real estate

Real Estate Assessments to Be Released on Friday

By ARLnow.com

Arlington County will release its 2011 real estate assessments this Friday at 5:00 p.m. Property owners will be able to search for their new assessments on the county’s tax assessment web page (appropriately, the word “DREAD” is prominently featured in the web address).

Assessments are expected to rise this year as the real estate market improves. The Sun Gazette reports that the average home sale price rose 4.6 percent in 2010.

Property owners who want to challenge their assessments should be able to do so via an online form any time before March 1, although the form does not appear to be online at the moment. More information on real estate assessment appeals is available here.

Iconic Colony House Furniture Store to Sell Property, Relocate

By ARLnow.com

A “for sale or lease” sign on the side of Colony House Furniture at 1700 Lee Highway has prompted a number of people to email us and ask what’s going on with the iconic, 54-year-old store. Today, owner J.R. Diffee provided an answer.

The business plans to cash in on its prime real estate and relocate.

“This is not a going out of business,” Diffee said emphatically. “The property is for sale, the business is not.”

Diffee says he anticipates a developer buying the property, then leasing it back to the store until building permits are approved. In the meantime, Diffee says he will be looking for a new location.

Will he move the store to another address in Arlington?

“I’d love to,” said Diffee, an Arlington Chamber of Commerce board member. “I have three kids in Arlington Public Schools… I buy into the Arlington Way.”

Diffee said that while the furniture business was hurt by the recession, sales at the store were up 7.5 percent last year. Still, he said that the property the store has occupied since 1957 — adjacent to I-66 and within a long walk of  Rosslyn and Courthouse — is now worth more to a developer than it is to a furniture store.

Zimmerman: Arlington’s Prosperity Is Not an Accident

By ARLnow.com

County Board Chairman Chris Zimmerman touted Arlington’s ability to weather the recession during a short speech at last night’s Arlington County Democratic Committee meeting.

Zimmerman said unemployment and office vacancy rates have stayed low, while “our real estate values have held better than pretty much any place else.”

According to Blue Virginia’s video, Zimmerman went on to say say that it’s not just Arlington’s proximity to D.C. that has helped it remain prosperous.

“It is important to understand that those facts are not accidents — they’re not just good luck,” Zimmerman said. “The reason we’re doing very well, even in difficult times, has to do with many years of working in this community, planning what we do, designing our community in a certain way, and investing in it year after year.”

“We’re intentional about what we do in government in Arlington, and we have been for a long time,” Zimmerman added. “When times are good, we’re thinking about what’s going to happen when things turn down. When times aren’t good, we are going to have to explain the fact that they are going to turn around again… and we’re trying to prepare for that.”

Zimmerman said Arlington’s inclusiveness and its emphasis on community participation in decision-making are two additional reasons why the county is ” talked about, in a lot of ways, with envy.”

Morning Notes

By ARLnow.com

R&B Songstress Mya Spotted in Clarendon — Mya Harrison, of hip hop, R&B and acting fame, was spotted getting her hair and makeup done at Kavenchy Spa Salon (1025 North Fillmore Street) in Clarendon yesterday. Mya was getting ready to shoot a music video in the District, reports Yeas & Neas.

Real Estate Predictions For 2011 — Local Realtor Laura Rubinchuk has released her predictions for the Arlington real estate market in 2011. Expect flat prices, sluggish sales, fewer foreclosures and more groundbreakings, says Rubinchuk.

Ballston Shell Station Bites the Dust — The Shell station at Wilson Boulevard and North Randolph Street has been shuttered. It will be torn down soon, to make way for the Founders Square development. More from TBD.

Morning Notes

By ARLnow.com

Most Elaborate Christmas Display in Arlington? — Blue Virginia has a video of what may be the most elaborate Christmas display in Arlington. It’s located on North Quebec Street, between Lee Highway and 17th Street, in Cherrydale. Let us know if you’ve seen anything better.

Pentagon Row Sold — The collection of stores and apartments known as Pentagon Row has been sold for a relatively low $14.9 million. Vornado Realty Trust sold the complex to Federal Realty Investment Trust, which also owns the Shirlington Village shopping center. More from the Washington Business Journal.

Boy Scouts Collect Nearly 55,000 Pounds of Food — The Arlington Boy Scouts collected a whopping 54,791 pounds of non-perishable food donations through its annual Scouting for Food Drive. More from the Sun Gazette.

Travolta Drops by Falls Church — Pulp Fiction star John Travola skipped the dinner at the Kennedy Center Honors last night, opting instead to dine at the Peking Gourmet Inn in Falls Church. Local celebrity photographer Mark Wilkins was there to capture the scene.

Flickr pool photo by Team Rank

Contractor Vacates County-Owned Four Mile Run Drive Property

By ARLnow.com

Believe it or not, this run-down building at 3600 South Four Mile Run Drive has only been vacant for a couple of weeks.

Alberici Constructors, which recently wrapped up its work on the expansion of Arlington’s Water Pollution Control Plant, had occupied the building and the surrounding lot and the  for nearly four years. Although the property is now vacant, it’s still leased through early next year, when the plant’s final construction phase is expected to conclude.

