A new 420-unit apartment building in Crystal City has begun leasing.
The Zoe, a 19-story tower at 2051 S. Bell Street, is one of two buildings replacing the former Crystal Plaza One office building at 2001 Richmond Highway.
Water Infrastructure Repairs — Amid temperatures dipping below and then rising above freezing, crews from the Arlington Dept. of Environmental Services responded to several water main breaks and other infrastructure issues yesterday, including at the intersections of S. Glebe Road and S. Old Glebe Road, Wilson Blvd and N. Edison Street, and elsewhere. [Twitter, Twitter, Twitter, Twitter]
Washington Walk Upcoming — On Dec. 14: “Walk in the footsteps of George Washington on a guided walking tour to commemorate the 250th anniversary of Washington’s purchase of 1168 acres of land in what is now Arlington. After the Revolutionary War, Washington returned home and surveyed his property.” [Event Calendar]
Record Bikeshare Ridership in F.C. — “For the City’s long-term transportation and bike infrastructure goals, the good news keeps rollin’ in. According to Capital Bikeshare, ride-shares on their service, starting from the City of Falls Church’s ten stations – created in 2019 – have hit a record high.” [Falls Church Independent]
Snow Possible Thursday — “As a strong Arctic front blasts through the area Thursday morning, computer models are simulating a brief period of snow or rain… the precipitation could briefly be heavy and reduce visibility. The exact timing is still to be determined, but it will probably be some time between 4 and 10 a.m. from west to east.” [Capital Weather Gang]
It’s Wednesday — Expect a mostly sunny day with temperatures reaching up to 42°F and gentle southwest winds in the morning, increasing to 10-15 mph and gusts up to 24 mph. On Wednesday night, there’s the possibility of rain and snow showers after 1 am, coupled with mostly cloudy skies and a low of 34°F. The southwest wind will maintain at around 16 mph, with gusts reaching 26 mph, and a 40% chance of precipitation. [NWS]
This regularly scheduled column is written by Eli Tucker, Arlington-based Realtor and Arlington resident. If you would like to work with Eli and his team in Northern Virginia and the greater D.C. Metro area, you can reach him directly at [email protected].
Question: How much of an impact do you think the ROAD to Housing Act will have on housing affordability in Arlington?
Answer: The Road to Housing Act became law ten days ago, with the stated goal of improving housing affordability in the United States.
I don’t see many policies in the Act that will improve affordability in the Arlington/Northern VA/DC Metro markets, outside of incentives for more affordable multi-family housing, but there are policies that should improve affordability in other markets that are more saturated with institutional investors that own swaths of single-family homes (e.g. Atlanta and Phoenix) and for manufactured/mobile homes.
The Local Conversation Needs to Change
If we are going to improve affordability in our market, most of the change has to be done locally/regionally, not nationally, but it requires a paradigm shift in how we discuss and solve for housing affordability.
Affordability Disconnect: Near Term Expectations Not Realistic
A disconnect between housing affordability expectations and reality prevents the right community and political conversations from happening. We expect/demand housing affordability immediately, ignoring the difficulty, and consequences, of achieving it that quickly.
Stable and healthy housing affordability is a long-term process requiring gradual change over a 10-15+ year period.
Demand-Side Solutions Won’t Work
Demand-side solutions, such as lower interest rates or easier financing, artificially inflate home values, as seen during the COVID-era housing boom and early 2000s. They are not a good long-term solution to affordability because they push values even higher (along with your property taxes) and affordability gets worse when rates/lending normalize and no longer provide artificially low monthly payments.
Supply-Side Solutions Are Not Immediate
Most policy discussions focus on supply-side solutions: building more/faster and denser housing (e.g. Arlington’s Missing Middle/Expanded Housing Option), incentivizing more existing home sales, or disincentivizing concentrated ownership by companies and individuals. Econ 101 tells us that more supply = lower prices = affordable housing (winner winner!).
This is the only path to stable, long-term housing affordability…BUT, at current interest rates, prices must drop 30-35% in the United States to become affordable, at current income levels. A 30-35% drop in home values would devastate the economy, so a supply-side solution won’t (shouldn’t) provide immediate affordability. (more…)
Good Tuesday evening, Arlington. Let’s take a look back at today’s stories and a look forward to tomorrow’s event calendar.
🕗 News recap
The following articles were published earlier today — Dec 3, 2024.
