S. Glebe Harris Teeter to Reopen
(Updated at 5:15 p.m.) The Harris Teeter store at 3600 S. Glebe Road, near Potomac Yard, will reopen later this year, the company announced this afternoon.
The store has been closed since last May, when it was flooded with raw sewage due to a clog at the nearby Arlington County Water Pollution Control Plan.
Over the weekend, residents of the Eclipse condominium building above the store delivered some 400 signed letters from residents to the Arlington County Board, calling for the county to help facilitate the store’s reopening.
Construction will begin “within the next few weeks,” according to a press release from Comstock, owner of the 465-unit Eclipse building.
In a press release, Harris Teeter says the renovated S. Glebe Road store will reopen in “late fall 2013″ — in time for this year’s holiday season. The press release made no reference to the sewage incident.
Harris Teeter is pleased to announce it will open its Potomac Yard location located at 3600 South Glebe Road in Arlington, Va. in fall 2013. The 44,000 square foot store, part of the Comstock Partners residential building, closed in May 2012 and is undergoing complete renovation. The renovation will include all new flooring; new drywall and paint; updated equipment; wooden display cases; new fixtures; an expanded seating area; an expanded floral department; new prepared food stations including pizza, an Asian hot bar, and a made-to-order sandwich bar; and sustainable décor elements. The Company also re-designed its pharmacy to feature an open floor plan that will allow our pharmacists to better serve their customers.
Harris Teeter considered sustainable building design throughout its re-design process. The refrigerated cases will feature motion detection lighting; the company will also install doors with LED lights on the refrigerated cases as well as LED spotlighting throughout the store to reduce energy consumption. Harris Teeter originally installed both an energy management lighting system and a heat reclamation system in this store and will continue to utilize these technologies to reduce energy waste.
Harris Teeter looks forward to opening its Potomac Yard store and being a part of the community once again. We appreciate our customers’ patience while the store has been closed as well as their loyalty. We will continue to post updates on harristeeter.com when new information is available.
Photo courtesy Douglas Wendt
BRT Service Coming to Crystal City Next Year
New Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) service will be coming to Pentagon City, Crystal City and Potomac Yard next year.
Metro is planning to launch a new bus line, the 9X line, to run in dedicated transit lanes between parts of south Arlington and Alexandria. The Alexandria portion — to run from the Braddock Road Metro station to Potomac Yard via Route 1 — is expected to open in spring 2014. The Arlington portion — from the Pentagon City Metro station to the Crystal City Metro station to Potomac Yard — is expected to open in summer or fall 2014, according to Arlington County Senior Transit Engineer Matthew Huston.
At first, the line will travel in mixed traffic on 15th Street Pentagon City and Crystal City. Eventually it will utilize the extended and contiguous 12th Street. The line will travel south in new dedicated bus lanes along S. Clark and S. Bell Street, and north along Crystal Drive.
The bus lanes will take the place of an existing, standard travel lane. They will be reserved for buses and emergency vehicles only during the morning and evening rush hours, but will be open to mixed traffic during all other times. Street parking will not be impacted by the changes.
As part of the still-evolving plan for what’s called the Crystal City-Potomac Yard Transitway, the existing 9S bus line will be extended to Potomac Yard and will run along the new dedicated lanes. The 9X and 9S will provide frequent service — every 6 minutes — and will serve a consolidated list of stops.
There will be seven new stops built in Arlington between Crystal City and Potomac Yard. Those stops will feature electronic information displays and other enhanced features. The buses will still serve on-street stops between the Crystal City and Pentagon City Metro stations.
The dedicated bus lanes will eventually be used as the right-of-way for the new Crystal City streetcar, though so far county officials aren’t providing a timeline for its eventual construction.
Planning, design and construction of Arlington’s portion of the transitway, which will also include the construction of new dedicated lanes between 26th Street and Glebe Road, is expected to cost the county about $17.5 million. Metro will pick up the tab for 13 new BRT-style buses, at a cost of about $650,000 apiece.
Metro is currently conducting an online survey about the design and branding of the buses. Possible names for the bus service include “Metro Beat” and “Metro Way.” It also asks about possible nicknames for the bus line, with options like: Crystal to Brad Line, Power House Corridor, City to the Yard Corridor, Potomac Yard Corridor, Tower Corridor, and Jeff Davis Corridor.
In an introduction, the survey emphasized that this would be Metro’s first BRT service.
