Pentagon City

Sweetgreen, Orangetheory Fitness Coming to Pentagon City

By ARLnow.com

Ground floor of the Metropolitan Park Acadia building in Pentagon CityTrendy salad purveyor Sweetgreen and trendy sweat producer Orangetheory Fitness are both coming to Pentagon City, permit applications show.

The businesses are coming to the ground floor of The Acadia at Metropolitan Park apartment building. That the same building in which a CorePower Yoga studio just opened.

Sweetgreen applied for its construction permit on the 12th Street S. side of the building on Feb. 24. Orangetheory applied for a permit on the S. Fern Street side of the building on April 1.

Also coming to the building: a European Wax Center location. And, according to a retail leasing document, a thus-far unnamed coffee shop.

Orangetheory has existing Arlington locations in Rosslyn and Ballston. Sweetgreen recently opened in Crystal City and also has a Ballston location. European Wax Center has a location in Courthouse.

The 12th Street extension between S. Eads and Fern streets is rapidly becoming a powerhouse retail corridor, even though it’s a block from an existing, expanding retail hub: the Fashion Centre at Pentagon City mall. A Whole Foods and a Commonwealth Joe coffee shop will be opening this summer on 12th Street S., at The Bartlett apartment building.

Morning Notes

By ARLnow.com

Herselle Milliken Park in Ashton Heights

Big Tree Down on Washington Blvd — A large tree fell across power lines on Washington Blvd just south of Virginia Hospital Center during Saturday night and Sunday morning’s windstorm. Washington Blvd was closed between George Mason Drive and N. Harrison Street for much of the day Sunday while Dominion crews repaired the lines. [Twitter, Twitter]

Photos: DCA Airport Strike — DCist has photos from last week’s 24 hour strike of contract service workers at Reagan National Airport. [DCist]

Arlington Signs on to Amicus Brief — Arlington was among more than 50 counties and cities that signed on to an amicus brief in support of the Environmental Protection Agency’s Clean Power Plan for reducing carbon emissions from power plants. [Columbia Law School, Twitter]

Capital Improvement Plan Survey — Through April 22, Arlington County is conducting an online survey of residents that will help guide decision-making during the upcoming Capital Improvement Plan process. The CIP helps to plan “major investments in parks, libraries, transportation, community centers, facilities, technology, water, sewer and stormwater infrastructure — along with other areas that support the community.” [Arlington County]

‘The Burbs Are Back’ in Office Leasing — Arlington and other suburban D.C. jurisdictions are showing a bit of strength in the office leasing market. “The suburbs accounted for 69.5 percent of Washington region’s leasing activity in the first quarter, up substantially from a 52.9 percent share in 2015, according to JLL’s quarterly market reports.” [Virginia Business]

TSA Move Delayed Until 2020 — The Transportation Security Administration will be staying put at its Pentagon City headquarters until at least 2020. The TSA had planned to move to Alexandria by 2018, but legal wrangling has delayed the move and forced the TSA to redo its leasing process. [Washington Business Journal]

PSA: Don’t Do This — Spotted in Clarendon: a young woman urinating while sitting on a bench along a busy street, at 5:30 p.m. on a Saturday. [Twitter]

CorePower Yoga to Open in Pentagon City Tomorrow

By ARLnow.com
1/9

CorePower Yoga is planning to open its new Pentagon City location tomorrow (Thursday).

The studio will offer a free yoga class for “friends and family” Thursday night, followed by a full day of classes on Friday, according to its website. The first week of classes is also free for new students, according to a PR rep.

The Pentagon City CorePower Yoga is located at 560 12th Street S., on the ground floor of the new Metropolitan Park Acadia apartment building. That’s just up the block from a new Whole Foods, which is expected to open this summer.

This will be CorePower’s second Arlington location — it opened a studio in Courthouse last year — and fifth in the D.C. area. The company also has locations in Georgetown, Merrifield and Falls Church.

A press release from CorePower Yoga, after the jump.

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Shake Shack Opening Soon in Pentagon City

By ARLnow.com
1/5

Exterior signage is up at the future Shake Shack at the Pentagon City mall.

The burger-and-shake restaurant is opening within a new, still under-construction expansion of the Fashion Centre at Pentagon City along S. Hayes Street. It’s the chain’s first restaurant in Arlington.

The mall’s website says Shake Shack “is expected to open as of 4/1/2016,” but a PR rep said that information is “inaccurate.” No updated opening date was immediately available. Initially, it was said that Shake Shack would open at some point this spring.

