Rosa Mexicano’s Arlington outpost closed its doors today, after opening a little over a year ago in Pentagon City.
An employee confirmed the closure of the restaurant to ARLnow, citing issues with the location and proximity to the mall. A moving truck and crew were seen clearing out the space, while a sign on the door confirmed its closure.
Rosa Mexicano opened its Pentagon City location in late 2022, a year or so after its first D.C.-area location — across the street from the Capital One Arena in D.C.’s Penn Quarter neighborhood — closed after 16 years in business.
The New York-based restaurant chain serves classic Mexican fare, such as tacos, enchiladas, ceviche and fresh-made guacamole, in a colorful setting.
The Pentagon City location featured a bar with a long list of tequila- and agave-based cocktails, seating for 200 guests, a private dining room for events and an outdoor patio.
The chain still operates a local location — in National Harbor — as well as locations in Connecticut, Massachusetts, Vermont, New York and at Walt Disney World in Florida.
Hat tip to Angela Fox
(Updated at 3:15 p.m.) The anchor of the Lyon Village Shopping Center will close in a month.
The Giant supermarket at 3115 Langston Blvd will close on Thursday, Feb. 29, the regional grocery chain confirmed today in a statement to ARLnow.
“In the normal course of evaluating our business and local trade areas, we determined that we can adequately serve this community through several other nearby Giant Food locations as well as our online services Giant Pickup and delivery,” the company said. “While closing this location, we remain committed to meeting the needs of our customers and providing them the best service.”
Another Giant store is about a mile away, at 3450 Washington Blvd in Virginia Square.
“We want to express our sincere gratitude to the Arlington community for their support over the 60 years that Giant Food has been a part of this neighborhood, and we look forward to welcoming our shoppers at our other local Giant Food locations,” the statement continues. “We appreciate the work our store associates have done to serve this community, and all associates from the… store are being offered the opportunity to transfer to other Giant locations. We are committed to supporting our employees through this transition and ensuring that they have continued opportunities within our company.”
So far, no store closing signs have been put up at the location, though word of the closing has started to spread via social media.
It is not immediately clear what might replace Giant as the anchor of the shopping center, which counts CVS, The Italian Store, Starbucks and Big Wheel Bikes among other retail tenants.
A recently approved Arlington County planning document, however, suggests that redevelopment is likely to eventually come to the strip mall at the busy intersection of Langston Blvd and Spout Run Parkway.
The Langston Boulevard Area Plan, adopted by the Arlington County Board in November, designates the site as an “activity hub” that could support a mixed-use redevelopment with 12-15 story apartment buildings.
In the more immediate future, the shopping center will soon host a Cold Stone Creamery ice cream shop in a standalone building closer to Langston Blvd.
The Macy’s store in Ballston is slated to close this spring, as soon as March, ARLnow has learned.
The department store at the Ballston Quarter mall was one of five locations the company identified last week as set to close in 2024. Macy’s is also planning to cut some 2,350 jobs this year.
Signs are now up outside and inside the store, advertising a storewide 30% off sales. All sales are final as of Monday, Jan. 22, according to the signage.
A Macy’s spokesperson tells ARLnow that the clearance sale “will run for approximately 8-12 weeks.” The store is expected to close after that.
The Arlington County Board approved a redevelopment plan for the Macy’s site in December 2022. The plan calls for a 16-story, 555-unit apartment complex atop a grocery store and another 1,400-square-foot retail space.
Jos. A. Bank in Clarendon has shuttered, adding to the recent string of business closures in the area.
Located at 2800 Clarendon Blvd in The Crossing Clarendon shopping center, the well-known men’s clothing brand — one of two Jos. A Bank stores in Arlington — officially closed its doors on Saturday, Jan. 6.
The ghost of an outline of the Jos. A. Bank sign still lingers above the storefront, which opened in 2001, per county records. A notice also hangs in the window announcing the store is “permanently closed” and directs customers to visit its remaining Arlington outpost in the Pentagon City mall.
EJ Enciso, the General Manager of The Clarendon Crossing, told ARLnow the property owner, Florida-based Regency Centers, decided against renewing the company’s lease as part of its strategy to “modernize” the business mix in the shopping center.