Metro, in conjunction with Arlington County and the City of Alexandria will be introducing a new unique bus service to the region. Special stops and bus-only lanes will be introduced that will allow the bus to run on a very tight schedule. This corridor will be the first such service in the Washington region. Below is a map that shows the new route. The new service (sometimes called Bus Rapid Transit) will be different than anything the Washington region has seen before.
No Reopening Date Yet for Potomac Yard Harris Teeter
The Harris Teeter grocery store at 3600 S. Glebe Road near Potomac Yard will remain closed for the foreseeable future.
The store closed last May after it was flooded with raw sewage — an incident caused by a clog at the nearby Arlington County Water Pollution Control Plan. It has yet to reopen.
A Harris Teeter spokeswoman said the store will not reopen until the company can be assured that measures are in place to prevent another catastrophic sewage incident.
“We are actively working with both the county and our landlord to discuss solutions to make sure that which happened does not happen again,” said company spokeswoman Danna Jones. “Once those solutions are implemented, we are ready to start work on the interior of the store, and at that point, Harris Teeter will make various public announcements to share the good news with everyone.”
An Arlington County spokeswoman would not comment on whether the county was working with Harris Teeter to reduce the risk of another sewage backup or mitigate the effects of the May incident. The county did say that, so far, no lawsuits have been filed against the county in response to last year’s sewage backup.
“I can confirm that no civil lawsuits have been filed,” said Arlington County spokeswoman Mary Curtius.
Photo courtesy Douglas Wendt
Board to Approve Four Mile Run-Potomac Yard Trail Connection
Users of the Four Mile Run Trail will be able to connect directly, and safely, with Potomac Yard within a few years.
This weekend, the Arlington County Board is expected to approve an agreement with VDOT to design a trail connector from the Four Mile Run Trail to Potomac Avenue in Arlington. Potomac Avenue runs from Crystal City to the shops and new residential developments in the Potomac Yard section of Alexandria.
Currently, the Four Mile Run Trail connects with the west side of Route 1. One would then have to cross the busy thoroughfare to get to Potomac Yard. A steep, informal dirt path that connects directly from the trail to Potomac Avenue also exists, but can be difficult to climb.
County officials say the new trail connection will be accessible to those with disabilities.
“The trail connection will provide an ADA compliant multi-use trail connection between the Potomac Yard development on the north side of Four Mile Run (Arlington County) and the Four Mile Run Trail which is also on the north side of Four Mile Run (Arlington County),” wrote Shannon Whalen McDaniel, spokeswoman for the county’s Department of Environmental Services. “The new trail connection will replace a informal dirt pathway (goat path) that currently exists along the steep embankment between Potomac Yard and the Four Mile Run Trail.”
The design and engineering for the new trail connection is projected to cost $250,000. Of that, $190,000 will come from federal funds and $60,000 will come from Arlington County. The actual construction of the trail connector hasn’t been funded yet, but is expected to be complete no later than 2016. No construction date has been set.
Image via Google Maps
Melody Tavern Closes Its Doors
Another business has closed at the Market Square at Potomac Yard development.
Melody Tavern (3650 S. Glebe Road), a bar/restaurant that hosted live music, has closed after about a year in business. On Facebook, the owners thanked customers for “10 wonderful months.”
“This location is far more challenging than anticipated so we have decided to close the doors,” the Facebook post said. “We are sorry for any inconvenience this may cause some. Thank you and God Bless.”
This is the latest in a lengthening line of business closures at the off-the-beaten-path retail cluster, located on the ground floor of the Eclipse condo building between Crystal City and Potomac Yard, just off Route 1.
Melody Tavern had replaced McGinty’s Irish Pub, which closed in December 2010. Hee Been Asian Bistro Buffet closed there in July after just 7 months in business. Harris Teeter has yet to reopen after a major sewage backup in May. (No word yet on a reopening date.) Meanwhile, across the street, a Jerry’s Subs and Pizza closed last year.
Part of the blame may be the lack of foot traffic from anyone other than residents of the two adjacent residential buildings, and the fact that the businesses are set back from the street and hard to see to people driving by. Another possible explanation: last November, we reported that Melody Tavern had to issue a press release after it was revealed that some GPS navigation systems directed people to a vacant lot several blocks away when trying to find the restaurant’s address.
Hee Been Asian Bistro Buffet Has Closed
Hee Been Asian Bistro Buffet (3600 S. Glebe Road) has closed after less than 7 months in business.