The building and a large, adjacent lot have been owned by Arlington County’s Parks Department since July 17, 2002, when it was purchased with bond money for $3.6 million, according to county media relations manager Mary Curtius.

Curtius says a decision has not yet been made on what will happen to the 75,000 square foot property once it’s returned to the Parks Department. The property is across the street from an existing park, the county’s 22.4 acre Jennie Dean Park.

Arlington Is Big Winner at N. Va. Developer Awards

By ARLnow.com

The commercial real estate trade group NAIOP handed out its Best of Northern Virginia awards in Tysons Corner last night, and Arlington fared quite well.

Seven out of 17 awards went to Arlington properties.

The big winners included Courthouse’s new Fire Works Pizza restaurant and the county’s new Dept. of Human Services office, which both won awards for best interior.

Among the other winners were Monday Properties’ marketing effort for 1000 Wilson Blvd in Rosslyn, and Vornado’s renovation of 220 20th Street in Crystal City.

See the full list of winners in PDF form here.

Lease Your Very Own Cherrydale Storefront

By ARLnow.com

The retail space formerly occupied by Cherrydale Clockworks is up for lease.

Anyone interested in opening up shop on Lee Highway can lease the 1,600 square foot space for a relatively cheap $1,995 per month (good luck finding a 1,600 square foot apartment with a monthly rent below $2,000). Plus, the lease comes with two parking spaces in the rear of the building.

The building was built in 1957, according to a real estate sheet posted in the window. Your neighbors will include the Columbia Masonic Center, a bindery equipment company, and a Dunkin Donuts/Baskin Robbins store.

The upstairs is also available for lease — $1,700 per month will get you a full bathroom and a rear deck.

Just don’t be surprised when unhappy-looking people stop by asking where their clocks are.

Renovations Coming to Ballston Common Mall

By ARLnow.com

The owner of Ballston Common Mall is “in the planning stages” of major renovations to the 24-year-old facility. The existence of the renovation plan was revealed at a real estate conference in Rosslyn this morning.

The plan may also involve the building of office space above or in place of the current Macy’s department store.

No timeline was given for the renovations. Ohio-based Forest City Enterprises owns the 580,000 square foot mall, which attracts 1,000,000 visitors per year.

Flickr pool photo by Tim Kelley.

Morning Notes

By ARLnow.com

Happy Columbus Day — Normally-clogged commuter routes are clear as government employees and many private sector workers have the day off to celebrate Columbus’ discovery of the New World. Arlington government offices are closed, as are all library branches. It’s expected to be the hottest Oct. 11 on record in the DC area, so if you have the day off, get outside and enjoy it.

Blue and Orange Line Cut in Two, No Major Problems — Commutepocalypse didn’t quite go the way some media outlets expected. More from TBD.

Savannah Might Not Want Brown Back — Former Arlington County Manager Michael Brown may not be wanted back in Savannah, after all. The Savannah Morning News has compiled a list of four “discoveries about city operations” that have occurred since Brown left for Arlington. Among them: “More than $2 million in pay raises and special merit increases Brown awarded each year for the past three years.”

Meaningless Real Estate Data — Home sales are down in Arlington, but only if you compare it to one year ago when the federal government was offering generous real estate tax credits. Median home sale prices are up compared to one year ago. More from the Sun Gazette.

Protests at CAIR Convention — The Council on American-Islamic Relations held its national convention at the Marriott Crystal Gateway in Crystal City Saturday night. Outside the sold-out event, Tea Party leaders planned a protest against CAIR and Sharia law.

Flickr pool photo by Michael C. White

Board to Hear Grocery Store-Related Proposal for Crystal City

By ARLnow.com

It’s a rather unglamorous item on Saturday’s county board agenda, but behind the mundane particulars of a site plan amendment to turn retail space into office space is an issue near and dear to the hearts of many Crystal City residents: the potential for a neighborhood grocery store.

The firm that operates the underground shops at 2100 Crystal Drive wants to take 5,661 square feet of open retail space and convert it to office and storage use. But that would come at the expense of a vacant 17,919 square foot space that, until 2005, housed a Safeway store. The landlord has been trying to find another grocery tenant, but has been fighting a strong headwind caused by the weak national economy and the imminent departure of 13,000 jobs from the Crystal City area.

Essentially, the request to convert vacant space to an office use is a white flag — an admission that after five years of trying to market the space to grocery stores, leasing agents have come to the conclusion that no one wants to run a 17,919 square foot grocery store in the Crystal City underground at this time. While keeping open the possibility of a smaller, Trader Joe’s-sized market, the landlord is trying to find a way — any way — to productively fill some of the excess space.

But the county board may not allow that to happen. County staff is recommending that the site plan amendment be denied and that the space remain open for a potential grocery store. While acknowledging the difficulty in finding a suitable tenant, staff argues that it’s important to “retain the potential for a use that would activate the public realm and/or have a higher value to the community.”

County staff concludes that the space should be retained for retail or for “civic and culturally-oriented uses.” Besides, staff notes, BRAC will leave plenty of vacant office space for the landlord’s potential 5,661 square foot tenant.

The board is expected to take up the matter on Saturday. Then, on Tuesday, an item with far wider-reaching consequences will be considered: the 40-year Crystal City Sector Plan.

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