- 7:30 am: Morning Notes for December 3, 2024 | 🗣️ Comments
- 8:15 am: Shirlington’s tree lighting celebration returns this week | 🗣️ Comments
- 9:00 am: County leaders seek to increase diversity on advisory panels | 🗣️ Comments
- 9:45 am: Falls Church asks for a later start and end to Election Day | 🗣️ Comments
- 11:15 am: Neighbors again press for safety upgrades to S. Carlin Springs Road | 🗣️ Comments
- 12:25 pm: Fmr. defense attorney sentenced to seven years in prison after local burglaries | 🗣️ Comments
- 12:45 pm: Vehicle recovered after Pentagon City parking garage carjacking | 🗣️ Comments
- 1:30 pm: Introducing group and gift subscriptions to the ARLnow Press Club | 🗣️ Comments
- 3:45 pm: Former Whitlow’s building declared unsafe over nonfunctional fire alarms | 🗣️ Comments
- 3:55 pm: ACPD: Student arrested after bringing loaded gun to high school | 🗣️ Comments
- 6:15 pm: Two W-L football players enjoyed standout seasons on offense | 🗣️ Comments
- 7:00 pm: W-L club ice-hockey team has four wins through first six matches | 🗣️ Comments
📅 Upcoming events
Here is what’s going on Wednesday in Arlington, from our event calendar.
- 11:30 am: Hand Crafted Holidays: Ornament Painting
- 1:00 pm: PSAT, Now What? Strategies for Navigating College Entrance Exams
- 6:30 pm: “Food and Country” Film Screening with Area 2 Farms
- 7:30 pm: Arlington Community Chorus Winter Concert: “Sing to Me”
🌤️ Wednesday’s forecast
Expect a mostly sunny day with temperatures reaching up to 42°F and gentle southwest winds in the morning, increasing to 10-15 mph and gusts up to 24 mph. On Wednesday night, there’s the possibility of rain and snow showers after 1 am, coupled with mostly cloudy skies and a low of 34°F. The southwest wind will maintain at around 16 mph, with gusts reaching 26 mph, and a 40% chance of precipitation. See more from Weather.gov.
💡 Quote of the Day
“The purpose of life is not to be happy—it’s to be fulfilled, to be constantly striving to create. That’s what life is.”
– Hugh MacLeod
🌅 Tonight’s sunset
The MonumentCam screenshot above is used with permission of the Trust for the National Mall and courtesy of EarthCam.
Thanks for reading! Feel free to discuss the day’s happenings in the comments.
As the summer is winding down, Art House 7 is gearing up for August Classes! Offerings include painting, drawing, cartooning, mixed media, and printmaking. Some highlights: Animals of the Serengeti, k-2nd; Digital Art, 4th-6th grades; Painting Metal with Watercolor, Adults. Classes are 3-4 weeks: a short commitment for a lot of creative output. Check out everything on our website.
August Classes at Art House 7:
Through six matches, the Washington-Liberty Generals club ice-hockey team has had ups and downs — mostly ups.
To date, the high-school squad has compiled a 4-1-1 record. Two of the wins are shutouts by 5-0 and 4-0 scores. The Generals also have a 7-2 blowout victory, have tied a match at 4, have a close 4-2 win and lost by a tight 5-4 margin.
Live standup comedy in Arlington on Friday July 31 starring Jim Bryan, Kim Villamera, and Greg Billet.
Friday, July 31, 2026
Even though their team lost in the region final, Liberty District offensive football standouts Jon Malatesta and Matthew Abramson amassed big numbers in the game, as the seniors often did for the Washington-Liberty Generals during the 2024 high-school season.
At wide receiver, Malatesta had one last hurrah by catching nine passes for 97 yards and a touchdown in W-L’s 48-21 loss to the Madison Warhawks in the 6D North Region championship game Nov. 30.
A 17-year-old Arlington high school student has been arrested and charged with bringing a loaded gun to school Monday.
The incident happened at Arlington Community High School, which is currently located on Fairfax Drive in Ballston. The school was placed on lockdown after police say a security guard spotted the gun in a student’s backpack.
A Clarendon nightlife spot has been declared unfit for occupancy over safety issues.
Notices prohibiting activity at Coco B’s and the B Live site — formerly home to the longtime local bar Whitlow’s — were posted last week at 2854 Wilson Blvd.
A vehicle carjacked on Sunday by a pair of suspects in a Pentagon City parking garage has been located.
Arlington County police said today in a crime report that the vehicle was “recovered in Washington, DC” but the suspects are still at large.
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Here are the links again: