A car crashed into a building in the Gates of Ballston apartment complex this afternoon just after 1:00 p.m.
According to a witness at the scene, the driver of the car, a blue Dodge Neon, was traveling south on N. Thomas Street when it ran a stop sign at the intersection of N. Henderson Road in Buckingham. When it entered the intersection, a black Audi struck it in the rear driver’s side, after which point the car lost control, mounted the curb, and crashed into the brick apartment building.
The building was sold recently, according to an AKA employee, and the hotel is no longer taking reservations as it prepares to close.
Attempts to reach AKA representatives who could further discuss the sale were unsuccessful. The hotel was constructed within the last 10 years and, we’re told, it was originally intended to be a condominium building. So far, there’s no word on when the building will re-open or start selling units.
Alban Odoulamy has been running Puppet Heaven, or puppet shops by other names, in Crystal City for 18 years, but his heart isn’t in it like it used to be.
Odoulamy emigrated to the U.S. in the mid-1990s from the small, French-speaking West African country of Benin, where he had worked in production and set design for children’s programming for the state-owned television station. He had been formally trained in Marionette puppetry — the puppets controlled by strings — and worked under a master puppeteer until he came here, where he worked as a concierge for Charles E. Smith before its merger with Vornado.
Starting this week, the Arlington Department of Parks and Recreation is looking for swim instructors to help children with disabilities learn how to swim. Volunteers will be in the pool providing swimming assistance as well as support and encouragement, and, according to the volunteer announcement, “an important element of this class is building a relationship with ‘your’ class participant.”
Those interested, and free on either Wednesdays or Sundays, should call Kathryn Salyers at (703) 228-4738 or go online. Here are some other opportunities to get involved around the county (from Volunteer Arlington):
The new location, at 1425 N. Quincy Street, was necessitated by the plans to tear down Nova MMA’s building and replace it with a hotel. According to Nova MMA’s Facebook page, the gym will move into its new location on June 2.
The new location will be 18,000 square feet of first floor warehouse space, double the space for Crossfit and dedicated rooms for Ultimate Fitness Kickboxing classes, grappling, and striking/Krav Maga classes. A 20-foot-by-20-foot boxing ring and heavy bags will be in the striking area, according to Facebook.
Garvey read a 15-minute statement to the committee before handing in her resignation at the ACDC’s meeting last night, which was closed to the media.
Garvey told ARLnow.com she said the ACDC needs to evaluate why Republican-endorsed independent John Vihstadt won the April 8 special election over Democrat Alan Howze by a 57-41 margin.
A Dunkin’ Donuts location appears on its way to Ballston in the former Quiznos storefront in the National Science Foundation building.
The storefront, at 4201 Wilson Blvd — but located at the corner of N. Stuart and 9th Streets — is covered in brown paper but a sign on the window states Dunkin’ Donuts applied for a building permit on April 3.
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.
Today, those interests and hobbies have spawned Bloompop, an e-commerce platform that lets customers browse and purchase flowers from some of the best local florists in their city. Miller said she was tired of seeing local florists struggling while national flower delivery companies delivered inferior products.
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.
Le Sandwich, the gourmet sandwich shop that opened March 23 at 3033 Wilson Blvd, may already be closed.
The shop has been locked all week, with chairs up on tables and the “Le Sandwich” logo scrubbed from the building’s signage. However, the other parts of the Le Sandwich sign, with the phone number and social media logos, remain. Multiple attempts to reach Le Sandwich’s owner, Mehdi Ben, have not been successful.
The crime rate in 2013 increased 3.06 percent, according to a press release issued this afternoon. An uptick in aggravated assaults, robberies and larcenies accounted for the overall crime rate jump.
There were 4,209 Part I offenses — rapes, burglaries, robberies aggravated assaults and larcenies — in 2013, up from 4,084 in 2012. Aggravated assaults increased 33 percent from 2012, police said, due in part to the increased frequency of domestic strangulation reports. The increase coincided with a new Virginia law, passed in 2012, that made strangulation a Part I offense.
The Rosslyn Business Improvement District has already announced its office-themed outdoor summer movie schedule, which will run on Friday nights from May 30 to Aug. 22. In addition to the films, events for dogs and their owners, fashion and fitness fans and a farmers market are on their way.
Starting next Friday, May 2, Rosslyn will host a “Yappy Hour” at Le Méridien Arlington, 1121 19th St. N. on the terrace in front of Amuse. Dogs are welcome — and the pooches will have some treats — and cocktails and appetizers are available to their owners, from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m.
