News

A two-alarm fire scorched the top floor of a small office building in Virginia Square tonight (Tuesday).

A passerby called 911 just after 7:45 p.m. to report flames and smoke coming from the building at 933 N. Kenmore Street. The blaze was extinguished thanks to an “aggressive attack” by firefighters, according to Arlington County Fire Department spokesman Capt. Ben O’Bryant, but not before causing “heavy fire damage on the fourth floor.”


Around Town

A decade-old Crystal City bar scene stalwart has closed its doors.

Tortoise and Hare Bar and Grill, at 567 23rd Street S., served its last customers on Wednesday, Feb. 28. In a Facebook post, the bar said it had been trying to find a buyer but it was unable to come to an agreement before its lease expired at the end of February.


Around Town

Ellen DeGeneres surprised two Arlingtonians via live shot today (March 13) after one wrote to the show asking to share their surrogacy story.

After Katelin Buchanan suffered from five miscarriages, her best friend Erica Huston offered to be a surrogate for Buchanan and her husband. She’s now pregnant with the couple’s twins.


Around Town

A trio of new restaurants are coming to the western edge of Clarendon, just across Washington Blvd from Northside Social.

Demolition permits have been issued for “Le Kon,” which is coming to the large restaurant space at 3227 Washington Blvd vacated by the short-lived Park Lane Tavern. It’s unclear what exactly Le Kon will be, though it is listed vaguely as a “Casual Dining, Fine Dining, Bar / Lounge” establishment on the restaurant hiring website Culinary Agents.


Around Town

A new Clarendon art gallery run by the Arlington Artists Alliance will temporarily occupy the space that formerly housed Fuego Cocina y Taquileria, and they won’t be paying rent.

Gallery Clarendon put up signs last Friday (March 9) and intends to open to the public by April 1. That’s so long as the alliance receives its occupancy permit in time, according to Jane Coonce, Gallery Clarendon’s executive director.


Feature

This regularly-scheduled sponsored Q&A column is written by Eli Tucker, Arlington-based Realtor and Rosslyn resident. Please submit your questions to him via email for response in future columns. Enjoy!

Question: Do you think the recent changes to the rankings of Arlington schools on GreatSchools.org will have an impact on home values?


Around Town

The long-time Red Top Cab maintenance facility in Clarendon is now idle.

No longer are taxicabs busy coming and going from the facility, which is located along N. Hudson Street, just back from Clarendon’s main strip of bars. The facility’s parking lot, meanwhile, is largely empty.


News

Amazon Could Change Conversation — If Amazon were to establish its second headquarters in the D.C. area, it could have wide-ranging effects, including tightening the commercial real estate market and easing antitrust pressures on the company. Writes the Economist: “Having 50,000 employees going to the same country clubs and putting children in the same schools as government officials is a shrewd strategy if Amazon wants to fend off government attacks.” [Washington Business Journal, The Economist]

One Hospitalized During Hazmat Incident — An employee at a catering business was hospitalized after a reported chemical spill at a warehouse along Four Mile Run Drive. [Twitter]