Other restaurants and stores coming to the expanded front entrance of the mall include:

Another new store at the mall, Garrett Popcorn, is currently said to be opening around June 1.

More Details on Commonwealth Joe’s New ‘Flagship’ Location in Pentagon City

By ARLnow.com
1/3

Arlington-based coffee startup Commonwealth Joe says its planned coffee shop in Pentagon City will be the company’s flagship location — and will offer something beyond just a morning pick-me-up.

“Arlington deserves great coffee,” Commonwealth Joe co-founder and CEO Robert Peck said Monday. “We aim to deliver powerful experiences built around that cup of coffee, and also to provide an environment that makes you feel at home and gives you a sense of place — somewhere where you want to bring your friends and family and can also have chance encounters with others in the community.”

The new Commonwealth Joe store will be located on the ground floor of The Bartlett, a new 22-story luxury apartment building that’s currently wrapping up construction at the corner of S. Eads and 12th Streets, two blocks from the Metro station.

An experience and a sense of community is a key goal for the building and developer Vornado. Thus the reason the coffee shop is planning to make “experience” a cornerstone of its offerings and is working with a top-shelf local design firm for its build-out.

From a press release: “Although they are not revealing details just yet, they say that the new space will be the first of its kind in the entire D.C. metro area, and will offer some exciting amenities for Bartlett residents and customers, including coffee cuppings and brewing classes.”

The shop’s coffee offerings include single-origin coffees, pour-overs and nitro cold brew coffee.

Commonwealth Joe is planning to open on an unspecified date “this summer,” as is the next-door Whole Foods Market. Some residents have been told that the Whole Foods is eyeing a late June opening.

The press release, after the jump.

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Virginia Highlands Park Ribbon Cutting Scheduled for Sunday

By ARLnow.com
1/9

Arlington County will hold a ribbon cutting ceremony at Virginia Highlands Park on Sunday, marking the completion of a nearly $2 million renovation project.

The renovations include new basketball courts, tennis courts, tennis practice courts, drinking fountains, water bottle fillers and site furnishings. There’s also new “dark sky” lighting and parking and accessibility improvements.

“Join the community in celebrating this newly renovated space!” said the invitation to the ceremony, which is scheduled to run from 1-2:30 p.m.

“The ribbon cutting ceremony will include fun activities for kids and adults including a tennis drill clinic for kids and adults hosted by FirstServe Tennis Academy and a basketball clinic for kids with shooting and dribbling instructions that will culminate into fun group games hosted by Tiptop Sports.”

The park is located at 1600 S. Hayes Street, near Pentagon City.

‘Love the Run You’re With’ 5K, Party Set for Valentine’s Day

By Andrew Ramonas

Love the Run You're With (Photo via Pacers Running)Singles, couples and members of the “it’s complicated” crowd are set to converge on Pentagon City for a Valentine’s Day-themed 5K and party this weekend.

Pacers Running’s “Love the Run You’re With” race is scheduled to take over parts of S. Joyce Street and Army Navy Drive Sunday morning. The 5K kicks off at 9 a.m. and begins and ends at Pentagon Row.

Doubling as a matchmaking affair, the race uses bib numbers that correspond to runners’ relationship statuses. Racers can register as single (“Stupid Cupid”), it’s complicated (“Love ’em or Leave ’em”) or in a relationship (“Co-Dependent”).

From 7 to 11 a.m., the Arlington County Police Department plans to close:

  • S. Joyce Street between S. 15th Street and Army Navy Drive.
  • Army Navy Drive between S. Joyce Street and S. 25th Street.

Registration is $45 online and includes a blanket — one you’ll probably need with the frigid temperatures. Following the 5K, runners can head to Champps at 1201 S. Joyce Street for a post-race party that will have an awards presentation and a karaoke contest.

Photo via Pacers Running

Morning Notes

By ARLnow.com

Robin in the winter (Flickr pool photo by Kevin Wolf)

Pentagon City Apartment Complex Gets Financing — The Altaire, the high-end residential development at 400 Army Navy Drive, has obtained $100 million in financing from Wells Fargo and is expected to begin construction this month. The 20-story complex will have two towers with a total of 453 units. Construction is expected to be complete by the second quarter of 2018. [Washington Business Journal]

History of Hall’s Hill — This year is the 150th anniversary of the historically African-American neighborhood of Hall’s Hill, also known as High View Park. An event on the community’s history last week revealed the origin of its name. Hall’s Hill is named after Bazil Hall, a white slaveholder who sold plots of land to freed slaves after the Civil War to spite his white neighbors. [InsideNova]

