Columbia Pike | ARLnow.com

Lower-Cost Transit Stations Appease Pike Residents

Published April 29, 2015 at 11:00AM

The Columbia Pike Transit Stations open house

After the public outcry, poor design and organizational problems that warranted an independent review of the $1 million S. Walter Reed Drive Super Stop, Arlington’s scaled back plan for the rest of Columbia Pike is being met with general approval.

The new plan, to build 23 more transit stations at key intersections along the Pike for a total cost of $12.4 million, was brought before the public yesterday evening at the Arlington Mill Community Center. The stations will cost an average of 40 percent less than the prototype built at Walter Reed Drive.

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Food Star on Columbia Pike Could Become Six-Story Apartment Building

By Ethan Rothstein

Published April 27, 2015 at 5:00PM | Updated April 29, 2015 at 9:34AM

The existing Food Star on Columbia Pike

The proposed building, from developer Orr Partners, would be six stories of mixed-use development — five stories of apartments and ground floor retail. The property would have to redevelop under the Columbia Pike Commercial Form-Based Code, which calls for mixed-use, pedestrian-friendly buildings.

Orr Partners Chairman David Orr said he expects the building to have about 350 market-rate apartments, and for a grocery store and other community-oriented retail — maybe a fast-casual restaurant or two — to occupy the ground floor. He expects to submit a form-based code application in June.

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Crime Report: Assault Near the Pike

By ARLnow.com

Published April 17, 2015 at 2:45PM | Updated February 27, 2020 at 4:09PM

File photo

A man was viciously punched in the hallway of a Columbia Pike-area apartment building early Wednesday morning, police say.

Two arrests were made in connection with the alleged crime. From this week’s Arlington County crime report:

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BREAKING: House Fire Near Columbia Pike

By Ethan Rothstein

Published April 16, 2015 at 12:00PM | Updated April 16, 2015 at 2:19PM

Photo via @ashfrel

(Updated at 1:00 p.m.) Arlington County Fire Department personnel are on the scene of a house fire on the 1000 block of S. Rolfe Street.

The fire was reported at about 11:45 a.m., and when firefighters arrived on scene, fire could be seen from the outside of the house, according to the ACFD union on Twitter.

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Should Metro Be Arlington’s Plan for Columbia Pike?

By Ethan Rothstein

Published April 13, 2015 at 12:15PM | Updated April 13, 2015 at 12:52PM

As Arlington grapples with the cloudy future of transit on Columbia Pike, in the wake of the streetcar line’s cancellation, one question has been largely absent: Is Metro the answer?

The Pike, Pentagon City and Crystal City together are projected to account for 65 percent of the county’s population growth and 44 percent of its job growth in the next three decades, and Arlington doesn’t have a long-term transit plan in place for the Pike to accommodate that growth. So far, much of the discussion has revolved around bigger and better buses.

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Two People Rescued From Car Dangling Off Parking Deck

By Ethan Rothstein

Published April 3, 2015 at 12:45PM | Updated April 3, 2015 at 1:11PM

Two people were rescued from a car dangling from a parking deck this afternoon after the driver crashed the vehicle through a metal fence.

The Arlington County Fire Department technical rescue team was dispatched to the parking lot of the Carlton Condominium, a high-rise building on the 4600 block of S. Four Mile Run Drive at about noon. The parking deck was one story up, and dozens of Arlington County firefighters and policeman responded to rescue the car’s occupants.

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Crime Report: Chokeholds and Knockouts

By ARLnow.com

Published March 27, 2015 at 11:35AM | Updated February 27, 2020 at 4:09PM

File photo

Police say a male suspect put the victim in a chokehold while a female suspect went through his pockets and stole a cell phone.

From the ACPD:

Around Town

Confirmed: Starbucks Plans Summer Opening on Columbia Pike

By Ethan Rothstein

Published March 26, 2015 at 4:10PM

The vacant space at the corner of the Pike and S. Barton Street — where Bar TNT and Society Fair closed last fall — will be home to the coffee chain, the building’s management told residents today.

“We’re spilling the beans and we want our residents to be the first to hear the new,” said an email to the residents, which was forwarded to ARLnow.com. “Coming summer 2015, Penrose Square welcomes its newest retailer: Starbucks Coffee. Live, Work & Caffeinate at home in your very own Starbucks.”

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Asbestos Shuts Down Columbia Pike Preschool

By Ethan Rothstein

Published March 26, 2015 at 3:05PM | Updated March 27, 2015 at 4:03PM

Danger signs after Trinity Episcopal Church's preschool was found to have asbestos

A Columbia Pike church preschool has shut down indefinitely after asbestos dust was found in the floors.

Trinity Episcopal Church‘s School of Early Learning sent out a letter to parents on Tuesday, confirming the presence of asbestos dust in the air at the school. The church’s rector, Rev. Kim Coleman, also serves as the school’s headmaster and said the more than 100 students will not be allowed to enter the building for an “indeterminate amount of time.”

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Second Washington Blvd Bridge Opens Over Columbia Pike

By Ethan Rothstein

Published March 24, 2015 at 4:50PM

The Washington Blvd bridge over Columbia Pike

A big milestone has been reached in the construction of a new Washington Blvd overpass over Columbia Pike: Washington Blvd traffic is now using both new bridges.

The Virginia Department of Transportation changed the traffic pattern today, directing eastbound traffic onto the newly constructed bridge. Before today, eastbound and westbound traffic shared the first bridge built as part of the $48.5 million, three-year long construction project.

Around Town

Chipotle Coming to Columbia Pike?

By Ethan Rothstein

Published March 23, 2015 at 1:15PM

A Chipotle Mexican Grill could be coming to the ground floor of an apartment building on Columbia Pike.

A construction permit has been filed with Arlington County to build out a Chipotle restaurant in the new Pike 3400 building, at the corner of the Pike and S. Glebe Road. The building is being developed by the Penrose Group and managed by Kettler.

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County: No Streetcar Alternative Plan Coming Until 2016

By Ethan Rothstein

Published March 18, 2015 at 2:55PM | Updated March 18, 2015 at 3:11PM

“Transportation is complex,” County Manager Barbara Donnellan told the Board yesterday in an update on the area’s transit plans. “We really need to move forward in a deliberative way. We want a transit alternative very fast, but we’re going to make sure that the community is involved in whatever we do in terms of coming up with an alternative.”

Arlington Transportation Director Dennis Leach said the post-streetcar plan for Columbia Pike and Crystal City will likely mean more buses — buses that may be larger and fancier than those currently serving the corridors. While the county did previously study alternatives to streetcar, Leach said those plans need to be updated.