Rosslyn

Encanto headlines the return of Rosslyn summer movie nights

By Matt Blitz
Rosslyn Cinema in Gateway Park 2019 (photo via Rosslyn BID)

Rosslyn movie nights are returning to Gateway Park this summer, with a selection of voted-on fan favorites.

The Rosslyn Business Improvement District (BID) is once again hosting a series of movie nights in June at Gateway Park (1300 Langston Blvd).

This year’s line-up includes the following films, which all emerged victorious through a March Madness-style bracket:

  • National Treasure
  • Space Jam
  • Encanto
  • Mamma Mia

This year, residents were given the opportunity to not only vote on what movies were shown, but predict what the winners would be — much like the annual tradition of submitting a bracket predicting which team will win the college basketball championship. The three most accurate brackets win a gift card to a Rosslyn restaurant.

The bracket was broken up into four categories — family, sports, romantic comedies, and D.C. area-based — with National Treasure, Space Jam, Encanto, and Mamma Mia winning its respective group.

While voting on which movies will be shown in June concluded yesterday (Thursday), residents can still vote on which will be the ultimate winner.

Exact dates of when each movie will be shown have not been announced yet.

Rosslyn’s movie series at Gateway Park dates back at least a decade, to 2012. After taking a year off due to the pandemic, the series returned in 2021 with an abbreviated version.

Rosslyn BID is not the only community organization that will be hosting outdoor movies this summer.

The Columbia Pike Partnership’s movie nights are also set to return for their 12th year on Saturday nights starting in July, the organization has confirmed to ARLnow. The series will run July 9 through August 27 while alternating locations between Penrose Square and Arlington Mill Community Center. The calendar of movies will be announced later this spring.

In the past, the National Landing BID and Ballston BID have also both hosted summer movie nights. Ballston BID told ARLnow that they will not be hosting movies this summer, while the National Landing BID said they don’t have details to share as of yet.

Arlington boathouse boosters launch website to track progress on the project

By Jo DeVoe
1/3

There is a new sign of progress on the 30-year-old project to build a boathouse in Arlington.

In anticipation of planning and design work kicking off this year, the Arlington Boathouse Foundation — an organization that exists to ensure residents one day can launch non-motorized boats, such as kayaks, into the Potomac from the county’s shoreline — has launched a new website.

It is intended to provide frequent updates on the project’s progress as well as engagement opportunities, says foundation secretary George Kirschbaum. Those who need a refresher on the project, given how many years it has been discussed, will have easier access to important documents and answers to frequently asked questions, he added.

“We needed something new and fresh that’s more about the project,” Kirschbaum said. “Plus, we hope to provide some new interesting features, such as interviews with community members and interested parties to give their ideas and impressions of why this facility is important to the county and the residents.”

The website will also promote foundation-sponsored educational and promotional events, such as a river cleanup this June by the proposed lower portion of the site. Kirschbaum said foundation leaders hope events such as this one demonstrate the sustained community interest in the facility to project leaders.

Momentum has been building over the last year to build a boathouse at 2105 N. Lynn Street in Rosslyn. The project is a joint venture between Arlington County and the National Parks Service, as the county’s Potomac shoreline is NPS property.

Most recently, Kirschbaum said boathouse foundation leaders met with county officials, Rep. Don Beyer (D-Va.) and NPS representatives in December to discuss roles and responsibilities and how to keep the project moving forward.

This year, the county will solicit designs for the facility, to be comprised of two buildings: one near the entrance to the Key Bridge with locker rooms, workout areas, offices and meeting spaces, and the other at river level with storage for boat and stand-up paddle equipment, according to the boathouse website.

The county budgeted $4.75 million for planning and initial designs in the 2022-24 Capital Improvements Plan.

The project is popular with Arlington’s crew community, as it would provide them a more convenient boat launch that is away from D.C.’s crowded boathouses. Crew alumni and their friends also comprise many of the members of the Arlington Boathouse Foundation, which has pushed for the facility since 1991.

“It’s been a long process,” says Kirschbaum, who rowed for Washington-Liberty High School (then Washington-Lee) in the 1980s.