Arlington Real Estate Agent Invited to SOTU — Naveed Shah, an Army veteran and a Rosslyn-based real estate agent, was invited to be a guest of the White House at tonight’s State of the Union Address. Despite the fact that Shah and his family moved to the U.S. when he was two, after living in Saudi Arabia, Shah grew up in Northern Virginia and describes himself as “as American as it gets.” [Military Times, NBC Washington]

Local Immigrants Worried About ICE Raids — There’s growing fear among undocumented immigrants in Northern Virginia of stepped-up U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids. Advocates are advising immigrant families “to have a plan for their kids in case they’re deported.” In other news, it’s said that ICE agents “are making their presence felt and regularly hang around the Taco Bell on Little River Turnpike” in Annandale. [Annandale VA]

Arlington Young Dems, GOPers Working Together — In a show of bipartisanship during the heat of a presidential election year, the chairs of the Arlington Young Democrats and the Arlington-Falls Church Young Republicans met over the weekend to plan joint community service events in 2016. [Twitter]

Flickr pool photo by Kevin Wolf

Morning Notes

By ARLnow.com

Scene from a commute (Flickr pool photo by Dennis Dimick)

Violent Attack at Pentagon City Metro — A seemingly random act of violence at the Pentagon City Metro station injured a man late last month. Details of the attack were just released: a 19-year-old man collapsed on the platform after being sucker-punched. Witnesses took cell phone photos of the attacker, who fled. The incident is one of a string of recent violent incidents at Metro stations. [Fox 5 DC]

GGW Questions Garvey’s Leadership — Will new County Board Chair Libby Garvey move Arlington forward with smart infrastructure investments, or pull back and scale down the county’s ambitions? That’s the question being posed by urbanist blog Greater Greater Washington, which has been critical of Garvey’s anti-streetcar stance. [Greater Greater Washington]

Garvey Announces Reelection Bid — Thought she has positioned herself as a somewhat anti-establishment figure in the local party, Libby Garvey detailed her Democratic bonafides while announcing her reelection bid at the Arlington County Democratic Committee meeting earlier this week. Garvey is facing a primary challenge on her left, from small business owner Erik Gutshall. [Libby Garvey]

Grant for ‘Little Saigon’ History — A $9,000 grant will allow Arlington County to produce a full-color booklet preserving the history of Arlington’s “Little Saigon” — a concentration of Vietnamese immigrants and businesses in Clarendon in the 1970s, before the opening of Metro. [Arlington County]

Flickr pool photo by Dennis Dimick

BREAKING: Bank Robbery in Pentagon City

By ARLnow.com
1/3

Update at 4:50 p.m. — The FBI is offering a $5,000 reward in the case.

Earlier: Arlington County Police are on scene of a bank robbery at the Wells Fargo in Pentagon City, across from Costco.

Suspect in Wells Fargo robbery in Pentagon City (photo courtesy ACPD)The incident happened just before 10:15 a.m., on the 1400 block of S. Fern Street. Initial reports suggest a man passed a note to the teller and fled with cash in his hand.

Police detained at least one possible suspect after arriving on scene. They also investigated a report of a man seen running through the nearby Residence Inn hotel. However, the latest report is that surveillance footage suggests the suspect fled in a vehicle immediately following the robbery.

The suspect is described as a 5’9″ black male, wearing a dark baseball cap, red scarf, a gray hoodie and baggy sweatpants.

Anyone with information on the robbery or the suspect is asked to call police at 703-558-2222.

Pentagon City, Crystal City to Get Its Eighth Starbucks

By ARLnow.com

Starbucks logo(Updated at 3:45 p.m.) Another Starbucks is coming to the 22202 ZIP code.

The new Starbucks will be located in the Acadia at Metropolitan Park apartment building, on the same block as the future Whole Foods on 12th Street S., according to a building permit application.

This will be the eighth Starbucks store in Pentagon City and Crystal City. That excludes Starbucks locations in the Pentagon and Reagan National Airport, which have at least two apiece.

Within biking distance of the new cafe are Starbucks stores on Columbia Pike, in the Arlington Ridge Shopping Center, at Potomac Yard and in Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall. In other words, the new Starbucks will face competition from at least 15 other Starbucks locations within a two mile radius. That’s not to mention a sprinkling of Dunkin’ Donuts stores and independent coffee shops.

No word yet on when the new Starbucks may open.

Hat tip to Chris Slatt

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