Zachary Taylor Park

Morning Notes

By Brandi Bottalico

Local Home Sales, Prices Up — “The average price of a detached, single-family house that sold in Arlington County, Virginia, in December was $1,258,648. That is 17% more than the average price a year earlier, according to the Northern Virginia Association of Realtors.” [WTOP]

Crystal City Office Tower Sells for $188M — “The building at 1400 Crystal Drive, totaling 308,000 square feet, was sold in late December by affiliates of Lincoln Property Co. for $188.5 million, or $612 per square foot, to Starwood Capital Group, according to Arlington County property records.” [Washington Business Journal]

Metro GM/CEO Retires — General Manager and Chief Executive Officer Paul J. Wiedefeld will retire from Metro in six months, after more than six years running the regional transit agency. [WMATA]

More Water Main Breaks — From Arlington DES: “An unusually intense winter has triggered an above-average number of water main breaks, often during the cold, dark early morning when most people are asleep. Saluting the folks who respond. They’re not in it for the glamour. #TheOtherFirstResponders.” [Twitter]

Larry Finch Plaque Likely Coming to Zachary Taylor Park — “The proposal emanated from the Donaldson Run Civic Association to honor Finch (1933-2020), who lived in Arlington from 1966 and 2013 and was active in civic affairs – especially in the parks and ecological arena – for much of that lengthy period.” [Sun Gazette]

Gas Leak Closes Street — A natural gas leak in Crystal City closed S Eads Street for over an hour Tuesday morning as Arlington County Fire Department waited for utility crews to assess the situation. Buildings were checked and no gas was detected. [Patch, Twitter]

Small Business Program Launches — From Arlington Chamber of Commerce: “We are proud to launch our Small Business Accelerator Program, presented by Amazon. As the Presenting Sponsor of this program, Amazon will sponsor half of the membership dues to verified Small, Women and Minority-owned (SWaM) businesses located in Virginia joining the Chamber for their first year of membership.” [Twitter]

It’s Wednesday — Today will be mostly sunny, with a high near 47. South wind 9 to 11 mph, with gusts as high as 23 mph. Sunrise at 7:23 a.m. and sunset at 5:15 p.m. Tomorrow we’ll see rain and snow before 1 p.m., then a slight chance of snow. High near 38. North wind 10 to 13 mph, with gusts as high as 20 mph. Chance of precipitation is 90%. New snow accumulation of less than a half inch possible. [Weather.gov]

Tall Man Wearing Short Shorts Prompts Call to Police

By ARLnow.com

A man wearing shorts that apparently did not fully cover his genitals prompted calls to police Wednesday in the Donaldson Run neighborhood.

Arlington County Police were dispatched to the area of Zachary Taylor Park, on the 2900 block of Military Road, around 11:30 a.m. and again shortly after 1 p.m. Callers described a tall man who was exposing himself, in sight of children.

On Nextdoor, one poster said her daughters encountered a tall man “with very short athletic shorts and tattoos on his legs.”

“He had short hair and an athletic build and was listening to headphones,” she wrote in a post sent to ARLnow. “The shorts did not cover much if you get my drift! I reported it to the police.”

ACPD spokeswoman Ashley Savage said officers located the man but were unable to find evidence of a crime.

“At approximately 1:18 p.m., police were dispatched to the report of an exposure involving a subject with a similar description to the earlier call for service in the same area,” Savage said. “Officers located an individual matching the description and made contact with him, however, he denied having exposed himself. The reporting party was no longer on scene and did not wish to respond to the Magistrate’s Office to swear out warrants. The incident was documented by responding officers.”