Arlington County could soon acquire a Columbia Pike home as part of an effort to improve an intersection.
The Arlington County Board on Saturday is set to consider whether to make a $627,000 offer to the owner of 1802 Columbia Pike.
Acquiring the property would allow the county to realign the intersection of S. Rolfe Street and the Pike, making current plans to improve the crossing safer and more efficient, according to a county report.
A proposed resolution comes with a threat of the county forcibly claiming the home, which has been vacant since January 2021. If the landowner and her legal guardian were to refuse the county’s offer, county staff are seeking permission to exercise eminent domain to take the property and compensate its owner.
The resolution declares that acquiring the property is “a public necessity” for the sake of improving “public safety, convenience and welfare at said intersection.”
“The County has been in discussions with the Conservator regarding voluntary acquisition of the Property since January 2023,” the report says. “Discussions to date have been unsuccessful.”
For years, according to the report, the county has been in talks with residents of the Arlington View neighborhood about improving transportation access and safety issues. The only way out of the neighborhood is through three intersections on the Pike, and only one of these intersections has a traffic signal.
The county’s original plan for improving S. Rolfe Street and Columbia Pike calls for a split-phase traffic signal, which would allow pedestrian crossings only on the east side of the intersection. Acquiring this house would instead let the county build an additional crosswalk on the Pike, making the intersection less hazardous for foot traffic and reducing delays for motorists by about 30%.
“A more efficient single-signal design will create a safer, direct crossing of Columbia Pike for bikes, pedestrians, and vehicles on S. Rolfe Street,” the report says. “This will benefit all modes of travelers on both Columbia Pike and S. Rolfe Street, and will particularly improve access for residents of the Arlington View neighborhood.”
Changes to this intersection are part of the Columbia Pike Multimodal Street Improvements project, a $114 million initiative partially funded by the Virginia Department of Transportation.
Photo (top) via Google Maps
A new restaurant and bar is expected to replace the closed Rebellion on the Pike in a few weeks.
Cornerstone, at 2900 Columbia Pike, will offer a family friendly atmosphere around dinnertime and a place to grab a drink later in the night, co-owner Pete Fejeran tells ARLnow.
He is hoping to draw in both locals and visitors from nearby counties, many of whom frequent a notable business across the street — Arlington Cinema and Drafthouse, where Fejeran is general manager.
“We really just want a homey place,” he said. “It’s a place where people coming into town can just kick back, relax.”
Fejeran and co-owners Cindy Kaylor, Mike O’Hara and Kathryn McAbee are in the process of refurbishing the location, which Rebellion on the Pike occupied from April 2019 until last month. They are aiming for a soft opening on Wednesday, April 10.
Fejeran said he hopes the establishment will complement other local businesses, with audience members going there after shows — and maybe even grabbing drinks with stand-up comics after their Drafthouse performances.
“It’s right across the street — just easy back and forth,” he said.
Tentative hours are Monday through Thursday from 4-10 p.m., Friday from 2 p.m.-1:30 a.m., Saturday from 11 a.m.-1:30 a.m. and Sunday from 11 a.m.-10 p.m.
Rebellion on the Pike, which blamed its closure on economic circumstances, stepped into the shoes of another shuttered watering hole at the same location, BrickHaus.
BrickHaus was only open for about a year, in a building that has been there for much longer. Some say 2900 Columbia Pike is the oldest building on the Pike, dating back to 1902.
A Woodbridge man is facing a litany of charges after an attempt to flee from police ended in a crash with injuries.
Arlington County police say the 26-year-old was driving drunk around 11 p.m. last night when an officer tried to pull him over for erratic driving. The suspect drove off, according to police, and soon crashed into another vehicle at the intersection of Columbia Pike and S. Scott Street.
The man again took off, on foot, but officers were able to locate him and take him into custody, according to ACPD. The driver of the struck vehicle suffered “minor injuries,” police said.
More, below, from an ACPD crime report.