It didn’t gain momentum until 2012, when the parks service initiated an environmental impacts study — looking at how construction could affect floodplains and species living in the waterway. The study was held up several times before resuming in 2016 and wrapping up in 2018.

Meanwhile, the county purchased land south of the Key Bridge in 2014 to speed up the process and, despite some opposition, the Arlington County Board authorized an agreement with NPS in 2019.

“I think it’s important to know that the county has a very vested interest in working with the National Parks Service to see this through to fruition,” Kirschbaum said. “There are still high-level discussions about how are we going to work together to move forward, but those talks are happening… We can actually envision a boathouse where before, it was the dream.”

Kirschbaum says he hopes the boathouse will be ready if and when his currently elementary school-aged kid goes out for crew in high school.

It’s been a bad 24 hours for light poles in Arlington

By ARLnow.com
1/11

Out of control cars and falling trees have made the past 24 hours the thing of nightmares for local light poles.

The pole carnage started just before 12:30 p.m. yesterday (Tuesday), in Courthouse.

A delivery driver parked her SUV on the steep section of Wilson Blvd in Courthouse in order to pick up kabobs, but the car somehow started rolling down the hill after she got out. It crashed into a parked pickup truck, smashed some sidewalk seating and annihilated a light pole in front of Burger District at 2024 Wilson Blvd. Construction workers who were in the area ran to the scene and called 911, but luckily no one was hurt.

George Ishak, owner of Burger District, says it was his truck that was damaged. He was grateful, however, for the ultimate sacrifice made by the light pole.

“God protected me,” he tells ARLnow. “If the pole wasn’t there, the car could have easily gone into my store.”

The restaurant’s surveillance video of the crash, provided to ARLnow, is below.

Just a couple of hours later and less than a mile away, another light pole was felled by the dangerous combination of vehicles and gravity.

At the intersection of Key Blvd and N. Oak Street, among the office and apartment buildings of Rosslyn, a car rolled backward down a hill and crashed into a pole that looked uncannily similar to the first. The circumstances around the 3 p.m. crash were unclear, but the result was the same: what had once stood proudly along Key Blvd, sharing its light with the world, was now horizontal and shattered on the ground.

Police arrived on scene shortly thereafter, assessing the damage and talking to a man who was either the driver or a witness.

Unfortunately for the light poles of Arlington, the destruction has continued this morning.

Police were called to the intersection of 21st Street N. and N. Scott Street in the North Highlands neighborhood around 9:30 a.m. for a report of a tree that fell and demolished yet another light pole. No human injuries were reported. Officers remain on scene as of publication time.

TV studio for home improvement network no longer coming to Rosslyn condo basement

By ARLnow.com
The would-be WBITN studios in 2019 (photo via WBITN/Facebook)

A television studio for a new home improvement TV network will not, in fact, open in the basement of an aging condominium building in Rosslyn.

Plans for an elaborate 4,000+ square foot studio space for WBITN — which stands for We Build It New — were first reported by ARLnow in March 2020. It was supposed to open in a lower level of the River Place South complex at 1011 Arlington Blvd, complete with 15 assigned parking spaces.

Despite receiving a use permit for the studio from the Arlington County Board, however, the studio was never built and has cancelled its plans.

The County Board voted to discontinue the use permit at its meeting this past Saturday.

In a report to the Board, county staff did not reveal a reason why the plans fell through, but noted that the business was cited for construction performed without a permit last year.

From the report:

During the first one-year review in March 2021, Code Enforcement inspected the property and cited the applicant for unpermitted work. The applicant worked with the Inspection Services Division to submit applications for the required permits, which required inspection upon completion of the work prior to the issuance of a Certificate of Occupancy for the audiovisual studio. At the time, staff recommended an Administrative Review in six (6) months to monitor the applicant’s progress towards compliance with the Virginia Uniform Statewide Building Code as well as a County Board review in one year (March 2022). The applicant has not yet acquired the required permits to operate the audio-visual studio, and no longer plans to pursue the audio-visual studio use. Therefore, staff recommends discontinuance since the applicant does not plan to pursue the audio-visual activity.

Rosslyn CVS to close after more than two decades inside of 1100 Wilson Blvd

By Matt Blitz
1/2

The CVS inside of 1100 Wilson Blvd in Rosslyn is closing next month after more than twenty years in that location, the company confirms.

