St. Patrick’s Day isn’t just for the Irish at one local watering hole.
On Saturday, Quincy Hall at 4001 Fairfax Drive will hold its first “St. Paw-trick’s Day” adoption event with Arlington-based nonprofit Lucky Dog Animal Rescue and some adoptable furry friends from 3-5 p.m.
“We have so many neighbors with pups walking by and sitting on our patio that an adoption event with Lucky Dog Rescue was something that we thought would unite our community in support of their noble cause,” said Will Carter, general manager of Quincy Hall.
The pizzeria and beer hall plans to support the cause by donating $1 to the nonprofit for every beer pitcher and spiked shamrock shake sold. The hall will also sell pizza and a wide variety of beer from 40 different taps.
The Ballston-area restaurant invites guests to come out with their little tail-waggers to enjoy the festivities on the patio and get some holiday attire for their pups.
While this is the first time Quincy Hall has hosted a dog adoption event, Carter told ARLnow that he hopes it will not be the last. He is looking to make the adoption event an annual tradition, joining other themed nights the venue has hosted, including a country night and an adult-friendly Easter egg hunt.
This past weekend was spring forward for time. This week as been spring open for cherry blossoms.
Thanks to warm and sunny weather, tree blossoms have been opening at a rapid clip, and that includes those on Arlington’s cherry blossom trees.
Blossom seekers can enjoy the bloom by visiting some of the local sites with cherry tree clusters, including:
- Cherrydale Baptist Church (3910 Lorcom Lane)
- Arlington National Cemetery (1 Memorial Ave)
- Long Bridge Park in Crystal City (475 Long Bridge Drive)
- Quincy Park in Virginia Square (1021 N. Quincy Street)
- Welburn Square in Ballston (901 N. Taylor Street)
Arlington has a few events and activities planned coinciding with blossom season, including a pop-up market with local vendors at Metropolitan Park in Pentagon City and live music at the Crystal City Water Park.
The more famous Tidal Basin cherry blossoms in D.C., meanwhile, have reached the final stage before peak bloom. The National Park Service made the announcement this morning.
Here are some more pictures of the blossoms in stage 5: puffy white. Learn more about the blossom cycle & plan your visit at https://t.co/h04Gu0ksc1
🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸/🌸#Cherryblossom #BloomWatch #WashingtonDC pic.twitter.com/phjKOaZXYF— National Mall NPS (@NationalMallNPS) March 15, 2024
After the Alabama Supreme Court ruled that embryos created via in vitro fertilization can be classified as children, Elizabeth Carr — the first U.S. baby born this way — set out to reveal the potential consequences of this decision.
At a gathering in Ballston today (Friday) — surrounded by advocates, doctors and those who conceived or were conceived via IVF — Carr underscored the existential threat the ruling could pose.
“IVF babies of my generation, I’ve noticed, are now having their own IVF journeys,” she said. “And so, for this segment of the population, you literally are telling us the way that we came into the world is not going to be how you’re going to be able to bring your own child into the world.”
The roundtable, hosted by Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.), addressed threats to IVF treatment and pathways to protecting this procedure. While some participants expressed concerns these treatments could be limited, like abortion, Kaine expressed optimism that Congress could pass legislation this year protecting access to IVF.
He said there is bipartisan interest in a standalone bill with broad protections for IVF as well as specific protections for military families in the defense bill.
“I think the kinds of discussions we’re having, the attention, and the momentum on the issue give us a real shot,” Kaine said.
Couples who cannot conceive naturally, particularly same-sex couples, already face an uphill battle to growing their families, said Jay Timmons, CEO of the National Association of Manufacturers, who used IVF and surrogacy to have children with his partner.
“[Adoption] was pretty difficult for same sex couples,” said Timmons, a McLean resident. “We walked into it fairly naively and went through all the home checks and everything until the very wonderful social worker said, ‘Okay, I’m gonna put [Jay] down as the adopter, and I’m gonna put Rick down as your roommate.”
“And so we kind of processed that and said, ‘We’re not going to bring a child into our family under the pretence of a lie.'”