ELUDING (Significant), 2024-02260230, Columbia Pike at S. Scott Street. At approximately 11:01 p.m. on February 26, a midnight patrol officer attempted a traffic stop after observing the suspect vehicle driving erratically in the area with improper registration and the owner of the vehicle listed with a suspended license. The suspect failed to stop and fled the scene during which he struck the victim vehicle and subsequently crashed. The suspect then exited the vehicle and ran from the area. Responding officers canvassed the area for the suspect, located him and took him into custody. He was transported to an area hospital for medical evaluation. Minor injuries were reported for the occupant of the struck vehicle. During the course of the investigation, a firearm was recovered from the suspect’s vehicle. [The suspect], 26, of Woodbridge, Va. was arrested and charged with Eluding, Hit and Run, Driving Under the Influence, Driving with a Suspended License and Carrying a Concealed Weapon. He was held without bond.
Last night, an attempted traffic stop on a vehicle driving erratically resulted in the apprehension of the driver for suspected driving under the influence and the recovery of an illegally possessed concealed handgun. (1/3) pic.twitter.com/uaxE7ps5Xe
— ArlingtonCountyPD (@ArlingtonVaPD) February 27, 2024
Local public safety watcher Dave Statter posted a photo and video from the incident on social media.
Watch out around Columbia Pike & S. Scott Street in Arlington. @ArlingtonVaPD tried to stop a car that sped off and apparently hit another vehicle. Two people ran off but it sound as if one, or not both, have now been detained. At least one person was hurt in the car that was… pic.twitter.com/HBCLFGOKfM
— Dave Statter (@STATter911) February 27, 2024
Video sent to STATter911 from the crash last night on Columbia Pike at S. Scott Street in Arlington. An @ArlingtonVaPD tried to stop a car that apparently immediately sped off and hit another vehicle. Two people ran from the crash. They were apparently quickly found. Someone was… pic.twitter.com/ZEsIBUwObn
— Dave Statter (@STATter911) February 27, 2024
Celtic House on Columbia Pike is nearly ready to unveil its new whiskey bar.
Construction on the basement expansion has wrapped up and the owners are now adding finishing touches before the grand opening, expected in the next week or two, General Manager Chris Devenney told ARLnow.
“You only get one chance to open, and we want to do it right and not screw it up,” he said.
The whiskey bar, situated beneath the pub, is linked to the main restaurant via a wooden staircase. Additionally, patrons will be able to use a separate entrance located at the back of the building.
An official opening date hasn’t been set but Devenney anticipates it will be within the next 10 days. Upon opening, the bar’s hours will be 4 p.m. to 1:30 a.m., Wednesday through Sunday.
Owners Michael McMahon and Rolando Canales initially planned to open the bar last fall but they decided to time the opening with March Madness and St. Patrick’s Day instead.
“That’s our best month of the year,” McMahon said.
Billy Mulcaire, a D.C.-area carpenter trained in old-world techniques, started working on the complex solid red oak bar last February. He also crafted all the furniture, stairway and vestibule leading into the bar behind the pub, says McMahon.
“He’s a good friend of mine… He [doesn’t] do this stuff anymore,” McMahon said. “It is a great masterpiece.”
Construction on the space, previously a dry cleaning business, began in August, after the county’s historic review board approved plans for a vestibule on the exterior of the pub, which is located in a historic district.
McMahon, who immigrated to the U.S. from County Clare in southwestern Ireland in 1987, co-founded Celtic House with Canales in 2014. When the dry cleaning business closed, Canales suggested to McMahon that they lease or renovate the space.
Although McMahon was initially hesitant, Canales convinced his business partner to embrace the opportunity and launch a whiskey bar that could host private gatherings while expanding the restaurant’s capacity from 90 to nearly 150 patrons.
“So, this room gives us an opportunity that we can tap into that if they want to do a showcase or have a nice happy hour here with 40 or 50 people,” McMahon said.
The food menu downstairs will be the same as the upstairs menu, while the event and catering menus — set to publish on the restaurant’s website this week — will “look a little different,” says Devenney.
Devenney mentioned the new bar will also have a much more extensive selection of Irish whiskeys, which are “difficult to get.”
“So, we have bottles we’ve been collecting for over a year, really since we started construction,” he said.