The family-owned restaurant opened on the ground floor of the Eclipse condominium building, near Potomac Yard, on Christmas Day 2011. No word on why the restaurant closed, but a tipster tells us it didn’t seem to be attracting enough customers. Hee Been was closed yesterday, according to another business owner at the Eclipse, and a property manager was seen changing the locks today.
Hee Been’s original Alexandria location, at 6231 Little River Turnpike, is still open, according to an employee who answered the phone there this afternoon.
When it opened, Hee Been featured an 80-foot-long dinner buffet with some 85 different items representing three different types of cuisine: Korean, Japanese and Thai. The restaurant was an ambitious undertaking for the development, at the far southeast corner of Arlington. Though the Eclipse and the nearby Camden Potomac Yard apartment complex both have residential tenants, the large National Gateway office complex, across the street from the Eclipse, is still awaiting an office tenant.
This is the latest in a string of bad news for the area. In May the Harris Teeter grocery store at the Eclipse closed due to flooding caused by a sewage backup. It has remained closed since. An Irish bar, McGinty’s Public House, closed late in 2010.
McGinty’s was replaced by Melody Tavern last year.
Harris Teeter Sewage Backup Caused by Clog
Officials say a clog at the Arlington County Water Pollution Control Plant is what caused raw sewage to flow into the Harris Teeter supermarket on S. Glebe Road, near Potomac Yard.
The incident started on the morning of Friday, May 11. An excess buildup of rags and debris got into a pump station and clogged the station’s suction lines, according to Water Pollution Control Bureau Chief Larry Slattery. A sewage line then started to back up, ultimately leading to an overflow of raw sewage into Harris Teeter and the parking garage adjacent to the store.
Harris Teeter is closed indefinitely while crews work to sanitize the store.
Slattery said the sewage wound up in the store because it’s located ”near the lower end of the collection system” — only a short distance across Jefferson Davis Highway from the Water Pollution Control Plant. He was unable to confirm how much sewage flowed into the store and the parking garage.
Temporary pumps were put in place by early Friday afternoon to help clear out the sewage backup. The debris was cleared out of the pump station and the sewage system was back to normal early Saturday morning, Slattery said.
“As soon as we figured out what [the problem] was we took steps as fast as possible to correct the issue,” he said.
As a result of the incident, Arlington County will now be increasing the frequency of sewage pumping system cleanings from once every year to once every three months. The pump that became clogged had last been cleaned out in January, according to Slattery.
“We’re taking steps to check out the sanitary sewer lines,” Slattery said. “That’s not the kind of customer service we want to provide. We don’t want this to ever happen.”
Photo courtesy Douglas Wendt
Potomac Yard Harris Teeter Closed After Flooding
Update on 5/14/12 — This article has been updated here.
The Harris Teeter supermarket at 3600 S. Glebe Road near Potomac Yard has been flooded, possibly by sewage.
Authorities responded to the store for a report of flooding earlier today. A tipster described the incident as “a catastrophic sewage line failure that reportedly destroyed major sections of the store.”
“Ten trucks from Purofirst restoration are joined on scene by three tractor-trailer sized trucks presently pumping,” the tipster said. “One person on [scene] said the store could be closed for months for repairs and restoration.”
The store is on the bottom floor of the Eclipse condominium building, in the far southeastern corner of Arlington.
Photos courtesy Douglas Wendt
Morning Notes
Ovechkin Buys New House — Capitals star Alex Ovechkin may be ditching his $1.6 million home in Arlington’s Waycroft-Woodlawn neighborhood for some tonier digs. Ovechkin recently bought a $4.2 million, 11,000 square foot house in Fairfax County. He’ll have some extra time to get settled — the Capitals captain just decided to skip the NHL All-Star game after being suspended for three games. [ProHockeyTalk]
Grocery Store Bike Parking Guide — Need to do some grocery shopping, but worried about where to park your bike while you’re in the store? If so, the BikeArlington web site has just the resource for you: a complete guide to bike parking at 16 Arlington grocery stories. [BikeArlington]
Live Music Comes to Melody Tavern — Live music has come to Melody Tavern (3650 S. Glebe Road), a recently-opened music-themed restaurant/lounge near Potomac Yard in south Arlington. Live jazz and blues performances will start at Melody Tavern tonight, and will continue on nearly every night except Mondays through the end of February. The restaurant will also be holding a grand opening event from 7:00 to 10:00 p.m on Feb. 3. Arlington County granted Melody Tavern a live entertainment permit over the weekend. [Facebook]
Homeless Count Underway — An effort to provide a count of the number of homeless individuals living in Arlington County started at 4:00 this morning and will continue through midnight. The annual volunteer effort is being organized by the Arlington Street People’s Assistance Network. “This local count is part of a nation-wide count that occurs during the last ten days in January in order to collect accurate data, understand trends, justify requests for federal funding, and measure community progress towards preventing and ending homelessness,” A-SPAN said.
