Around Town

You might have never heard of the “9th Street Greenway,” an unheralded ribbon of greenery that crosses Ballston and Virginia Square, but it’s been decades in the making.

On a cold winter’s day, there’s a calmness to the ten-block-long stretch. The greenway follows 9th Street N, starting near N. Kansas Street and American Legion Post 85, in Virginia Square. It eventually crosses Oakland Park and Welburn Square, before ending as a walking path at N. Vermont Street, next to the Westin hotel.


News

Most county services and operations, including Covid testing sites, will be closed on Monday as Arlington and the country honors Martin Luther King Jr.

County government offices and facilities will be closed on Monday, Jan. 17. The courts, department of motor vehicles, and all Arlington libraries will also be shuttered.


Around Town

Brass Rabbit Pub is looking to open next month, in the Clarendon space formerly occupied by the Bracket Room.

In July, ARLnow reported that a new bar planning to have “elevated pub fare with a healthy twist” is coming to 1210 N. Garfield Street. Now, owner Reese Gardner tells us that he’s looking at a mid-February opening for Brass Rabbit Public House, barring delays in securing county permits and passing inspections.


Around Town

(Updated, 1/27/22) Get a facial and your teeth cleaned all in one day at two new cosmetic-centered businesses opening in Ballston Exchange, the office complex on Wilson Blvd across from the mall.`

The wellness center NM Aesthetics opened in October on the second floor of 4201 Wilson Blvd. The business offers “non-surgical cosmetic work led by an all-female team,” including fillers, hydrafacials and microdermabrasion.


News

Kids dance around tables full of books outside of Arlington Science Focus Elementary School on an overcast December afternoon. There are stories in Spanish, books about Black history, and novels about being the next president, all waiting to be picked up and read.

And parked a few feet away from the book fair is a bright blue “book bus” with a dragon painted on the side.


Around Town

A new wine shop and bar is opening on the ground floor of J Sol apartments in Ballston.

Not much is known about what is coming and when besides what’s noted in the permit application, which was just submitted last week.


News

The new restaurant at the former Green Valley Pharmacy won’t be opening until later this year due to some pushback from the community.

The local Arlington landmark at 2415 Shirlington Road is currently undergoing extensive renovations to transform it from a seven-decade-old pharmacy that served the Green Valley neighborhood into a kabob and burger eatery called “Halal Spot.”


Traffic

The lonely utility pole protruding into a Columbia Pike intersection has not come down yet, the county confirms, despite assurances it was going to by the end of last year.

In September, ARLnow learned that an errant utility pole sitting a few feet from the sidewalk at the intersection of Columbia Pike and S. Frederick Street was scheduled to be removed. But that has yet to happen, due to at least one utility company not completing work to bury wires as part of the Columbia Pike multimodal project.


Around Town

A new Korean comfort food restaurant is coming to Rosslyn.

The local fast casual chain SeoulSpice is opening a new location in Rosslyn at 1735 N. Lynn Street, on the ground floor of the International Place office building. This will be the the company’s the first location in Virginia and its sixth location in the D.C. area, with the most recent opening in November in D.C.’s Penn Quarter neighborhood.


Around Town

At-home Covid tests have been hard to come by in Arlington, but distributors are promising that more tests will be available soon.

Tests haven’t been available at many Arlington pick-up sites and stores for a number of days, but some could be available as soon as tomorrow, Saturday, Jan. 8.


News

George Mason University is breaking ground on the massive $235 million expansion of its Arlington campus.

“This is the start of something big for Mason,” Carol Kissal, the university’s senior vice president for administration and finance, said in a statement. “And when it’s done, it will have fundamentally changed our campus, as well as the broader Arlington community.”


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