Construction on a new art space next to Jennie Dean Park is entering its final stages as the county plans for a public debut next year.
Work on the recreation area at 2700 S. Nelson Street — between the Arlington Food Assistance Center warehouse and the Cultural Affairs building in Green Valley — is expected to wrap up next month, county spokesperson Alyson Jordan Tomaszewski told ARLnow.
Once complete, the space will provide a series of outdoor stations including an art gallery, a mobile stage for performances and movie screenings and an open space for activities or exhibiting temporary sculptures.
“Currently, our partners at Graham Projects are painting and installing signage and other art elements across the site,” Tomaszewski said. “While we do not have an opening date yet, we expect that it will open to the public in spring 2026.”
Elements of the “glade” will include a shipping container for storing outdoor seating, event production gear and landscaping tools, string lights, a pergola with display panels, an art garden and a large grassy lawn.
“The 2700 South Nelson Project ‘Glade’ design takes inspiration from the nearby Four Mile Run stream, surrounding adjacent industrial landscape, and local cultural history to create an array of interlinked outdoor clearings activated for arts and community programming,” a project webpage says.
The space replaces Inner Ear Studios, a recording studio where some of the region’s most iconic punk and rock acts recorded. Arlington County acquired the former warehouse on the site in late 2021 and, after deeming the nearly 70-year-old building structurally unsound, decided to demolish it and build a flexible open space for arts programming.
It’s part of an effort to implement an arts and industry district in Green Valley that responds to community needs and makes art more accessible.
A “site narrative” describing more detailed plans for the space is below.
The 2700 South Nelson Project “Glade” design takes inspiration from the nearby Four Mile Run stream, surrounding adjacent industrial landscape, and local cultural history to create an array of interlinked outdoor clearings activated for arts and community programming.
Pavement art invites pedestrians into the site through a series of green, teal, and blue rectangles that evoke both railroad tracks and audio waveforms. Throughout the site planted berms naturalistically shape different spaces and while industrial concrete blocks provide seating.
Approaching the site from South Nelson Street, the public space is announced by a prominent sign on the side of a 20’ shipping container providing storage for outdoor seating, event production gear, and landscape maintenance tools. String lights create evening illumination and serve as gateways into the space from each end.
Behind the shipping container, a wood pergola with display panels serves as an outdoor art gallery and shade structure. Display panels may show works of art, history, and/or information on upcoming events. A custom canopy of reclaimed traffic signal lenses creates colorful, filtered sunlight on the ground.
Between the pergola and adjacent building is an art garden “glade” available for open space activities or exhibiting temporary sculptures.
At the center of the site is a small wheelchair accessible outdoor “stage” embedded with the historic plywood drum riser salvaged from Inner Ear Studios nestled at its original location in the corner of a preserved wall from the original building. This unique corner serves as a monument to the creativity of the hundreds of local and national bands that recorded on this site from 1990 to 2021. Atop the wall rises a pyramid like backdrop covered by a triangular shade sail. Through a public workshop, the backdrop will be decorated with wheatpasted print media including historical and cultural contributions from local communities and reprinted album covers from records recorded here.
At the Oakland Street end of the site lays a large grassy lawn and mobile stage for flexible uses, including larger performances and evening movie projections. Picnic tables are situated throughout the glades and may be repositioned as needed.
Removable bollards will allow access to the site for emergency vehicles and food trucks. Accessible “staple” type bicycle racks are located at each end of the site.