After moving from one temporary location to another on Columbia Pike, The Black Heritage Museum of Arlington has settled into its new digs — for now.
The museum is currently located on the first floor of the Ethiopian Community Development Council building (3045B Columbia Pike), but it has bounced around the Pike ever since it transitioned from an online museum to a physical location in 2018.
Museum President and Director Scott Taylor tells ARLnow he is still looking for a permanent home for the museum that stays close to the Pike.
“We were across the street, then we were down the street, now we’re here,” said Taylor. “I would love us to stay in this corridor of Columbia Pike because there’s so much history here.”
Taylor told ARLnow that the museum’s current location was built on Camp Casey, which was an African American Civil War camp from 1862-1865. The home of an enslaved man in the late 1800s, is down the street and the historical African American neighborhood of Queen City was located nearby. Back in the day, he said, the Pike had clear views of Arlington House, the historic home of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee.
Taylor’s appreciation for history is what has kept him at the museum without any compensation. He said that the stories of his ancestors inspire him.
“I’m always around these stories and these people, so it gives me energy just to keep pushing,” said Taylor.
Taylor devotes a lot of time and energy toward the museum’s success, which has seen an uptick in attendance this month for Black History Month. Much of that time is spent on fundraising to cover the high cost of rent and exhibits, as the museum does not receive aid. Amazon gave the museum a grant in 2019 but since then, the money for the exhibits have come out of his own pocket.
“Right before Covid, I was driving an Uber as a part-time to have money to pay for the things that we needed here,” said Taylor.
Taylor also said that he would host fundraisers, sell merchandise and write a monthly newsletter to inform people about the museum.
Despite the financial hardships, Taylor said that he does this work “all day, every day” because it matters to him.
“I live and breathe this and I don’t expect anybody else to do that,” said Taylor.
The museum has kept busy in February co-hosting events for Black History Month, but there are a few more to look out for as the month closes out. They include a photo scavenger hunt featuring historic landmarks, taking place all this month, and, in partnership with the Arlington Historical Society, the installation of “stumbling blocks,” or bricks with the names of enslaved people, at former Arlington plantations.
Taylor said he is happy the museum is involved in partnerships this year as opposed to hosting individual events. He said that he hopes more partnerships come outside of Black History Month.
“I’m trying to convey to people that you don’t have to just do this once a month or once a year — we can do this all-year round,” said Taylor.
Taylor said that Black history is American history and that it should not only receive attention in February. He said he hopes his efforts at the museum will have the impact on others that it did on him.
“Arlington is creating a voice for these people, a lot of them were enslaved at one time, a lot of them sacrificed their time, jobs and livelihoods to make things better for me,” said Taylor. “Hopefully, I’m doing the same. “
Update at 8:45 p.m. — Columbia Pike is back open.
Update at 5:50 p.m. — The gas leak has been stopped, the fire department said just after 5:30 p.m. Columbia Pike remains closed to traffic, however, according to traffic cameras.
FINAL: Gas has been secured and all FD resources are going in service. No further hazard exists.
— Arlington Fire & EMS (@ArlingtonVaFD) February 15, 2024
Earlier: A portion of Columbia Pike is blocked for an extended period of time due to a gas leak.
The Pike is closed between S. Wayne Street and S. Barton Street, near Penrose Square, due to the leak. Roadway construction was in progress at the time the leak was reported.
The Arlington County Fire Department is on scene. The closure is expected to stretch on for several hours, according to scanner traffic.
“Avoid the area,” ACFD said. The closure is causing significant delays on the Pike, with traffic to the west reportedly backing up past Glebe Road.
A gas leak and road closure happened in the same general spot in June 2023.