Flickr pool photo by Alex
Hee Been Asian Bistro Buffet Now Open
(Updated at 2:20 p.m.) 
There’s no shortage of variety at Hee Been Asian Bistro Buffet, a new restaurant located between Crystal City and Potomac Yard at 3600 S. Glebe Road.
Hee Been’s nearly 80-foot-long dinner buffet features some 85 different items representing three different types of cuisine: Korean, Japanese and Thai. The buffet offerings include soups and salads, a wide selection of freshly-prepared sushi and sashimi, hot and cold noodle dishes, grilled-to-order steaks, various types of seafood and Korean specialties, plus fresh fruit and desserts (tip: try the cold cinnamon tea).
The family-owned restaurant has been off to a relatively slow start since its Christmas Day soft opening, thanks in part to its inconspicuous location. Hee Been is located at the back of the off-street cluster of eateries and shops on the ground floor of the relatively new Eclipse condominium building in the far southeast corner of Arlington County. Though in close proximity to busy Jefferson Davis Highway (Route 1), the restaurant’s existence is hardly noticeable to anybody who doesn’t live in the Eclipse.
Hee Been, with its modern interior and soft background music, is open for both lunch and dinner. The weekday all-you-can-eat buffet prices are $14.99 for lunch and $26.99 for dinner. Weekend prices are a couple of dollars higher. The lunch features most of the selection of the dinner buffet, we’re told, minus some of the higher end items like the crab legs and grilled-to-order steaks.
In addition to the buffet, Hee Been offers a la carte options like Bento boxes and bibimbap. The restaurant also has a full bar with beer, wine and cocktails. Among the specialties are Korean beers like Cass and OB and bottled drinks like Bek Se Ju and Chum-Churum. A happy hour menu, still in development, promises beers as low as $2, cocktails as low as $5 and half-priced wines.
New Eatery Worries GPS Is Leading Customers Astray
A new restaurant in the far southeastern corner of Arlington is worried that its customers are having a hard time finding it due to outdated GPS data.
Melody Tavern is located at 3650 S. Glebe Road, near Potomac Yard — but mapping software and GPS systems often interpret the address incorrectly. For instance, Google Maps will steer users to a vacant lot several blocks away.
The restaurant recommends that customers use the address 3600 S. Glebe Road, instead, when using navigation systems. That address seems to work in most cases.
The 150+ seat, 6,700 square foot restaurant, which opened with a series of food tastings and soft openings earlier this month, is facing another challenge: it’s barely visible from the street.
“Much of its outdoor signage is difficult to see or obscured by trees,” a press release acknowledged. Still, owner Michel Daley says that the people who do finally find Melody Tavern are becoming loyal fans of the restaurant’s “creative American cuisine, warm and intimate atmosphere and ‘40s style jazz and blues music.”
“We think of ourselves as a ‘hidden jewel,’” Daley said. “We are definitely a destination place, but people do find us, and they are being drawn in by our good, reasonably-priced food. We offer plenty of free parking, and our application to offer live music is being processed.”
Daley hopes to be able to host live jazz and blues acts once his live entertainment application works its way through the Arlington County approval process.
Help Name Stations Along Upcoming Transitway
As the county finalizes its design for the Crystal City Potomac Yard transitway, it’s looking for public input on station names.
The project will enhance bus service to accommodate recent and upcoming developments in the area. Dedicated bus lanes are planned along Crystal Drive, S. Clark Street and S. Bell Street. During the first phase, seven new stops will be added along the route, in addition to the existing one at the Crystal City Metro station. Eventually, the plan is for the project to expand to the Pentagon City Metro station and south to the Braddock Road Metro station in Alexandria.
The locations of the new stations are already set, but you can help name them. The survey allows you to vote for suggested names or fill in your own ideas. To participate in the survey, click here. It will be available until November 10.
