Pentagon City

Brookfield signals renewed intent to redevelop vacant TSA offices in Pentagon City

By Jo DeVoe
1/2

Developer Brookfield has signaled its plans to redevelop the vacant Transportation Security Administration office buildings in Pentagon City.

Last month, Brookfield filed preliminary plans outlining how it will redevelop the site. The filed documents are not site plans that illustrate the buildings it intends to construct, but rather, a high-level overview of what it intends to do with the property.

The real estate company has long had plans to redevelop the TSA buildings, located at 601 and 701 12th Street S., near the Pentagon City Metro entrance and between the Pentagon City mall and the second phase of Amazon’s HQ2. Those plans are currently paused and the buildings have been empty since the TSA left in March 2021 for Springfield, abandoning its original plans to move to Alexandria.

Brookfield put its redevelopment plans on hold in 2020 at the request of Arlington County planners, who were working on a new sector plan to guide future development in Pentagon City, per the Washington Business Journal.

More than a year after the passage of the Pentagon City Sector Plan, Brookfield is taking its first steps toward redeveloping the property, which it is calling “12th Street Landing.”

Brookfield is dividing the property into three land bays, which it will redevelop one at a time, according to land use attorney Kedrick Whitmore. It will apply for site plans for these land bays “in the future,” he adds.

“The proposed development will result in significant improvements to the Property and benefit the Pentagon City community,” per a letter to the county from Whitmore. “Indeed, to enable the requested density increase, the proposed development will provide community benefits on-site, consistent with the recommendations of the Sector Plan.”

The three land bays comprising the proposed 12th Street Landing redevelopment by Brookfield (via Arlington County)

The number of buildings within each land bay and their uses will be finalized at the site plan stage, wrote Whitmore. Brookfield will provide on-site affordable housing but other community benefits will be worked out during the site plan process.

In the application, Brookfield asks the county to approve the maximum allowable density in for the site, as outlined in the Pentagon City Sector Plan. It also asks for permission to allocate that density among “various buildings and uses” once it files site plans for the site.

(more…)

ACPD: Victim managed to escape carjacking attempt

By ARLnow.com
File photo

Three armed men attempted — unsuccessfully — to carjack someone in Pentagon City late last night.

That’s according to the latest Arlington County Police Department crime report.

The attempted carjacking happened just before midnight Sunday on the 700 block of 12th Street S., near the Pentagon Centre shopping center and the Pentagon City Metro station entrance.

“At approximately 11:56 p.m. on April 2, police were dispatched to the report of a suspicious person,” said ACPD. “Upon arrival, it was determined the victim was in his parked vehicle when the suspect vehicle approached, and three suspects exited. The suspects approached the victim’s vehicle and brandished firearms and the victim fled the area.”

“No injuries were reported,” the crime report continues. “Responding officers canvassed the area for the suspects yielding negative results… The investigation is ongoing.”

Arlington police have reported at least nine completed carjackings so far this year.

Markers Market returning, restaurants set to open at Westpost

By Matt Blitz
Ice skaters and sun bathers at Westpost in Pentagon City (staff photo by Jay Westcott)

The “Markers Market” is coming back to Pentagon City, planned for the first Sunday of every month starting this weekend.

The market featuring local artists, creators, food, and music is returning to Westpost (formerly Pentagon Row) this coming Sunday, April 2. It begins at 11 a.m. and runs until 4 p.m.

Like last year’s edition, it is free to attend with on-site parking available. Organizers are asking attendees to reserve tickets.

“Explore trendy and unique creations, enjoy ambient music from the live DJ, and take in all the plaza has to offer from tasty dining options to retail shops and services,” reads the event listing.

The market is expanding its schedule in 2023 and is now planned for the first Sunday of every month through October. Dates include:

  • April 2
  • May 7
  • June 4
  • July 2
  • August 6
  • September 3
  • October 1

“Each market will feature some new vendors and some returning vendors,” notes the event listing.

Among the vendors are small producers like Herndon Woodshed, Clay Creations by Liz, Smell of Love candles, Billy’s Hobby Shop, Fire in Hand Jewelry, A Hot Sauce Co, and Jarhead Leather.

The shopping center that was once called Pentagon Row just closed its popular skating rink for the season last week and is now getting set up for the spring and summer.

Several new restaurants are preparing to open in the coming weeks. Hangry Joe’s Hot Chicken plans to open early next month while Chase the Submarine remains docked at the former Bread and Water “cube.”