The store is located in the lobby of the same building as local TV station WJLA (ABC 7), near the busy intersection with N. Lynn Street. It has been there since December 1999, according to the company.

“We’ve made the difficult decision to close our pharmacy at 1100 Wilson Blvd. in Rosslyn, VA on April 15,” a CVS spokesperson said in a statement to ARLnow. “All prescriptions will be transferred to the nearby CVS Pharmacy at 1788 N. Pierce St. in Arlington, which is just three blocks away, to ensure that patients continue to have uninterrupted access to service. All employees are being offered comparable roles at other CVS locations nearby.”

The exact reason for this particular closure wasn’t directly addressed in the statement, with the spokesperson noting that “maintaining access to pharmacy services in underserved communities is an important factor we consider when making store closure decisions.”

The company also cited population shifts, a store’s density, local market dynamics, and the proximity of other CVS stores as reasons.

The remaining CVS in Rosslyn on Pierce Street is relatively new, having opened in the last few years. While just a few blocks away from the closing store, it’s something of a journey, given the steep hill one has to walk up from N. Lynn Street.

All told, there are 15 other Arlington CVS locations.

Sitting at 31 stories, 1100 Wilson Blvd is one half of a pair of twin towers and a well-known Rosslyn skyline landmark. Besides being the long-time home of WJLA, it’s also home to cybersecurity company Shift5, pasta house Sfoglina, a satellite location for the University of Virginia’s business school, and Raytheon.

Four Courts Four Miler to close parts of Wilson Blvd Saturday morning

By Matt Blitz
2014 Four Courts Four Miler road race (photo courtesy of Brian W. Knight/Swim Bike Run Photography)

The Four Courts Four Miler is back and is set to close a stretch of Wilson Blvd in Courthouse and Rosslyn for several hours on Saturday morning.

The annual St. Patrick’s Day-themed race, sponsored by Ireland’s Four Courts and organized by Pacers, will shut down Wilson Blvd between N. Courthouse Road to N. Rhodes Street starting at 6 a.m. and, then, the rest of Wilson Blvd to Route 110 starting at 8:30 a.m.

Northbound Route 110 will also be closed from I-395 to I-66 starting at 8:30 a.m. Southbound Route 110 will remain open through the duration of the race. Metro buses will continue to operate, though detoured.

All the roads will reopen at 11 a.m.

Arlington County Police Department recommends using Route 50 to get to Courthouse Road and Langston Blvd to get through Rosslyn. Street parking will be limited in the area, so be on the lookout for “no parking” signs.

Runners and spectators are encouraged to use Metro or other forms of “multimodal transportation.”

Planned Four Courts Four Miler road closures (via ACPD)

The Four Courts Four Miler is one of a number of St. Patrick’s Day festivities in Arlington. The race was canceled in 2020 due to the emerging pandemic and was virtual last year. This year, it’s back to being in-person, though there remains a virtual option.

The race starts at 9 a.m. The first half of the course is downhill while the second half is uphill, notes the race information page.

After the run, the nearly-three-decade old Irish pub in Courthouse will host live music and Irish dancers all day, until last call at 1:30 a.m., per the pub’s website.

Japanese restaurant Yuraku planning to open next month in long-vacant Rosslyn space

By Matt Blitz
1/2

Japanese restaurant Yuraku is looking to open in Rosslyn by next month.

The Germantown-based sushi spot is aiming to start serving by early April, a co-owner says. The menu likely will be “slightly different” than the menu at the Maryland location, we’re told.

There will also be both outdoor and indoor seating. A permit issued in the summer notes that a new sushi bar was added, in addition to other changes including alterations to the kitchen.

ARLnow first reported nearly a year ago that the restaurant was moving into the long-vacant ground floor restaurant space of the Turnberry Tower condo building at 1850 Fort Myer Drive, a block or two from the Rosslyn Metro station.

The off-the-beaten path location, which is somewhat obscured by shrubs, was previously home to Secret Chopsticks and Pancho Villa Mexican Cuisine. Both restaurants closed in relative short order. The space has been vacant for more than four years.

