Ethan Rothstein | ARLnow

Plan for New TJ Elementary School Angers Residents

Published June 17, 2014 at 3:30PM

The School Board will ask the Arlington County Board to approve $106 million bond referendum this November to fund several elementary school capacity projects and an addition to Washington-Lee High School.

More than $50 million of the proposed bond is slated to build either a new elementary school on the Thomas Jefferson grounds, the School Board’s “preferred plan,” or to construct additions to two South Arlington elementary schools. According to Arlington Public Schools staff, the new school would add 725 seats by September 2018, while the two additions would add 500 seats for the same price in the same timeline.

Around Town

Clarendon Night Market Called Off, Crystal City Gets Art Market

By Ethan Rothstein

Published June 17, 2014 at 12:30PM | Updated June 17, 2014 at 6:55PM

Matt Hussmann, the executive director of the Clarendon Alliance, told ARLnow.com this afternoon that the markets fell through when the “parking lot operator” changed its terms –not Wells Fargo Bank, as he originally stated.

(A tenant in the Wells Fargo building, who declined to speak on the record, disputed Hussmann’s account.)

News

Arlington to Roll Out New Alert System

By Ethan Rothstein

Published June 17, 2014 at 11:20AM

The new system will be live on June 25, as part of the region-wide Capitalert.gov system.

Users can determine how they receive an alert, such as via text message, email, cell phone, land line, instant message or fax, according to Arlington Office of Emergency Management spokesman John Crawford.

Events

Arlington Agenda (June 17-22)

By Ethan Rothstein

Published June 17, 2014 at 5:00AM | Updated June 17, 2014 at 11:12AM

(Updated at 11:10 a.m.) Arlington Agenda is a listing of interesting events for the week ahead in Arlington County.

If you’d like to see your event featured, fill out the event submission form. Also, be sure to check out our event calendar.

News

Route 50-Courthouse Road Interchange Nearly Complete

By Ethan Rothstein

Published June 16, 2014 at 1:30PM

The interchange of Route 50, N. Courthouse Road and 10th Street Road is on the verge of opening for good.

According to Virginia Department of Transportation spokeswoman Jennifer McCord, the westbound Route 50 frontage road that gives drivers access to Courthouse Road and 10th Street is expected to open on Wednesday. The opening means all facets of the intersection — the ramps from Courthouse Road and 10th Street to Route 50 in both directions and the frontage road — will be open for traffic.

Feature

Paleo Food Delivery Startup Growing in Crystal City

By Ethan Rothstein

Published June 16, 2014 at 12:30PM | Updated June 16, 2014 at 1:33PM

Editor’s Note: Sponsored by Monday Properties and written by ARLnow.com, Startup Monday is a weekly column that profiles Arlington-based startups and their founders. The Ground Floor, Monday’s office space for young companies in Rosslyn, is now open. The Metro-accessible space features a 5,000-square-foot common area that includes a kitchen, lounge area, collaborative meeting spaces, and a stage for formal presentations.

In late 2010, Power Supply was born after founder Patrick Smith and co-owner Robert Morton had started trying Crossfit and the Paleo diet, each having major success, but getting frustrated with the limitations on the food available to them.

Feature

Open Houses in Arlington This Weekend

By Ethan Rothstein

Published June 13, 2014 at 12:00PM

Arlington is still drying out from this week — and more rain could come today — but the sun will be out this weekend for house shoppers to check out open houses without an umbrella.

See our real estate section for a full listing of open houses. Here are a few highlights:

News

W&OD Trestle Could Get Historic Designation

By Ethan Rothstein

Published June 13, 2014 at 11:00AM | Updated June 13, 2014 at 3:55PM

The trestle was partly on the property controlled by the NOVA Parks (formerly the Northern Virginia Regional Park Authority), and partly on 6873 Lee Highway, a plot of land owned by Robert Shreve Fuel Company, which demolished its section of the trestle last week to make room for a storage facility.

The County Board is scheduled to vote on whether to advertise public hearings on the trestle’s historic designation this coming Tuesday.

News

Woodstock Park to Get New Basketball Court, Playground

By Ethan Rothstein

Published June 13, 2014 at 10:00AM

The County Board will vote Saturday on county staff’s recommendation to award a $644,000 contract to Fort Myer Construction Corporation, with a $64,000 contingency, to build a new basketball court, replace playground equipment and build a new walking path from N. Woodstock Street, along with other minor improvements.

The project was initially put out to bid in December 2013, according to the Department of Parks and Recreation’s staff report, but all the bids came in over budget. In response, staff removed an “embankment slide” playground element and the path and stairs to get there to bring costs down.

Around Town

Pentagon City Apartments Converted to ‘High-End Luxury’

By Ethan Rothstein

Published June 12, 2014 at 5:30PM

The 17-story building at 901 15th Street S. is now Instrata Pentagon City, a part of the Instrata Lifestyle Residences chain that casts itself as “a lifestyle concept of high-end luxury rental apartments,” according to a press release.

The pet-friendly building will be managed by D.C.-area property manager Bozzuto and, according to Bozzuto spokeswoman Lauren Neuvel, will lease one-bedroom apartments for between $1,969 and $2,519 a month; two-bedrooms for between $3,035 and $6,205; and three-bedrooms from $6,306 to $6,458.

Around Town

Matsutake Closes in Ballston

By Ethan Rothstein

Published June 12, 2014 at 4:30PM | Updated June 13, 2014 at 11:37AM

(Updated at 5:10 p.m.) The Matsutake Steak and Sushi restaurants in Ballston and Crystal City have closed for business.

The Crystal City location, at 320 23rd Street S., appears to have closed some time ago — its listing on Yelp is reported closed. The Ballston restaurant may have closed this week, and an eviction notice is posted on the door notifying the restaurant to vacate by yesterday morning. It’s placed next to a sign notifying customers of the restaurant’s closure:

Events

Columbia Pike Blues Festival Returns Saturday

By Ethan Rothstein

Published June 12, 2014 at 11:30AM | Updated June 12, 2014 at 11:58AM

Columbia Pike Blues Festival 2012 (file photo)

The Blues Festival runs from 1:00 to 8:30 p.m. at the intersection of the Pike and S. Walter Reed Drive by the Arlington Cinema & Drafthouse. There will be plenty of food and beer, but as Takis Karantonis, the executive director of the event organizer, the Columbia Pike Revitalization Organization, says, the food and drink are secondary to the music.

“We think the blues is the Pike’s music,” Karantonis told ARLnow.com yesterday. “It corresponds to the personality and flavor of the Pike. Our artists on Saturday, they’re such different personalities and they all converge on the platform of the blues.”