“We’re bringing in new and exciting concepts,” Enciso said.
He mentioned that Regency Centers is considering various tenants to replace Jos. A. Bank but declined to provide more details.
Within the last few months, the area has seen several closures, including Mediterranean restaurant Cava Mezze, the international bakery Le Pain Quotidien and outdoor goods store Orvis.
Additionally, the D.C.-based South American rotisserie chicken and whiskey bar Chicken + Whiskey temporarily closed earlier this month, reportedly due to poor sales.
Despite these closures, The Clarendon Crossing has seen some new arrivals, such as the fashion, home goods, and accessories boutique Golden Fox, and the cookie shop Chip City.
The Macy’s store at Ballston Quarter will close later this year, the company announced Thursday.
The Ballston location is one of five Macy’s stores set to close in 2024, as the department store chain aims to cut 2,350 jobs, or 3.5% of its workforce, including 13% of corporate staff.
The closure of the Ballston Macy’s is not exactly a surprise. The Arlington County Board approved a redevelopment plan for the site in December 2022. From our previous reporting:
Insight Property Group proposes to demolish the longtime department store and vacant office building at 685 N. Glebe Road and replace it with a 16-story, 555-unit apartment complex atop a grocery store. In response to online engagement, it is adding a second, 1,400-square-foot retail space on the ground floor.
The units would be spread across two 14-story towers joined at the penthouse level. Residents would have 250 underground parking spaces while grocery store patrons would have 148 spots on the building’s second story.
There’s no immediate word of an updated timeline for the development, which was the subject of scrutiny from local residents and transportation planners.
Photo (top) via Google Maps
(Updated at 2:20 p.m.) Arlington County is losing a pair of scooter operators this year.
California-based Veo — which operated both scooters and e-bikes — is leaving the area due to market conditions while LINK, the service from Boston-based Superpedestrian, is shutting down all of its U.S. operations.
“It was Veo’s pleasure to serve Arlington County,” Veo told ARLnow in a statement. “However, current market conditions led us to make the decision not to seek a permit renewal in Arlington and Alexandria.”
Veo says it will continue to provide transportation options in D.C and in College Park, Maryland.
“We commend Arlington County for its commitment to advancing sustainable and accessible transportation and look forward to serving the community in the future should circumstances allow,” Veo’s statement continued.
The company has recently expanded into some municipalities, including San Antonio, Texas, and limited access in other areas, such as the Bronx in New York City, where scooters would reportedly end up in the river. Also this year, Fort Wayne, Indiana, ended its 4-year partnership with Veo over alleged negligent behavior by riders.
Superpedestrian is out because it shut down its U.S. operations on Dec. 31 and has been auctioning off its 20,000 bright-yellow and silver electric scooters.
In February 2022, Superpedestrian introduced 333 bright-yellow and silver standing scooters and 50 seated ones to Arlington, its second U.S. market after debuting in Baltimore. Its time in Arlington was short-lived, however.
After getting into micro-mobility in 2020 and raising $125 million early on, Superpedestrian was in a lurch by late 2023, pinning its hopes on more funding and a potential merger that never materialized, TechCrunch reports. The outlet attributed the demise of Superpedestrian — and the death of “the shared electric scooter business as we know it” — to “unfavorable city regulations, high operational costs and hiring bloat as a consequence of VC funding.”
Scooter operators that still have permits to operate in Arlington, Spin and Bird, were not immune from slumps this year. Spin began exiting several European and American cities in 2022 before fellow operator Bird acquired it in September.
Bird, once valued at $2.5 billion, filed for bankruptcy this December after a rocky 2023: Its founder and CEO stepped down, it was removed from the New York Stock Exchange for overstating its revenue and was beginning to pull out of dozens of cities.
Financially, Veo seems to be doing better. This year, it started selling a scooter via online retail.
Arlington’s other authorized operator, Lime, also defied the dismal fates of its competitors, reporting profitability in the first half of 2023, Verge reports. The company ended 2022 with plans to go public on the stock market but remained privately held.