The sandwich shop’s revival from local chef Tim Ma was supposed to start serving earlier this year, but it has yet to open its doors.

UPDATED: Car fire at Pentagon City mall garage

By ARLnow.com
Car fire at Pentagon City mall garage

(Updated at 1:30 p.m.) Firefighters battled a vehicle blaze atop the Pentagon City mall parking garage early this afternoon.

Initial reports suggest that multiple vehicles are engulfed in flames on the third level of the large garage. As of 1:15 p.m., the bulk of the fire was said to be out.

A cloud of smoke could be seen rising from the garage, access to which has been blocked off by police and fire personnel.

So far no injuries have been reported. At least five vehicles were damaged, according to scanner traffic.

The fire alarm went off at the mall during the incident, at a time when it was packed with visiting groups.

“[The] mall was filled with school groups that evacuated,” a tipster told ARLnow, adding that “burning rubber could be smelled on the bottom floor of the mall.”

Hangry Joe’s hopes to open early next month at Pentagon Row

By Vernon Miles
Hangry Joe’s chicken sandwich (image via Hangry Joe’s Hot Chicken/Instagram)

Provided things go according to eggspectations, Hangry Joe’s Hot Chicken’s new Pentagon City location could hatch early next month.

The eatery is opening at 1301 S. Joyce Street in the Westpost (formerly Pentagon Row) shopping center.

Hangry Joe’s Hot Chicken is a restaurant chain specializing in — no points awarded for guessing — Nashville-style hot chicken. The menu also includes standard sides like coleslaw and loaded fries, but the stars of the show are the spiced-up chicken sandwich, chicken fingers and chicken waffles.

The new location will be the growing chain’s second in Arlington, after opening in the former Laura Cooks spot in Ballston earlier this year. The Pentagon City restaurant is just a couple of weeks away, its owner says.

“My target date of grand opening will be April 8,” Jim Hong, owner of Hangry Joe’s Pentagon Row said in an email. “It may be delayed due to the health inspection, ordering merchandise, or something popped up that I wouldn’t be aware. But I will try my best to open on that day.”

Image via Hangry Joe’s Chicken/Instagram

JUST IN: Ikea to open small-format location in Pentagon City

By ARLnow.com
1/8

(Updated at 11:30 a.m.) Ikea is planning to open a small-format “Plan and Order” location in Pentagon City this summer.

The company made the announcement this morning. The 5,000 square foot location will be opening at the Pentagon Centre shopping center at 1201 S. Hayes Street, home to Costco and across the street the Fashion Centre at Pentagon City mall.

Unlike the traditional large-format warehouse stores that Ikea currently has in College Park and Woodbridge, the Plan and Order points only allow customers to order items — like kitchen, bedroom and bathroom furniture and fixtures — for delivery.

There are currently no other Ikea small-format stores open in the D.C. area. When ARLnow checked with the company last month about a rumor of its impending arrival in Arlington, the company declined to confirm the news.

The new location will have a “similar look and feel” to one that recently opened in Melbourne, Australia — pictured above — a company media rep said. Somewhat larger “Planning Studio” Ikea locations have opened recently in Los Angeles, Toronto, New York City, Paris and Moscow, part of a more than $3 billion investment in new and existing stores, ModernRetail reported.

Pentagon Centre owner Kimco is updating its existing plans to redevelop large parts of the shopping center, including the Costco, ARLnow reported earlier this week. The developer is still signing 10-year leases with retailers, however, in anticipation of this being a long term project.

More on Ikea from a press release, below.

Today, IKEA U.S. announced plans for a new Plan & order point located in Arlington, VA, which is set to open in summer 2023. This new customer meeting point, located in the Pentagon Centre shopping center, is more conveniently located to better meet the needs of Metro DC customers and will focus on providing interior design planning with IKEA specialists.

The IKEA Arlington Plan & order point is different from the traditional large-format IKEA stores and will only offer items for delivery. Customers will have the opportunity to meet with the IKEA store team to plan and order home furnishing solutions that require a bit more help, such as kitchens, bedrooms, and bathrooms. Arrangements will be made to have all items conveniently transported to a customer’s home or to another convenient point of delivery.

“We are on a journey to bring the IKEA experience closer to our customers in city centers. We’re excited to introduce the IKEA Arlington Plan & order point, giving customers a more convenient way to shop our affordable home furnishing products and solutions,” said Javier Quiñones, CEO & Chief Sustainability Officer, IKEA U.S.