Yuraku first opened in Germantown in 1998, per its website, and serves sushi, sake, udon noodles, sashimi, tempura, and other Japanese fare. The name “Yuraku” translates to “pleasure,” according to a trademark filing.

Hat tip to Edward MacNabb

Spicy chicken shop Hot Lola’s is expanding into Rosslyn

By Matt Blitz
1/2

Spicy chicken sandwich purveyor Hot Lola’s is opening a second Arlington location, this time in Rosslyn.

The restaurant is opening at 1501 Wilson Blvd, sandwiched between Taco Rock and Miracles Salon. A Virginia ABC permit notice on the door announces the eatery’s intention to serve beer, wine, and mixed beverages.

Hot Lola’s first location at Ballston Quarter, which opened in May 2019, does not sell alcohol, though it’s available for purchase by another vendor inside the Quarter Market food hall.

DCist was first with the restaurant’s intent to open in Rosslyn.

Hot Lola’s is replacing Mediterranean fast casual eatery Roti, which appears to have closed a few months ago, after 10 years in business at that location.

ARLnow has reached out to Hot Lola’s about when the Rosslyn location may open, but has yet to hear back as of publication. The restaurant’s windows are papered over, making it difficult to see the construction progress inside.

The eatery from noted D.C. area chef Kevin Tien is known for its spicy “Nashville x Sichuan hot fried chicken sandwiches.” Other popular options include seasoned waffle fries and chicken tenders.

Hot Lola’s made some news when it instituted a 4% “Fair Wage + Wellness” charge to every check, to help pay for employee health insurance, including dental and vision.

Tien has had other ties to Arlington as well, having previously operated his Wild Tiger BBQ collaboration as a pop-up at Bun’d Up in Pentagon City.

Morning Notes

By ARLnow.com

Vida Scraps Rosslyn Plans — “Vida Fitness has scrapped plans for a new location in Rosslyn, where it was to be part of a much larger multifamily-and-retail development that has been in the works for more than five years. Urban Adventure Cos., its D.C.-based parent company, has exercised an option to terminate its roughly 27,000-square-foot lease at The Highlands, according to two sources.” [Washington Business Journal]

ABC Stores Returning to Normal Hours — “Beginning Tuesday, March 1, all 396 Virginia Alcoholic Beverage Control Authority (ABC) stores will return to normal operating hours. All stores will open by 10 a.m. every day, apart from some stores which regularly open later on Sundays. Store closing times, which were not part of the month-long adjustment, will remain the same.” [Press Release]

Reminder About Old SmarTrip Cards — “Customers are being reminded that Metro’s oldest SmarTrip cards will no longer be accepted at faregates and fareboxes as of March 1. Those currently riding Metro or who plan to soon will need to replace their cards to travel on Metrorail or Metrobus after the deadline. SmarTrip cards purchased before 2012 are no longer compatible with new, faster, modern faregates already installed in many stations.” [WMATA]

It’s Friday — Light rain in the morning. High of 53 and low of 34. Sunrise at 6:48 am and sunset at 5:58 pm. [Weather.gov]

Korean fast casual restaurant SeoulSpice opening in Rosslyn next week with free food

By Matt Blitz
1/5

Korean fast casual eatery SeoulSpice is opening a new location in Rosslyn next week and offering free food for its first customers.

The spot at 1735 N. Lynn Street, on the ground floor of the International Place building, will be SeoulSpice’s sixth location and first in Virginia. It is set to open its doors on Wednesday, Feb. 23, and will be open from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily.

On opening day, each in-store customer can get a “complimentary entrée bowl” while supplies last. Customers must physically be in the restaurant to get the bowl.

The growing restaurant chain, which serves Korean comfort food including rice bowls and japchae noodle bowls, was founded by a world-class percussionist.

“Like all musicians, I’m a foodie,” owner Eric Shin tells ARLnow.

Shin became the principal percussionist with the National Symphony Orchestra about a decade ago. So, when friends came to visit, he would often play “tour guide” taking them to all the popular Korean restaurants in the area.

He soon realized there was a need in the D.C. area for fresh Korean flavors in a more simple, fast-casual format.

