Pentagon City

Discounted Registration for 9-11 5K Ends Today

By ARLnow.com

Registration for the Arlington Police, Fire & Sheriff 9-11 Memorial 5K Run will get more expensive after today.

The annual race will be held on Sept. 10 this year. Registration is $25 today, $30 from Aug. 5 to Sept. 9 and $35 on race day. Teams (including firefighter, law enforcement and military teams) need to be registered by Sept. 1.

The race will kick off at 6:00 p.m. from the DoubleTree Hotel in Pentagon City (300 Army Navy Drive). Runners will follow a course that will take them past parts of the Pentagon. This year marks the 10th anniversary of the 9-11 terrorist attack on the World Trader Center and the Pentagon.

Proceeds from the race will benefit 9-11 related charities, including the Fisher House Foundation, the Wounded Warrior Project, Operation Purple, the Special Operations Warrior Foundation and the Pentagon Memorial Fund.

Organizers are looking for volunteers to work on race day. Volunteers will be asked to pass out food and water and assist with other race duties. Anyone interested in volunteering can find more information here.

Flickr pool photo by BrianMKA

Power Outage in Pentagon City

By ARLnow.com

(Updated at 1:15 p.m.) A lunchtime power outage hit parts of Pentagon City this afternoon.

Power went out at Pentagon City mall and at the Pentagon Centre shopping plaza, which houses Costco and a number of other retailers. The traffic lights at Army Navy Drive and S. Hayes Street, S. Hayes Street and 12th Street and S. Fern Street and 12th Street were also dark. Traffic is moving slowly through the area.

As of 12:50 p.m., power was restored to the Pentagon City mall. As of 1:10 p.m., power had been restored to the traffic lights. It remains out at Pentagon Centre.

New Office Complex Under Consideration for Pentagon City

By ARLnow.com

(Updated at 6:20 p.m.) Arlington’s Long Range Planning Committee (LRPC) is considering a plan to build a collection of tall office buildings and hotels on a large, vacant parcel of land in Pentagon City.

The “PenPlace” site, as it’s called, is a 12-acre parcel owned by Vornado/Charles E. Smith. Its only inhabitants over the past decade have been a Marriott Residence Inn, Nell’s Carryout and the occasional traveling circus. Once considered as a possible location for the new Nationals stadium or an “Arlington County Conference Center,” the site has laid fallow for years.

Last month the LRPC considered a number of possible uses for the site (all of which preserve the existing Marriott hotel and add new streets to break up the large “superblock”):

  • A “baseline” project featuring a collection of low-to-mid rise hotels
  • A “low density” project featuring a collection of 5- to 12-story apartment buildings and an office building
  • A “medium density” plan featuring five 8- to 12-story residential buildings and two 15- to 16-story office buildings
  • A “high density” scenario featuring four 15- to 22-story office buildings and a 7- to 12-story hotel.

In the end, the committee at least one member of the committee concluded that the “high density” plan — which includes nearly 1.9 million square feet of office space and a centrally-located open space — “seem[ed] to be most appropriate.”

Only the baseline project, however, would be acceptable under the current Pentagon City Phased Development Site Plan (PDSP), which was first approved in 1976. The others would require the County Board to revise the PDSP before it could approve a site plan for the overall complex.

The nearby Aurora Highlands and Arlington Ridge civic associations, however, are both on record supporting the existing PDSP, which “does not allow for any more additional office development,” according to the latest Aurora Highlands Civic Association newsletter.

“Approving additional office buildings would severely change the planned vision for the Pentagon City Metro Station Concept Plan,” civic association officials wrote. “Because office buildings generate the most traffic and air pollution, impacts that would affect the health, safety, and general welfare of the public, this Metro station was planned for a Pentagon City with an emphasis on residential development and specifically limited office development as compared to the intense office development in Crystal City and Rosslyn.”

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New Pentagon City Post Office Now Open

By ARLnow.com

Pentagon City’s new post office opened on S. Fern Street today.

The post office, complete with woodgrain accents and plenty of light thanks to floor-to-ceiling windows, replaces an old, dingy post office at 1720 S. Eads Street. With today’s opening, the Eads Street post office is now closed to customers.

The new post office, at 1301 S. Fern Street, is located in the ground floor of the the Millennium at Metropolitan Park apartment building, across from Costco.

Traffic Light Dark After Accident in Pentagon City

By ARLnow.com

(Updated at 12:45 p.m.) The traffic light at the busy intersection of Army Navy Drive and S. Hayes Street is dark after a older model Mercedes sedan crashed into the traffic signal control box.

Police were directing traffic at the busy intersection, which is located across from the Pentagon City mall. The intersection handles Pentagon City traffic exiting and entering I-395. Backups are minor at this time, but police are not allowing drivers to make left-hand turns. County crews were seen erecting portable stop signs just before noon.

Dominion has reportedly been delayed in responding to the scene due to a power outage in Alexandria. Police have been told the repairs may last for much of the day.

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Crime Report: Carjacking Edition

By ARLnow.com

This week’s Arlington County crime report contained an item seen only once or twice in the past year and a half. A couple was carjacked while parked in Pentagon City early Saturday morning.