Kaine says Democrats are actively seeking support from Republican senators for the Access to Family Building Act, which he co-sponsored, guaranteeing access to IVF. Although Republicans blocked a vote on the bill last week, Kaine remains optimistic that it could surpass the 60-vote Senate threshold required for the bill’s passage.
“I wouldn’t want to pass this out of committee on an 11 to 10 vote,” he said. “I would want to pass it out on a real bipartisan vote, and I think we could do that.”
Should the comprehensive IVF bill stall, Kaine says Democrats could at least build protections for military families into the upcoming defense bill, potentially setting a precedent for future legislation.
“President [Harry] Truman, when he integrated the military in the 1940s, it set an example that then influenced the rest of society,” Kaine said. “If we do something in the defense bill for troops, their families, and veterans, I think it’ll send a powerful message that could then move us down the road toward broader protection.”
Last week, the Alabama state legislature approved a bill that shields IVF providers from civil lawsuits and criminal charges related to the destruction of damaged embryos. In Virginia, Republican lawmakers and Gov. Glenn Youngkin, who has advocated for limiting abortion access, have expressed support for safeguarding access to IVF treatments.
Kaine said people will not be fully protected unless Congress intervenes.
“I’m very concerned, and that’s why we need to do the federal bill because Alabama saying, ‘Okay, we will not criminally prosecute you,’ is not the same as saying, ‘We embrace IVF,’ and so it leaves a lot of gray areas,” he said.
“State legislatures could change every two years,” Kain continued. “State legislators are not doctors or scientists. They write bills that are vague, that make providers worry… Let’s just make it clear: that if you want to build your family through IVF, you can.”
The old Harris Teeter in Ballston is set to close next month but shoppers won’t need to wait long to use the new location across the street.
Harris Teeter has posted signs around its old and new location announcing that its 600 N. Glebe Road location will close on Tuesday, April 2 at 2 p.m., with the new store at 624 N. Glebe Road opening at 9 a.m. the next day.
A Starbucks kiosk inside is also being built and will open on the same day as the grocery store, according to a spokesperson for Harris Teeter. The spokesperson noted there will be a free sampling event the day before the official grand opening.
Starbucks also confirmed the opening in a statement to ARLnow.
“Starbucks is always looking for great locations to better meet the needs of our customers, and we are happy to confirm that we will be opening a new location at 624 N. Glebe Road in Arlington, VA in the spring of 2024,” a Starbucks spokesperson write. “This new Starbucks location is licensed and operated by Harris Teeter licensee.”
That will put the coffee chain in more direct competition with homegrown Good Company Doughnuts & Cafe on the western side of Glebe Road. Starbucks will also compete with itself — its location at 4000 Wilson Blvd, which opened less than a year ago, is about 2-3 blocks away.
ARLnow reported last month that the Georgia-based developer, Southeastern Real Estate Group, LLC, started leasing the 310 apartment units above the new store last fall and was close to completing the first phase of its three-phase development. Construction on the apartments, dubbed URBA, began in 2020.
The first phase was initially slated to finish last fall, with the second phase expected to start in the summer of 2024. Southeastern and Harris Teeter have not given a timeline for the start of phase two.
After the new Harris Teeter opens and the old site is demolished, the remaining 733 planned apartments will be built.
The second phase includes 197 apartments and a 0.6-acre public park on the existing Harris Teeter site. The third phase will add another 226 apartments and more than 10,000 square feet of retail space, for a total of 77,575 square feet of retail across the development.
The development also includes underground parking with 942 spaces and the extension of N. Tazewell and N. Randolph streets.
Rustico is closing its doors in Ballston.
The craft-beer-centric restaurant serving “artisan pizza” and “creative American cuisine” at 4075 Wilson Blvd plans to welcome its last customers on Sunday, March 10.
The Old Town Alexandria location of Rustico will remain open.
From a message posted on social media last night:
After 14 great years, Rustico Ballston’s last day of service will be Sunday March 10th. We love the Ballston neighborhood and we’re grateful for the opportunity we have had to get to know and serve our amazing community.