Units are on the scene of a natural gas leak in the area of Columbia Pike & S Adams St. Columbia Pike between S Wayne and S Barton St will be closed in both directions. Expect traffic disruptions and avoid the area. pic.twitter.com/QoaST1SAXm
— Arlington Fire & EMS (@ArlingtonVaFD) February 15, 2024
LOCATION: Columbia Pike / S Adams St
INCIDENT: Fire Department Activity
IMPACT: Traffic has been closed in both directions on Columbia Pike from S Wayne St to S Barton St. Seek alternate routes. pic.twitter.com/uZOyl8pTkP— Arlington Alert (@ArlingtonAlert) February 15, 2024
The Pike is closed for a big gas leak @ARLnowDOTcom lots of police & fire. Overheard a cop say they were waiting on a contractor. pic.twitter.com/fZDu8tiTCH
— Rob Link (@RobBobLink) February 15, 2024
A florist from Eastern Europe is bringing her passion for flowers to Arlington.
What started as an online business for floral delivery has blossomed into a brick-and-mortar storefront, Kat Flowers Design and Decor, which had its grand opening at 2342 Columbia Pike this past Friday, Feb. 9.
Yekaterina Allotey, the owner and lead designer, told ARLnow that she stumbled on the future home of her flower shop by accident, while pushing her baby in a stroller along the Pike. Once she laid eyes on the location, she knew it was the place for her.
Allotey says the Columbia Pike community welcomed her with open arms.
“You don’t feel alone when you’re starting something big like a floral business or flower shop,” said Allotey. “It’s so important to have supporters or someone who actually appreciates you here.”
Supporters from all over came to help Allotey settle in. She said her family flew from her home country of Belarus, as well as from Spain, for opening day. Other floral businesses showed their support at the ribbon-cutting, too.
“We are friends with every other shop I used to work with,” said Allotey. “We support each other.”
While the florist says she loves her new home, she still clings to memories of home.
Allotey told ARLnow that her fascination with flowers was sparked in her childhood home in Belarus, where her mother always displayed outdoor plants and flowers in the front and backyard of the house and had some arrangements inside, too.
“I remember in the summertime, when I would have guests coming over, she would ask me, ‘Hey, can you go pick up some flowers so that we can put them on the table as a centerpiece?” she said.
Allotey also recalled obsessing over flowers while at school, spending all of her lunch money on floral and landscaping garden magazines. Little did she know that her childhood obsession would become her career.
“I didn’t know that, at that moment, I was going to be a florist, ” said Allotey. “I think that’s where everything started.”
From then on, Allotey did everything she could to be around flowers. Before coming to the U.S., Allotey worked at a small wedding business, where she sometimes worked with flowers but mostly, due to the high price of flowers, decorated with drapes.
Allotey immigrated to the U.S. and settled on the East Coast, working for other floral shops before starting an online flower business in 2021. Now that her online business has transitioned to a physical storefront, she is eager to connect with customers face-to-face.
“Right now I’m waiting for more walk-in customers to buy flowers,” Allotey said.
As of Tuesday, Allotey served 40 customers and she says she hopes for an even bigger turnout today for Valentine’s Day. She says she is fully stocked up for the day of love and touted her arrangements and specialty roses.
“We have six special bouquets. We don’t use regular roses: Our roses are garden-style and it’s not like something you buy from any other grocery stores,” she said.
Allotey is also willing to break outside the mold of a traditional floral designer. She and her team have done unique requests ranging from money bouquets to sparkling powder on roses.
“None of the florists I worked for would ever accept this type of request because they have their style,” Allotey said.
She says she even works with artificial flowers, if that is what the customer wants.
“I want to try to keep quality and delivery,” said Allotey. “You know they say happy customer, happy shop.”
As a 15-year-long project to rebuild Columbia Pike with wider sidewalks and underground utilities enters its last construction phase, county leaders say they are seeing early signs of a promising future.
On Thursday, the Columbia Pike Partnership held its third annual “State of the Pike,” during which Arlington County’s department heads delivered a comprehensive overview of the Pike’s housing market and local economy via Zoom.
Despite the construction’s impact on walkability and traffic flow, officials noted that the area’s retail, office and multifamily apartment vacancies fall well below the county average. Still, they say, neighborhoods on the Pike still face persistent challenges, such as addressing graffiti and revitalizing a stagnant office market.
For nearly two decades, construction along the Pike has been a constant presence for businesses, residents and commuters alike. The constant construction thrum is not likely to abate until late 2025, according to County Deputy Director of Transportation Hui Wang.
While these improvements have made the Pike more walkable and leafier, some county officials have noted that they have also hurt some businesses. At the same time, other business owners are finding it difficult to secure retail space, notes Arlington Economic Development Deputy Director Kate Ange.
“So, there is strong demand for retail, which means there’s not a lot of space,” she told attendees of the 2024 State of the Pike forum. “And that’s both an opportunity, but also could be a challenge.”
In the first quarter of 2023, the retail vacancy rate along Columbia Pike was approximately 2%, which previous studies of the Pike attributed to the Pike’s legacy businesses — now becoming a threatened breed — leasing older, less expensive storefronts. In contrast, the county’s overall retail vacancy rate was about 5%.
Ange highlighted the low retail vacancy rates as a clear sign that the local economy is on the mend post-pandemic, crediting a surge in consumer spending.
The same cannot be said for the office vacancy rate in Arlington, which was at nearly 25% as of last month. Ange acknowledged hybrid and remote work continues to affect commercial office space across the county, and Columbia Pike, which has approximately a 7% office vacancy rate, is no exception.
That being said, she noted that the demand for office space along the Pike is still “high” compared to other commercial districts.
When friends Alex Lopéz, Carlos Olarte and Ernesto Valenzuela opened Sabores Tapas Bar last year on Columbia Pike, they did not anticipate becoming a community staple so soon.
Since its debut last February — replacing a former Taqueria el Poblano location — the tapas bar was named one of the top 100 places to eat in the U.S. in 2024 by Yelp. Sabores ranked 48 on the list of 100 and was the only Northern Virginia restaurant to be featured.
Sabores was also named to Northern Virginia Magazine’s 2023 Best Restaurants list, cementing it as a new mainstay in the Penrose neighborhood.
“It was amazing news, we got really excited,” Olarte said. “It didn’t sink in completely until when it was announced and we saw the hype and started receiving phone calls from people that we knew, from customers calling us.”
Sabores samples regional cuisine from Spain and several Latin American countries, including Colombia, Venezuela and Honduras, from which López, Olarte and Valenzuela hail, respectively.
This is the first restaurant the trio has opened, though the restaurateurs have a combined 70-80 years of experience in the food and beverage industry, particularly in managing and opening restaurants, Olarte says. They worked together at a Brazilian steakhouse in Fairfax as well as Jaleo in Crystal City, which closed in 2021.
After the Yelp ranking, the business at 2401 Columbia Pike saw an immediate increase in customers, including upticks in large parties and reservations.
“We really, really welcome that push,” Olarte said. “People are being great. A lot of regulars, a lot of people coming in. It makes sense.”
As Sabores Tapas Bar welcomes more repeat customers, the restaurant become a place where “everybody knows everybody,” he continued.
“We really have become part of the neighborhood,” Olarte said.
Following the Yelp write-up, Sabores started serving bottomless brunch on Saturdays and Sundays and is working on launching a new lunch menu.
“We realize that a lot of people in the area are looking for something quick, so we’re adding more sandwiches, more salads, and also like a pre-fixe menu so people can pay a fixed price and get like three tapas of their choices so they can get in and out — something really quick and affordable,” Olarte said.
In the future, Olarte says he and his business partners are considering expanding Sabores as well perhaps opening other concepts. Right now, however, they are focusing on keeping up with the excitement at the current tapas bar.
“We’re hoping, right now especially with this, to start getting to a level that we feel comfortable that we can spare a little bit of our efforts for the new ventures,” Olarte said.
Despite these plans, the trio is still focused on serving Columbia Pike.
“This is our home,” Olarte said. “We can’t wait to see you again and again and again and again.”
Craft beer and whiskey bar Rebellion on the Pike is closing.
The bar at 2900 Columbia Pike opened in April 2019. In an Instagram post Monday afternoon, Rebellion blamed economic circumstances and said its last day would be in two weeks, on Monday, Feb. 19.