The application for scooter operators is currently available on the Arlington County website. The county allows up to 2,000 e-scooters and 1,000 e-bikes at one time. The companies leaving Arlington, meanwhile, are expected to take all of their scooters and e-bikes with them.
“Departing contractors are required to remove their devices, but if anyone sees a device left behind, they can send a message to the Shared Mobility team at [email protected],” said Arlington Dept. of Environmental Services spokeswoman Claudia Pors.
This article was updated to correct where Veo is based and remove a reference to a different tech company by the same name.
Chicken + Whiskey in Clarendon “temporarily” closed last week, leaving its future uncertain.
Situated at 3033 Wilson Blvd, the D.C.-based South American rotisserie chicken and whiskey bar concept made its debut in the Northern Virginia dining scene last June.
Since its opening, however, the Clarendon outpost — one of four Chicken + Whiskey locations in the D.C. area — has experienced “lackluster sales,” according to a press release.
“Rather than continue to absorb dramatic financial losses throughout the typically slower winter months, the company has decided to conserve its resources, close the doors, and re-open at more appropriate time,” the company said in the release.
Co-owner Desmond Reilly said the Clarendon location’s failure was surprising.
“We thought Clarendon would love our Peruvian Chicken concept,” he said in the release. “We are going to rethink our product offerings and hopefully come back stronger than ever!”
.@ARLnowDOTcom another new restaurant gone in Clarendon. @chicken_whiskey pic.twitter.com/V3q3qSrzfu
— ᖇEᐯO.ᗰᗩᑕ (@SCG703) January 5, 2024
Led by Chef Enrique Limardo, also the head chef at Immigrant Food and D.C.’s Seven Reasons, the restaurant chain serves Peruvian-style chicken, arepas and sandwiches and has a full cocktail and whiskey bar.
Limardo also co-founded the newly opened restaurant Surreal — described as an “elevated diner” concept — in Crystal City.
Chicken + Whiskey is managed by SRG Concepts, which also operates several other restaurants in D.C. and Maryland, including the Vietnamese street food restaurant Doi Moi, The Walrus Oyster & Ale House and Bennie’s Pizza.
Bennie’s Pizza is also “temporarily closed” for the holidays and is working out some “culinary details” before reopening, according to the restaurant’s Instagram.
Within the last few months, Clarendon has seen the closure of a handful of other businesses, including Mediterranean restaurant Cava Mezze, the international bakery Le Pain Quotidien and outdoor goods store Orvis.
Though located at an address across from the Clarendon Metro station, Chicken + Whiskey is in the rear of the building, fronting N. Garfield Street in the former Hunan Number One space. Another restaurant in the same building but closer to the Metro station, Bar Ivy, closed just over a month ago.
Hat tip to @SCG703 and various other tipsters
Fast-casual Korean restaurant Rice Crook has quietly closed its location inside Ballston Quarter Market.
The restaurant, a creation of noted local chef Scott Chung that was known for its customizable rice bowls, moved into the food hall at 4238 Wilson Blvd in 2019. Now, all that remains is a sign above its former stall.
There was no closure announcement on the restaurant’s Instagram page and Chung did not respond to a request for comment. Chung also owns Bun’d Up in Westpost (formerly Pentagon Row) and, in a spare room of that restaurant, a speakeasy-style bar, restaurant and mahjong hub called Sparrow Room.
Ballston Quarter General Manager TaVida Rice confirmed the closure is permanent and revealed several forthcoming additions to the food hall.
Japanese crêperie T-Swirl is set to open this spring and D.C.-based Dumpling District is slated to open in the fall. Hal & Al’s BBQ, which serves halal brisket sandwiches, ribs and mac and cheese bowls, opened last month.
Korean BBQ restaurant Top Pot, meanwhile, is set to open in a restaurant space along the Glebe Road side of the mall, next to Chick-fil-A. And laser hair removal company Semper Laser is slated to open this spring in the mews area near Lenscrafters, Rice said.
None of the new businesses will take over Rice Crook’s former spot, and the shopping center is still looking for a replacement, she noted.
Hat tip to Jason Gooljar
The Unleashed by Petco store near Ballston is closing this month.