We especially want to thank all members of the Rustico staff, past and present, for their dedication, service, and camaraderie throughout the years. While the individual team members have changed over nearly a decade and a half, the spirit they delivered never did.
Please join us one more time (or two! or three!!) over the next two weeks as we say goodbye to Ballston in style. Of course, Rustico Alexandria continues to bring the best craft beer and pizza to Northern Virginia—we would love to see you there!
Rustico opened in October 2010, in an expansive restaurant space that also featured a sizable outdoor patio area, complete with artificial turf and picnic bench-style seating.
From our coverage at the time:
With about 200 indoor seats and 100 outdoor seats (which will stay in storage until next year), Rustico is trying to become the premiere lunch, dinner, happy hour and sophisticated night spot in Ballston.
It will certainly have the largest beer selection in Ballston, if not in all of Northern Virginia: 400 bottles, 40 drafts and 3 cask ales (the casks will be installed next week). By comparison, the original Rustico, in Alexandria, has 300 bottles, 30 drafts and 2 cask ales.
The bottles are displayed prominently behind the bar in two bright display cases. The taps, however, form the bar’s centerpiece — two dense horizontal arrays of colorful tap handles in a cut-out nook between the display cases.
It is unclear what, if anything, might fill the space once Rustico leaves.
Hat tip to @HawkeyeKevin
(Updated at 11:55 a.m.) Two years ago, Grace Community Church held its meetings at the Thomas Jefferson Middle School auditorium.
Now, it is hosting big acts in contemporary Christian music at its new home in Ballston Quarter, which seats 500 people.
Next week, Grammy-award-winning artist Steven Curtis Chapman, a fixture on Christian radio for decades, will be making a stop at the church for a sold-out show.
On March 20, Colton Dixon and Jordan Feliz — two ascendant artists whose recent singles and albums have topped Billboard charts for contemporary Christian music — will perform “in this most intimate setting of their entire tour.”
It is a big shift for the church, which bounced between TJ and Key Elementary School before settling into the second floor of the mall, across from the art gallery, wine bar and restaurant WHINO one year ago this month.
Moving into the space drove a 30% attendance bump but the concerts, which started in September, put Grace Community Church on the map, says Pastor John Slye, Jr.
“We were a decent-sized church of 1,000-ish people before we had our space, but people didn’t know who we were,” he said. “But now, they know who we are. The concerts have given us awareness, for sure, and that’s fun.”
Slye had always envisioned using the new digs for concerts but he credits his son Jonathan — who owns a prominent national rock festival — for having the connections to book these acts and other big names. The church previously hosted singer-songwriter David Crowder and has concerts booked with rapper LeCrae, the band Big Daddy Weave and American Idol star Danny Gokey.
“We’re thrilled to have this,” says Pastor Slye. “There’s no way we could’ve done it without his skills and what he knows.”
With the recognition has come the opportunity to take on other types of events, too. Grace Community Church recently put on a worship night that drew people from 200 churches in the D.C. area and hosted a mixer for young professionals that spilled over into WHINO across the way.
With seats for 500, Slye says Grace Community Church is full but capacity is only an issue for larger events and concerts. As a result, future events might make use of other spaces in the mall. The church is in talks with a local radio station to host a singles event in the public outdoor space outside the Ballston Quarter food hall and has discussed the possibility of co-hosting a larger event at the MedStar Capitals Iceplex upstairs.
“We have no desire to make Grace the hero: We just want to see the space bring people together because this is a lonely place, and community is healthy for us, mentally, spiritually and physically,” Slye said. “People just want to make friends and make community. We want to rally around that, big time.”
The pastor and his wife both grew up in Arlington and attended the schools where later, their church would meet before moving into Ballston Quarter. They knew early on that their son loved music but never imagined their then 5-year-old, dancing and playing music in their sparse living room, would one day make his dad’s church into something of a regional hub.
“I had no idea that the seeds of this started way back then,” he said. “I can’t even clap on beat.”
