Over forty trees are planned to be removed to make way for a new elementary school in Westover, but Arlington Public Schools is hosting one last meeting about potential tree-saving solutions before construction starts.
A discussion is scheduled with neighbors on Monday (Sept. 16) at the edge of the grove will involve discussion of whether any of the trees can be saved. The meeting is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. at the basketball court on the Reed site (1644 N. McKinley Road).
Three months after it closed, N. Edgewood Street is now open once again.
The street, which connects Clarendon and Wilson boulevards, in front of the Clarendon Whole Foods, can get busy, especially during times when the Whole Foods is busy.
A small plot on Wilson Blvd bisected by a gravel trail will be reopening as a park with paved central walkway.
The Oakland Park project is centered around plans to bring the park in compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and adding overall enhancements to the green space at 3705 Wilson Blvd.
Arlington Companies in Inc. 5000 — “Inc. Magazine named 34 Arlington companies to its annual list of the nation’s 5,000 fastest-growing companies, the Inc. 5000, while five were part of the exclusive Inc. 500.” [Arlington Economic Development, InsideNova]
Predator or Victim of Injustice? — “On Monday, the Circuit Court in liberal Arlington County will be the scene of a heavy-handed morality play, with prosecutors seeking lifelong incarceration for a young gay man who has already paid an extraordinary price for youthful, nonviolent sexual indiscretions.” [Washington Post]
(Updated 12:45 p.m.) The landscape of Crystal City is being reshaped as office buildings are built or renovated ahead of Amazon’s arrival.
Over the stretch of a few blocks in Crystal City, several buildings either currently built or to-be-constructed have been highlighted by real estate company JBG Smith as temporary Amazon workspaces. For the past few months, the area has been ringing with the sounds of demolition and construction, which picked up since Amazon announced it had selected “National Landing” — the combined area of Crystal City, Pentagon City and Potomac Yard — for its HQ2.
Arlington County has officially finished replacing the old Carlin Springs Road bridge near Ballston.
Most of the construction on the new bridge over N. George Mason Drive had wrapped up last month, with crews working on paving and re-striping by mid-June. The Department of Environmental Services celebrated the project’s completion in a tweet Tuesday, writing that the project was “ahead of schedule and under budget.”
(Updated on 07/22/19) Office Vacancy Rate Dropping — “The commercial vacancy rate in the County continues to improve. The vacancy rate as of the second quarter of 2019 stands at 16.6%, down nearly 5% from its historic high of 21% in 2015. Arlington Economic Development also announced it successfully closed 26 deals in FY 2019, representing 7.2 million square feet of office space and 43,000 jobs.” [Arlington County]
County Adopts New Bathroom Policy — “The Arlington County government has adopted what amounts to a […] policy for government-building restrooms and locker rooms. The policy, outlined to County Board members on July 16, will formally allow any individual to use a male or female restroom ‘that corresponds with gender identity or expression,’ county staff said.” [InsideNova]
Driven in part by Amazon’s HQ2, demand for office space in Arlington is on the rise.
That’s according to a new quarterly Northern Virginia market report from commercial real estate services firm JLL, which says “tech demand across the Herndon-to-Crystal City corridor” is leading to more office space being leased than is being built.
Madison Manor Park (6225 12th Road N.) will close starting next week for renovations.
Arlington County Board members began considering updates to the park back in 2017 and finally voted in May to begin construction.
A new bowling alley is delaying its plans to open in Crystal City by a year.
“The Bowlero location is undergoing construction,” Jillian Laufer, a PR rep for Bowlero Corp., said in an email. “But there are tentative plans for the center to open in spring 2020.”
Updated 11:15 a.m. — Last year’s construction at Washington Golf & Country Club meant viewers of the 4th of July fireworks — traditionally seated on the course — had to find new accommodations.
This year, Arlington’s other tradition of eternal construction work means viewers will still need to find another place to watch the fireworks.
A proposed streetscape improvement project has revealed rising construction costs in Arlington County due to ongoing work to add new lanes to I-66 and I-395 — and associated projects.
“We believe the shortage of qualified contractors resulting from the abundance of work generated by the I-66 & I-395 Express Lanes projects is contributing to the higher than expected bid prices,” according to a county staff report.