IKEA has been on the outskirts of the DC market for more than 20 years with large-format IKEA stores in Woodbridge, VA and College Park, MD. IKEA Arlington will be located in the Pentagon Centre at 1201 S. Hayes Street, Pentagon City, Arlington, VA in 5,012 square feet of leased space. It will be easily accessible by Metro via the Yellow or Blue line, Metrobus or car.

“We’re excited to welcome customers living in the DC Metro area or the DMV to a new IKEA location this summer, with more to come in the future. The Plan & order point concept has been created with the unique needs of local consumers in mind, from the proximity to public transportation and delivery and assembly options, to the opportunity for affordable design services,” said Raquel Ely, Market Manager, IKEA U.S.

In addition to opening new Plan & order points in city centers, IKEA U.S. has made significant investments to enhance its e-commerce experience and service offerings, including new IKEA Family benefits, lower priced shipping and delivery, Click & collect, and TaskRabbit assembly services.

Photo by Jueun Song on Unsplash

Developer files new long-term plan for redeveloping Pentagon Centre

By Jo DeVoe
1/10

A new vision for replacing the Pentagon Centre shopping center, including the Costco, is coming into focus.

Kimco Realty Corporation revised its plans envisioning the long-term redevelopment of the 16.8-acre site, which were first approved by the Arlington County Board in 2015. Kimco submitted documents articulating these changes — which call for new high-rise residential and commercial buildings — in late December.

“With the redevelopment approvals that have been granted since 2015, and because the Pentagon City Metro Station is contained within the Pentagon Centre block, Pentagon Centre should be part of the intensification of redevelopment — in height, in mix and in overall density — to leverage the significant positive impacts of Metro ridership, job creation and livability here in Arlington County,” per the plan.

Pentagon City has recently been the focus of private redevelopment and county planning initiatives. On the Pentagon Centre site, Kimco has completed the redevelopment of surface parking into an apartment building dubbed the Witmer (710 12th Street S.) in 2019. Another apartment tower, dubbed the Milton (1446 S. Grant Street), is nearing completion.

Elsewhere, the first phase of Amazon’s second headquarters is set to open this summer, and — once economic headwinds change for the company — a second phase with the marquee “Double Helix” building is still planned, though delayed. JBG Smith, meanwhile, plans to redevelop acres of surface parking at the RiverHouse apartment complex into more residences.

Kimco updated its guidelines for redeveloping the Pentagon Centre site because much has changed in seven years. Office demand dropped due to the pandemic, so the real estate company proposes swapping some proposed office space for more apartments. It made changes to align with the 2022 Pentagon City Sector Plan, which guides long-term growth in the neighborhood.

“While we are not part of the sector plan, we thought it was a good time to look at the plan,” Kimco’s Director of Multifamily Development Abbey Oklak told the Arlington Ridge Civic Association during a meeting last week.

The new plans propose two office buildings, down from three, as well as three additional residential towers. Green space increased by about 30%, to nearly three acres, criss-crossed by planted paths, or “green ribbons,” envisioned in the Pentagon City Sector Plan.

Kimco divides the redevelopments into two phases. In the new first phase, S. Grant Street — which currently dead-ends at the southern edge of the mall — will extend through the site as a double-sided retail street.

Existing retail space west of the extended S. Grant Street, including Marshalls, Best Buy and restaurants, would become a pair of towers, one residential and one office, with ground-floor retail and parking.

“We wanted to look at the realignment of S. Grant Street so that Costco could stay,” Vice President of Development at Kimco Greg Reed said. “We’d take the mall down and bring the tenants back if they want to stay, in a different format… and have density above that in the future.”

In the new second phase, the Costco and parking garage on S. Fern Street would become an apartment building, an office tower with a conference center and a mixed-use hotel and apartment building, all with retail at the base.

These changes will not be happening for a while, as Kimco is still signing 10-year deals with retailers in the shopping center with 5-year extension options beyond that, civic association meeting attendees were told.

(more…)

The Irish prime minister took in a rugby match at a Pentagon City bar this weekend

By ARLnow.com
Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, the Irish prime minister, at Mattie & Eddie’s in Pentagon City with owner Cathal Armstrong (via @mattie_and_eddies/Instagram)

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, the prime minister of Ireland, took in a history-making rugby match at a bar in Pentagon City over the weekend.