Photos via Grace Community Church/Facebook
Pizza Roma in Ballston has closed, making way for a new fast-casual Italian eatery called Scolapasta.
ARLnow received a tip last week that the longstanding pizzeria at 4219 N. Fairfax Drive — in operation for at least 15 years — had shut its doors, with “Coming Soon” signs for Scolapasta now gracing the windows. This week, the sign for “Pizza Roma” was also gone.
The closure comes after the pizza place abruptly ended its lunch service in 2019 amid rumors circulating of its closure.
The new tenant, Scolapasta, will not offer pizza but instead sell a variety of freshly made pasta types, sauces and toppings, restaurant owner Burak Temel told ARLnow. Patrons will be able to create their dishes on the spot, an approach Temel describes as “the Chipotle of Italian food.”
Temel, a long-time Arlington resident and owner of Urban Boxing Arlington and a construction company, said his business partner came up with the idea after visiting Italy and seeing how popular Italian street food was there among tourists.
“It’s kind of a no brainer, when you think about it,” he said. “Pasta is healthy. It’s budget friendly, and it could be a great late night food alternative to pizza for example, or some of the other local places in D.C., like Surfside.”
Scolapasta is aiming for a June 1 grand opening, according to Temel. Additionally, he noted that plans are in the works for a second location at the Tysons Galleria mall.
“I think it’s going to be very popular, especially with the locals,” he said.
Signs for the new Ballston Harris Teeter are up, signaling that the first phase of the three-part project is nearing completion.
Last month, the owner applied for an occupancy permit for the new grocery store, which tenants do before they can officially move in. Inspection is still pending, per the county website.
Leasing began last fall for the 310 units above the new grocery store at 624 N. Glebe Road, developed by the Georgia-based developer, Southeastern Real Estate Group, LLC, per a website for the apartment complex. Construction on the apartments, dubbed URBA, began in 2020.
Additionally, Southeastern and Harris Teeter commissioned a mural by Brooklyn-based artist Olalekan Jeyifous that pays tribute to the legacy of the Ballston miniature golf course, which was a fixture along Wilson Blvd for over 50 years until its closure in 1989.
The rest of the planned 733 apartments will be built after the new Harris Teeter opens and the old building at 600 N. Glebe Road is torn down.
The second phase will include 197 apartments and a 0.6-acre public park where the current Harris Teeter stands. The third phase will add the remaining 226 apartments and more than 10,000 square feet of retail space, culminating in a total of 77,575 square feet of ground-level retail.
There will also be below-grade parking garages, with 942 parking spaces total. Southeastern will also extend the existing N. Tazewell and N. Randolph streets into the site.
The first phase of the project was initially expected to wrap up this past fall, with the next phase slated to begin in summer 2024. Southeastern did not respond before ARLnow’s publication deadline.
A grim anniversary quietly passed last month: four years since the still-unsolved murder of Scott Ratigan.
The 24-year-old was found dead with “trauma to the upper body” in his Ballston apartment in January 2020. The 911 caller reported a strong smell of bleach in the apartment, according to scanner traffic at the time.
A year later, police released video and images of a “person of interest” in the case. The person had their face covered as they walked down Ballston sidewalks, a few weeks before the Covid pandemic prompted widespread use of masks.
Online communities, including on Reddit, have continued to follow and discuss the case. One such community recently asked followers to “demand an update” in the case, resulting in numerous emails to ARLnow.
Arlington County police, however, have continued to keep details — beyond those already released — close to the vest.
“We want to [assure] the public that the investigation into identifying and holding responsible the suspect(s) responsible for Scott Ratigan’s homicide remains a top priority,” ACPD spokeswoman Ashley Savage told ARLnow last week, when pressed on any substantive updates in the investigation.
“To ensure the integrity of the ongoing investigation, there are no additional details to provide at this time,” Savage continued. “Detectives continue to follow up on investigative leads and will continue to evaluate the case for any possible future updates.”
Savage also noted that the department is still seeking more tips from the public.