It is with great regret that we share the news of our plans to cease operations here on the Pike. The recent economic downturn has had a great effect on many people, especially around here on Columbia Pike. While we have had our fair share of struggles over the years, a global pandemic to name mention one, we have had a great run here at 2900 Columbia Pike. That time has been filled with so many great memories they are impossible to fully list here. Birthday parties, retirement ceremonies and celebrations of life for dear friends taken far too soon. This is definitely a sad day for us and anyone we have come into contact with over the last five years.
We would like to thank those of you who we became dear friends with over the years. We would like to thank our current and former staff who put in so many hours of hard labor here. Lastly, we would like to thank our partners and vendors for providing us with the high quality products you became used to here. All of those groups made this place what it was. We’ll certainly miss those relationships.
Our LAST CALL will be held on Monday February 19th. President’s Day seemed like a fitting day to shut it down. Many of you can join us for a recovery Brunch that day, as we celebrate one final Daytona 500 in that traditional Rebellion style the day before. And with it being President’s Day, we can be reminded by our very own Rebellion TJ shirts one last time, “A little Rebellion now and then is a good thing.”
Rebellion replaced another former Pike watering hole, BrickHaus, which was only open for about a year.
Infamously, in 2021 a local TikTok personality feuded with Rebellion and fellow Columbia Pike bar Celtic House — and some employees — over alleged mistreatment, culminating in criminal charges against her that were later dropped.
The incident also prompted a deluge of negative reviews of Rebellion on Yelp, though most were subsequently removed.
Hat tip to Katherine Z.
A 39-year-old man has been arrested and charged with “simulated masturbation” after an incident in Rosslyn.
Police responded to the area of Langston Boulevard and N. Oak Street shortly after 1 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 1, for a man who was reportedly exposing himself.
From an Arlington County Police Department crime report:
INDECENT EXPOSURE, 2024-02010140, Langston Boulevard at N. Oak Street. At approximately 1:11 p.m. on February 1, police were dispatched to the report of an exposure. Upon arrival, it was determined the victims were walking in the area when they observed the male suspect allegedly exposing himself. Responding officers located the suspect on scene and took him into custody. Channing Ballinger, 39, of No Fixed Address was arrested and charged with Public Masturbation. He was held without bond.
The exact charge is “simulated masturbation,” according to the Arlington General District Court website, which also notes that the suspect remains in custody. The suspect has no past criminal history in Arlington, though a man of the same name and approximate age was previously charged with assaulting a police officer in Western New York, per a TV news report.
There have been a number of police dispatches to Rosslyn for reports of public masturbation in recent months, including at least two in the area of the H-B Woodlawn school at 1601 Wilson Blvd, per scanner traffic.
Police tell ARLnow that no arrests have been made in the previous incidents.
“As part of the investigation, officers will work to determine if [the suspect] is linked to any other incidents in the county,” said ACPD spokeswoman Alli Shorb. “Regarding your request related to North Rosslyn incidents, no arrests have been made.”
Separately, ACPD is investigating a series of airbag thefts along Columbia Pike from over the weekend. Six vehicles — all Hondas — were damaged.
From the latest crime report:
LARCENY FROM AUTO (Series) (Late), 2024-02030091, 3800 block of Columbia Pike. At approximately 8:33 a.m. on February 3, police were dispatched to the late report of a larceny from auto. Upon arrival, it was determined between approximately 10:00 p.m. on February 2 and 8:33 a.m. on February 3, the unknown suspect(s) forced entry into six vehicles by damaging the driver’s side door handle and stole airbags. Tools and electronics were also reported stolen from one of the vehicles. The victim vehicles are Honda models. There is no suspect description(s). The investigation is ongoing.
Arlington officers on the weekend nightlife detail, meanwhile, reportedly made an arrest early Sunday morning following a fight outside of a bar in Clarendon.
The fight was caught on video and posted to social media by public safety watcher Dave Statter.
This appears to be from the 1 a.m. Clarendon Ballroom fight I shared this morning⏬⏬. One arrest reported. Thanks to all who shared this with me. https://t.co/Di29iaVPRu
— Dave Statter (@STATter911) February 4, 2024