Varadkar watched the Ireland claim the Guinness Six Nations crown on home soil for the first time in 75 years at Maddie and Eddie’s, the Irish bar at Westpost (formerly Pentagon Row) owned by notable local chef — and Dublin native — Cathal Armstrong.

Media outlets from Ireland and the UK wrote about and carried photos from Varadkar’s visit Saturday afternoon.

More from the Irish Examiner:

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has congratulated the Irish rugby team on winning the Grand Slam.

Ireland made history in Dublin as they completed just the fourth Grand Slam in their history as they were crowned Guinness Six Nations champions on home soil for the first time in 75 years.

Speaking in Washington, Mr Varadkar said: “Congratulations to the Grand Slam winning Irish team and staff.

“A fantastic achievement. Wishing them all the very best for their World Cup preparations.”

Varadkar posted a video showing him in the midst of a packed crowd cheering on Ireland.

“What a way to keep the St Patrick’s Day weekend going strong!” the bar wrote on Instagram.

Police investigating armed carjacking near Ballston

By ARLnow.com
File photo

Arlington County police are investigating an early morning carjacking that happened near Ballston over the weekend.

Police say three male suspects, at least one of whom was armed with a gun, approached a male victim who was parked on the 4100 block of N. Henderson Road. That’s just south of Ballston, in the Buckingham neighborhood.

“At approximately 3:15 a.m. on March 12, police were dispatched to the report of an armed robbery,” said today’s ACPD crime report. “Upon arrival, it was determined the victim was in his parked vehicle when three unknown male suspects approached his car, brandished a firearm and demanded the keys to the vehicle. The suspects then fled the scene in the stolen vehicle.”

“No injuries were reported,” the crime report continued. “The victim’s vehicle is described as a white Chrysler with Virginia license plate VTH1366. Officers canvassed the area for the suspects yielding negative results.”

The last reported carjacking in Arlington happened three days earlier, in Pentagon City. This is at least the ninth carjacking in Arlington so far this year. A total of 14 were reported in all of 2022, according to ACPD stats.

Also in this week’s crime report, four vehicles were broken into last week in the Pentagon City area, in a mini airbag theft spree.

More from ACPD:

LARCENY FROM AUTO (Series) (Late), 2023-03100073/03100074, 1400 block of S. Joyce Street/1100 block of Army Navy Drive. At approximately 7:28 a.m. on March 10, police were dispatched to the late report of multiple larcenies from auto. The investigation determined between approximately 9:30 p.m. on March 9 and 7:30 a.m. on March 10, the unknown suspect(s) shattered the driver’s side window to four vehicles, stealing airbags from three of them. Tires were stolen from two additional vehicles. The vehicles are described as Honda and Toyota models.

NEW: Police investigating carjacking in Pentagon City

By ARLnow.com
Arlington police car at night (file photo courtesy Kevin Wolf)

Arlington police are investigating a carjacking that happened last night near the Riverhouse apartment complex in Pentagon City.

The suspects were armed and reportedly stole a BMW.

This is at least the eighth reported carjacking in Arlington this year and the fourth involving a BMW in the Pentagon City and Crystal City area.

More from an ACPD crime report:

CARJACKING, 2023-03090228, 1100 block of Army Navy Drive. At approximately 10:34 p.m. on March 9, police were dispatched to the report of a stolen vehicle. Upon arrival, it was determined the victims were exiting their parked car when three to four unknown suspects approached, brandished firearms and demanded the keys to the vehicle and a cell phone. The suspects then fled the scene in the stolen vehicle and were followed by a suspect driving a dark-colored sedan. The victims’ vehicle was later located unoccupied in Washington D.C.

ACPD: Person shot in Pentagon City after neighbor’s gun cleaning accident

By ARLnow.com
File photo

A Pentagon City resident has been charged after accidentally shooting a neighbor.

The incident happened last night on the 1300 block of S. Joyce Street, in the apartments near Pentagon Row.

“At approximately 10:30 p.m. on March 8, police were dispatched to the report of an assault with a weapon,” Arlington County police said today in a crime report. “The investigation indicates the male suspect was allegedly cleaning his firearm inside his residence when it discharged and the round entered an adjacent unit and struck the victim.”

“The victim was transported to an area hospital in stable condition for treatment of injuries considered non-life threatening,” the crime report continues. “The suspect remained on scene and the firearm was recovered. [The suspect], 47, of Arlington, Va. was charged with Reckless Handling of a Firearm.”

Initial reports suggest that the victim was struck in the leg.

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