So, taking what he learned from his mom who opened a restaurant in Atlanta, he opened his own restaurant in 2016. SeoulSpice’s first location was in D.C. and has since expanded to Maryland.

Over the years, Shin says he’s learned a lot, particularly about how his careers intersect. He’s also a faculty member at the music school at the University of Maryland.

“Food, like music, is this pursuit of perfection,” he says. “There’s so many parallels in music and food, both being incredible ways to learn about culture.”

Food runs in Shin’s family. Many of the recipes come from family members, passed down over generations, with nearly all ingredients prepped and made in-house. The menu includes Korean-style burritos, bibimbap, japchae, bulgogi, kimchi, and sauces, which are all made from scratch.

In fact, Shin ran the entire menu by his grandmother, who approved it save for one item.

“[We] offer cilantro-lime ranch, which is one of my favorite sauces… I’m a ranch addict. But my grandma was so pissed off when we showed her this on the menu,” Shin laughs. “But the flavors really work. It took a lot of convincing… to win [her] over.”

SeoulSpice also ended up being gluten-free, not because Shin intended it to be but because he preferred the complexity of tamari as a soy sauce alternative, which is naturally free of gluten.

The lease was signed for the Rosslyn location prior to the pandemic, Shin says, so it has taken a while to open. Plus, it’s a bit of a challenging space, having operated as a dry cleaning business prior and being under a thousand square feet.

Shin is excited for the opening, though, since Arlington was the most requested location for a new restaurant.

“Practically every week, we got emails from someone in Northern Virginia saying, ‘please come out here!'” he says.

Shin believes that his work as a percussionist is in some ways his “secret sauce” for his success as a restaurateur.

“When you’re practicing in music,” Shin says. “You’re always finding interesting ways to do new things.”

Cybersecurity company Shift5 nabs $50M to develop products, hire staff

By Jo DeVoe

Sponsored by Monday Properties and written by ARLnow, Startup Monday is a weekly column that profiles Arlington-based startups, founders, and other local technology news. Monday Properties is proudly featuring 1515 Wilson Blvd in Rosslyn.

Cybersecurity company Shift5 has raised $50 million in a Series B funding round to protect planes, trains and military weapon systems from mounting threats.

The round was led by private equity and venture capital firm Insight Partners, and follows up on a $20 million Series A funding round last fall.

“Shift5’s experienced founding team with deep national and cybersecurity experience, plus early success, makes the company a standout in the industry,” Nick Sinai, a senior advisor at Insight Partners who will join Shift5’s board, said in a statement. “We’re excited to work with Shift5 as it fills a crucial space in defending national infrastructure.”

Shift5 intends to use the funding to new products and hire new employees to keep pace with demand for its services across transportation and national defense industries. It works with some notable clients, including the U.S. military’s Special Operations Command.

The Rosslyn-based startup, headquartered at 1100 Wilson Blvd, currently offers a platform that identifies the weak points in the systems making planes, trains and militaries run, and wards off cyber threats. It began selling this product last year, and reported netting tens of millions of dollars in revenue.

The commitment to hiring staff comes after the company doubled the size of its team in 2021.

Airlines, train operators and militaries often rely on outdated operational technology to power their fleets, according to Shift5. As more of these operational systems get connected to the Internet, they become more vulnerable to cyber attacks — which can cost them millions of dollars in losses, remediation and ransom payments.

And soon, they may have a human cost, as these attacks could result in injuries and deaths by 2025, according to research firm Gartner.

Shift5 founders deploy their product on a train during COVID-19 (courtesy of Shift5)

Cyber threats are becoming more commonplace, and demand for Shift5’s services is rising, the company says. Recent attacks have targeted pipelines and surface transportation, including New York’s public transit authority and a major port in Houston. Hacks into maritime operational technology have increased by 900% since 2017 and, overall, the transportation industry witnessed a 186% increase in weekly attacks from 2020 to 2021.

“If the past year has proven anything, it’s that the leading defenders in rail, aviation, and national defense see the prescient risks and are mobilizing to get ahead of costly damages,” said Shift5’s President Joe Lea in a statement. “We look forward to partnering with Insight Partners as we continue to grow and defend.”

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