CARJACKING, 07/09/11, 400 block of S. 12th Street. On July 9 at 1 am, a couple was sitting in a parked vehicle when two unknown men approached the car. The suspects opened the doors and demanded the victims exit. One suspect displayed a handgun and valuables were stolen from the victims. The suspects then drove off in the victim’s car. The car was later recovered in Maryland. The suspects were both African American men approximately 20 years old. One suspect was 5’9″, 140 lbs and wore a grey hooded sweatshirt. The second suspect was 5’5″, 140 lbs, and wore a grey hooded sweatshirt and dark pants.

On Friday, a man was arrested and charged with assaulting a police officer in front of his 11-year-old son.

ASSAULT ON POLICE-ARREST, 07/08/11, 4200 block of N. 2nd Road. On July 8 at 6 pm, a man was seen stealing a bicycle. During the investigation, the suspect assaulted a police officer in front of the suspect’s 11-year-old son. Manuel Antonio Alvarado, 28, of Washington D.C., was charged with Assault and Battery on Law Enforcement, Petit Larceny and Contributing to the Delinquency of a Minor. He was held on a $2,500 bond.

Finally, early Sunday morning, a man allegedly cornered a woman at a bar in Ballston, then lifted her skirt and touched her underwear.

SEXUAL BATTERY, 07/10/11, 600 block of N. Glebe Road. On July 10 at 1:15 am, an unknown man cornered a woman at a bar and lifted her skirt, touching her underwear. The suspect is described as a white male with brown hair in his 20’s, 6′ and 180 lbs. He was wearing a blue polo shirt and jeans.

The rest of this week’s crime report, after the jump.

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Demolition Underway on Pentagon City Warehouses

By ARLnow.com

Demolition is underway on a block of empty warehouses on S. Fern Street in Pentagon City.

The warehouses, which used to house a DHL distribution office and a Danker furniture store, are being torn down to make way for a new 18-story apartment building called Three Metropolitan Park. The building will be the third in the Metropolitan Park development, across from Costco.

According to the county’s planning division web site, Three Metropolitan Park will consist of 411 apartments and 16,345 square feet of ground floor retail space, one block from the Pentagon City Metro station. The building will be 18 stories — or 202 feet — tall and will have 502 parking spaces.

The Washington Business Journal reports that the apartment building is expected to start renting by the beginning of 2014 at a construction cost of at least $160 million.

Photo courtesy @hoborocks

Naked Pizza Opens in Pentagon City, Plans Va. Square Location

By ARLnow.com

The first Arlington outpost of the all-natural pizza chain Naked Pizza opened in Pentagon City over the weekend.

The store, located in the old Pizza Milano space near Harris Teeter, features signature pies like the Ragin’ Cajun (sausage, chicken, garlic bell pepper onion), the Superbiotic (artichoke, spinach, bell pepper, mushroom, garlic, red onion, cliantro) and the Smokehouse (hickory-smoked BBQ sauce, onion, chicken), as well as specialized options like gluten-free crust.

As we reported in March, the New Orleans-based chain says it’s trying to be “part of the solution to the global epidemic of obesity and chronic disease” by making fast food “healthful instead of harmful.”

About a dozen employees in bright green shirts were working inside and outside the store this afternoon. Those not manning the kitchen or the counter held signs directing passersby to their 1101 S. Joyce Street storefront. The eatery will be seven days a week from 10:30 a.m. to midnight.

A second Arlington location is planned for the ground floor of the Quincy Plaza Apartments (3900 Fairfax Drive) in Virginia Square. This weekend the County Board is expected to grant the future pizzeria permission to establish a pizza delivery service.

Dash4Dad Race This Weekend in Pentagon City

By ARLnow.com

Father’s Day is coming up this weekend — have you already planned something special for dad?

If not, here’s an idea: The fourth annual Dash4Dad Four Mile Run and Walk is being held Sunday morning in Pentagon City, complete with entries for daddy-daughter and father-son teams.

The four mile race and one mile walk starts and finishes on S. Joyce Street, in front of the Pentagon Row shops. Proceeds will go to support prostate cancer awareness, outreach and research.

As part of the Father’s Day theme, runners are encouraged to put on a necktie at the one mile mark to “tie one on for dad.” Awards will be given to the fastest knot-tyers. Later, a post-race party will be held at the Champps sports bar in Pentagon Row.

Get more information or register for the race here.

Joyce Street Closed Between Pentagon City, Columbia Pike

By ARLnow.com

Update at 10:45 a.m. — The scene has reportedly been cleared and the closure lifted.

South Joyce Street has been closed between Army Navy Drive and Columbia Pike due to police activity.

Pentagon Police are investigating a suspicious package at the Navy Exchange (NEX) gas station, ARLnow.com hears.

No word yet on how long the investigation and the closure is expected to last.

Katie Couric Returning to Arlington for Book Signing

By ARLnow.com

CBS Evening News anchor Katie Couric is coming back to Arlington for a book signing.

Couric, an Arlington native, is a graduate of Jamestown Elementary, Williamsburg Junior High and Yorktown High. On Wednesday, May 18, she will return to Arlington to sign her new book, The Best Advice I Ever Got: Lessons from Extraordinary Lives, at the Pentagon City Costco (1200 S. Fern Street).

The book signing will start at 11:00 a.m., according to Costco’s web site. Couric recently announced that she will be leaving the CBS anchor chair in June, when her contract expires.

Hat tip to @DCCelebrity

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