Tentative Opening Date

By ARLnow.com

Clarendon is just a couple weeks away from getting its first all-natural frozen yogurt store.

Red Mango, a fast-growing chain originally founded in South Korea in 2002, plans to open its new Clarendon location at 2831 Clarendon Blvd as early as May 22, according to a store rep.

The date is tentative and may have to be pushed back, we’re told. Nonetheless, it seems likely that Arlingtonians will be able to enjoy a Pomegranate yogurt with mandarin oranges and Fruity Pebbles by Memorial Day.

New Fitness Center Opening in Clarendon This Weekend

By ARLnow.com

A new kind of fitness center will be opening its doors on Saturday. The Clarendon Fitness Collective is “a total change from the mega gyms in the area,” says spokesperson Sandra Rodriguez.

This will the first mid-Atlantic location for the Brooklyn, New York-based Fitness Collective, which some have described as “a gym for people who don’t like going to gyms.”

“Clarendon Fitness Collective is a specialized fitness center that combines strength, cardio, flexibility, and nutrition into a program specialized for each individual,” Rodriguez said

There will be free classes, massages, snacks and beverages for Saturday’s grand opening.

The press release announcing the Collective’s arrival, after the jump.

Photo via Facebook.

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