Morning Notes
Grass Gets Mowed After Article — High grass that had been obstructing the view of drivers on the already-dangerous ramp from eastbound Columbia Pike to northbound Washington Boulevard was mowed yesterday, one day after ARLnow.com published an article about it.
Potomac Avenue Bridge Opens — One can now drive from Potomac Yard to Crystal City without having to hop on Route 1. The Potomac Avenue bridge over Four Mile Run has opened to traffic, making Arlington’s Market Square shops and restaurants more accessible for residents in the new Potomac Yard housing developments in Alexandria. [Patch]
Trick or Treating at Pentagon Row — Dozens of Pentagon Row merchants will be greeting little trick-or-treaters Saturday afternoon. Some stores will also be offering Halloween specials for shoppers. [Facebook]
Republicans Optimistic About State Senate Race — Arlington Republicans are becoming more optimistic about the 32nd District state Senate race between Patrick Forrest (R) and incumbent Janet Howell (D). “People are realizing this is a very close race,” one operative told the Sun Gazette. Meanwhile, the Arlington County Republican Committee raised $8,404 in October, which is $8,400 more than it raised in September.
Businesses Coming and Going in Arlington’s SE Corner
It’s the far southeast corner of Arlington County — bordered by Crystal City to the north, Four Mile Run and Alexandria’s Potomac Yard to the south, railroad tracks and Reagan National Airport to the east and Jefferson Davis Highway to the west.
On the ground floor of two residential developments, at the intersection of so much transportation, a collection of shops and restaurants have been struggling to gain traction. But several new arrivals at the Market Square shopping center hold the promise of reinvigorating the area, bringing in new diners to Arlington’s last (for now) retail frontier.
Paisano’s Pizza, which serves pizza, pasta, salads and sandwiches, opened over the summer. Boasting a large kitchen but very little seating, the restaurant is hoping to capture take-out customers in an area where there’s only metered street parking and garage parking, and where most of the foot traffic comes from residents of the 465-unit condo building above.
Melody Tavern, located next to Paisano’s, has been courting local residents with “soft opening” events featuring free hors d’oeuvres and drinks. A grand opening is imminent for the “full-service, music themed restaurant,” which is owned by Michel Daley, former owner of southwest D.C. nightclub Zanzibar. Boasting a large, sunny main dining area and bar, as well as a large patio space, Melody is hoping to be a destination in its own right.
In June, Daley said Melody would host live music and comedy acts, and target the more mature “professional set.” A sign in the window warns that t-shirts, shorts and sneakers are not welcome at the restaurant.
Melody will be hosting an open house event from 7:00 p.m. to midnight on Friday, according to the sign.
Another new restaurant, meanwhile, is billed as “coming soon.” Building permits are up at the future HeeBeen Asian Bistro, across from Melody Tavern. The restaurant, which specializes in Korean BBQ and which has an existing location in Alexandria, has been in the works since this time last year. We’re still awaiting word from owner Mike Kim regarding when HeeBeen might open.
While Paisano’s, Melody and HeeBeen hope to attract more diners, at least one restaurant closed recently. A Jerry’s Subs and Pizza, across the street, now has “for lease” signs posted in the windows. That follows the closing of McGinty’s Pub, in the space now occupied by Melody Tavern.
That’s not the only dubious omen. The entire Market Square retail center, of which Paisano’s, Melody and HeeBeen are a part, is for sale. It’s unclear, however, why the owner has decided to sell.
Still, the long-term future for the businesses able to stick around looks bright. The National Gateway development between Crystal City and Potomac Yard promises to eventually attract a number of office tenants — up to 2.5 million square feet worth — and a corresponding number of office workers. And to the south, the redevelopment of Potomac Yard in Alexandria promises to bring a Metro station and even more residents to the area.
Your Favorite Local Famous Person Spotting Stories
On Thursday afternoon, First Lady Michelle Obama spent 30-40 minutes shopping at the Potomac Yard Target. Instantly, the shopping trip became national news.
“Never has a Target dash caused such a ruckus,” wrote Politico’s Julie Mason.
While the First Lady shopping at Target during a recession is the sort of thing that makes headlines, there are plenty of non-headline-making errands run by top U.S. officials, lawmakers and media personalities every day. And thanks to our prime location just across the river from the Nation’s Capital, many of those shopping trips and restaurant visits are taking place right here in Arlington.
In the comments section, share your favorite story of spotting a famous so-and-so out and about in your neighborhood.