The smaller-format chain pet store — which also offered pet vaccinations, dog training and a self-serve washing station — has been in business at 3902 Wilson Blvd for just over 10 years.
It plans to close on Saturday, Jan. 20, and is offering discounts of 10-60% as part of a store closing sale.
ARLnow reported on a “for lease” sign outside of the single-story, 4,666 square foot commercial building early last year.
Unleashed opened in the space in September 2013, replacing the quirky, homegrown burger-and-hot-dog restaurant Wiinky’s.
A leasing flyer noted that the building was last renovated in 2013, when Petco moved in, and that it has 19 parking spaces.
The last remaining Unleashed store in Arlington is located at 5400 Langston Blvd. It opened in 2011. A previous Pentagon City location closed in 2021.
While store employees were not sure what would be replacing Petco, permits filed in September show that it will be an Inova-GoHealth Urgent Care clinic. Planned interior construction work to the circa-1925 building includes new rooms, walls, ceiling soffits, restrooms, lighting and relocated stairs.
An Inova spokeswoman did not respond to a request for comment by publication time. The healthcare system is in the midst of a major expansion that will see new hospitals in Springfield and Alexandria, as well as a sizable healthcare facility near Potomac Yard.
Jo DeVoe contributed to this report
Crystal City hangout The Freshman has permanently closed its doors.
The all-day cafe/bar/restaurant just announced on social media that it has closed, just under three years after opening in the spring of 2021, in the midst of the pandemic.
Owner and namesake Nick Freshman, in announcing the closing today, noted the lengthy delay in opening caused by Covid-19.
I am sad to announce that The Freshman has served its last espresso; we are permanently closed. I want to thank my staff for their tireless dedication, my investors for their unwavering support, my landlord JBG SMITH for their steadfast partnership, and lastly our loyal customers who made it a joy to be open every day.
When I began planning The Freshman in 2018 the landscape was very different. As the world changed, our team adjusted, pivoted, iterated, and endured. Now, with significant construction in our building on the way, it is time to move on. The good news is that Mothersauce Partners is growing, and you can look for our fingerprints on a number of exciting new projects; projects that are also new homes for many of the staff at The Freshman.
We hope to see all of you soon at our newest project in Rosslyn opening in Winter 2024!
Freshman’s Mothersauce Partners is revamping The Assembly food hall near the Rosslyn Metro station, the Washington Business Journal reported last month.
American Real Estate Partners has tapped Mothersauce Partners, the hospitality company behind The Eleanor, Thompson Italian and City-State Brewing Co., to oversee the roughly 27,000-square-foot space at Rosslyn City Center. AREP owns the building, 1700 N. Moore St., and opened the food hall in 2021.
Mothersauce hopes to freshen up the design, branding and concept curation at the food hall. Details are still being worked through, and AREP and Mothersauce said it is premature to reveal more details of the partnership ahead of a more formal launch in the new year. […]
The change comes more than three years after AREP tapped another firm to establish a food hall from inside what was then known as Rosslyn Metro Center, a 40-year-old mall that’s since gotten a major makeover.
The Freshman was one of the first restaurants to announce an opening in Crystal City, following the announcement of Amazon’s HQ2, the main office complex of which opened in nearby Pentagon City this past summer. Leased Amazon offices remain open in Crystal City.
Le Pain Quotidien in Clarendon closed its doors over the weekend.
A notice on the doors of the bakery, located at 2900 Clarendon Blvd near The Crossing Clarendon shopping center, confirms the Arlington outpost of the international chain closed on Sunday.
“We’ve been lucky to call Clarendon our home for years and humbly thank our guests for helping us build a community in the time we’ve spent in this space,” the notice says.
Known for its assortment of baked goods, breads, salads, sandwiches and beverages, Le Pain Quotidien operates about 50 locations nationwide, including what are now six in the D.C. area. The Clarendon Blvd location was the only one in Arlington.
A representative from Le Pain Quotidien declined to provide details about the closure when ARLnow visited today (Tuesday).
Within the last few months, several other businesses have also closed nearby, including Mediterranean restaurant Cava Mezze and outdoor goods store Orvis.