An SUV came crashing through the front of the 7-Eleven on Wilson Boulevard near George Mason Drive this morning.
As customers were arriving for their morning coffee, a vehicle described as a new Toyota Rav4 hopped the curb, smashed through a low brick wall, a door and a plate glass window. Nobody was hurt.
Former Dremo’s owner Andrew Stewart says he has gotten tantalizingly close to securing a new location for the former Arlington landmark, but to no avail. In previous interviews Stewart said he would like Dremo’s to remain in the Courthouse or Clarendon area, but the cost has been prohibitive.
“We have come close a couple of time,” Stewart wrote in an email. “The large companies that lease these spaces don’t take a mom-and-pop, like us, seriously.”
Update at 9:35 a.m. — Power has been restored, Dominion spokeswoman Le-Ha Anderson says. The outage was caused by a single, unlucky squirrel.
Earlier: Traffic lights are out at a number of busy Arlington intersections due to a widespread power outage.
Del. Bob Brink, who has been mentioned as a possible candidate for the state Senate seat of the retiring Sen. Mary Margaret Whipple, announced this morning that he will not be seeking the Democratic nomination for the seat.
Brink released the following statement regarding his decision this morning.
Arlington’s Highway Bottlenecks — An annual report on traffic congestion is out and Arlington has claimed two of the three worst traffic bottlenecks in the region. Westbound I-66 in Arlington, northbound I-395 in Arlington ranked and eastbound I-66 in Fairfax County rounded out the top three spots. [Washington Post]
Colony House Sells to Developer — The Colony House furniture store on Lee Highway has been sold to Bethesda-based developer B.F. Saul for $5.6 million. The company, which developed the Clarendon Center project, says it hasn’t decided what to do with the site yet. In January, we reported that Colony House’s owner is hoping to find a new Arlington location for the store. [Washington Business Journal]
The new 300-room Renaissance Arlington Capital View Hotel and 325-suite Residence Inn Arlington Capital View will open to the public on Wednesday, but public relations staffers have been busy showing off the properties over the past week. Located on the south end of Crystal City, the hotels offer rooms with expansive views of Reagan National Airport and the Potomac River.
We’ll talk about what each hotel offers guests in a minute, but first let’s discuss the stuff that locals can take advantage of.
An overturned vehicle is tying up traffic on westbound eastbound I-66.
A car flipped on its roof in the eastbound lanes near Great Falls Street just before 2:30 this afternoon. Initial reports suggest paramedics are evaluating at least one patient. Firefighters are working to reach another person who’s trapped in the vehicle.
(Updated at 1:15 p.m.) President Obama, Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard and Education Secretary Arne Duncan visited Wakefield High School today.
Obama and Gillard “discussed differences and similarities between their countries, [including] football and foods,” according to CBS White House Correspondent Mark Knoller.
Eastbound Route 50 is down to one lane between Carlin Springs Road and Henderson Road due to paving.
The lane closure is expected to be lifted around 4:00 p.m., after the roadwork concludes.
The long rectangular buildings that will eventually house concession stands and restrooms for the park’s multi-use athletic fields now line Old Jefferson Davis Highway. Large, bulldozed stretches of red dirt will at some point become the lush, green Esplanade and rain garden. A lone steel entrance gate sits in a construction parking lot, awaiting completion of a field around it.
Construction on the first, $50 million phase of the park, located just north of Crystal City, is expected to wrap up in September. Design work on a second phase, which includes an aquatics, health and fitness facility, started last month.
(Updated at 5:20 p.m.) Police were combing the area around I-395 early this morning after a hit-and-run crash involving a reported wrong-way driver.
Around 2:30 a.m., police got a call for a gray Lincoln Town Car heading southbound in the northbound HOV lanes of I-395. Just moments later, a call came in for a collision under the Arlington Ridge Road bridge.
Miserable weather led to scattered problems across Arlington last night.
Steady rains caused some localized flooding in parts of the county. Police reportedly had to block off 11th Street at North Kennebec Street last night due to water in the roadway. A big pool of standing water also caused a traffic hazard on the northbound lanes of Glebe Road, just before Wilson Boulevard.