The investigation into the homicide of Scott Ratigan remains open and active. Detectives continue to follow up on every investigative lead and remind the public that any information, regardless of how small it may seem, could be the tip that leads to justice on behalf of Scott and the Ratigan family. The Ratigan family has offered a reward of $50,000 for information leading to an arrest and conviction of the suspect(s) responsible for Scott Ratigan’s homicide on January 17, 2020. Police continue to ask anyone with information related to this incident to contact the Arlington County Police Department’s tip line at 703-228-4180 or [email protected]. Information may also be reported anonymously through the Arlington County Crime Solvers hotline at 1-866-411-TIPS (8477).
Online sleuths have gone so far as to produce detailed recaps, from a 36-minute YouTube video to a 38-minute episode of a true crime podcast, but a lack of publicly released details has led to forums that abound with rumor, speculation and frustration — but little new analysis that meaningfully advances the case.
In encouraging people to contact ARLnow and the Washington Post, forum users emphasized the need to keep the story “top-of-mind” with the public, so it does not fall into “cold case” status.
“Please do an update on the Scott Ratigan murder investigation,” one of the people who emailed ARLnow wrote. “Keeping that story in the press is important.”
Photo via Google Maps
After a nearly five-month wait, Maryland-based Roggenart Bistro & Café is set to open in Ballston later this month.
Located inside the former Republik Coffee Bar at 4401 Wilson Blvd, the European-inspired coffee shop and bakery chain is planning to hold a soft opening at the end of February, aiming for a grand opening by mid-March.
“Grand openings are always dangerous,” Roggenart owner and Serbian-born businessman Nemanja Popov told ARLnow. “We’re still a small company and we are probably going to do a grand opening, maybe two or three weeks after our soft opening.”
Once open, this will be the fifth Roggenart in the D.C. area and first outside of Maryland. The coffee shop opened its first location in 2017.
In addition to coffee, the café offers a variety of European-style pastries, including croissants, danishes and tarts, along with a selection of scratch-made sandwiches and soups.
“We have things like ham and cheese croissant, pepperoni mozzarella croissant, mushroom medley rolls… various assortments of quiches… cupcakes, cookies, regular muffins, so the entire bake portfolio,” Popov said, adding he recently added a few vegan options.
After undergoing some light renovations, the shop’s interior will also sport a different look than before, Popov says.
“We think we made it more beautiful and cozy,” he said.
Upon opening, Popov noted there will be special offerings for customers, though he is still deciding what those will be.
“It’s going to be very exciting, and we hope that we are going to have a lot of European baking connoisseurs,” he said.
Roggenart joins a growing list of coffee options in the Ballston area, including Korean coffee purveyor Gute Leute, the outdoor stand Ballstonian, and Slipstream, near the intersection of Wilson Blvd and Glebe Road, as well as Compass Coffee and national chain locations.
Two women from D.C. are facing charges after police say they robbed a store in Ballston while pushing a child in a baby stroller.
The alleged crime happened around 11 p.m. Thursday night on the 4200 block of Fairfax Drive, across from the Metro. A 7-Eleven is the only store on that block that appears to keep late night hours.
Police say the women threatened a store employee and threw an item at them before fleeing into the Ballston Metro station. They were subsequently detained in Courthouse.
More, below, from Friday’s Arlington County Police Department crime report.
ROBBERY, 2024-02080255, 4200 block of Fairfax Drive. At approximately 11:06 p.m. on February 8, police were dispatched to the report of a robbery by force. Upon arrival, it was determined the two female suspects entered the business while pushing a child in a baby stroller, allegedly concealed merchandise and exited the store without payment. An employee called police, during which one suspect made threatening statements before throwing an unknown item at them. The suspects then fled on foot into the Ballston Metro. Responding officers canvassed the area for the suspects who were subsequently located in the Courthouse Metro and taken into custody. [Suspect 1], 28, of Washington D.C. was arrested and charged with Petit Larceny and Contributing to the Delinquency of Minor. She was released on a summons. [Suspect 2], 24 of, Washington D.C. was arrested and charged with Robbery and Contributing to the Delinquency of a Minor. She was held without bond.