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State Lawmakers Kick Off Process to Hand Over Up to $750 Million in Incentives to Finalize Amazon Deal

Published January 14, 2019 at 1:45PM | Updated January 14, 2019 at 2:35PM

State lawmakers are now setting the wheels in motion to approve at least $550 million in grant money to Amazon, a process that should help seal the deal to bring the tech giant to Arlington.

Legislators in both chambers of the General Assembly have now introduced bills to make good on the deal that Gov. Ralph Northam’s administration helped strike with Jeff Bezos’ firm, promising hundreds of millions in incentive cash if Amazon comes through on its promise to bring 25,000 jobs to Pentagon City and Crystal City between now and 2030.

News

Poll: Most Local Tech Workers Ready to Jump Ship for Amazon Jobs

By Alex Koma

Published January 9, 2019 at 3:45PM

Nearly three quarters of all IT workers across the D.C. region would consider leaving their current job to work for Amazon, a new survey shows, revealing just how impactful the company’s arrival in Arlington could be on the local labor market.

A poll released today (Wednesday) by Eagle Hill Consulting, and conducted by the survey firm Ipsos, found that 51 percent of employees across all occupations would jump ship for Jeff Bezos’ company. The group found that younger people and tech workers were especially enthusiastic about the company, with 60 percent of millennials expressing interest in Amazon and 71 percent of IT workers showing a willingness to leave.

News

Metro Will Shut Down Three Blue, Yellow Line Stations for Lighting Updates This Weekend

By Alex Koma

Published January 9, 2019 at 10:45AM

Metro is shutting down three Arlington stations on the Blue and Yellow lines this weekend, in order to allow for some major lighting improvements set to make each station substantially brighter.

The Pentagon, Pentagon City and Crystal City stops will all be closed both Saturday and Sunday (Jan. 12-13), WMATA announced last week, work that is sure to create substantial disruptions on both lines.

News

Spurred on by Amazon, VRE Looks Set to Find Funding for New Crystal City Station

By Alex Koma

Published January 3, 2019 at 5:00PM

Crystal City VRE station (Photo via VRE)

Virginia Railway Express leaders think they’ve just about nailed down funding for a new and improved Crystal City station, a key component of the area’s impending transportation transformation with Amazon on the way.

VRE officials have been eyeing improvements to its existing station, located at 1503 S. Crystal Drive, for years now, considering that its platform isn’t quite long enough for the commuter trains. Right now, anyone hoping to get off at the station needs to walk to one of their train’s first four cars, even though many are 10 cars long.

News

Demolition of Crystal City’s Elevated Section of S. Clark Street Moves Ahead

By Alex Koma

Published December 28, 2018 at 2:45PM

Demolition work continues on the elevated section of S. Clark Street in Crystal City.

Demolition work on the elevated section of S. Clark Street in Crystal City is slowly moving forward.

Workers kicked off a project to demolish the road and transform the area’s transportation network in earnest this summer, when they tore down S. Clark Street’s overpass over 15th Street. S. Since then, the county says workers have still had to use “10 to 15 dump trucks per day” to remove all the soil that supported that structure.

Around Town

Arlington Woman Set to Compete on Jeopardy Next Week

By Alex Koma

Published December 28, 2018 at 1:45PM

An Arlington PR professional will get a chance to show off her smarts on “Jeopardy!” on New Year’s Day.

Maggie Byrd will be one of the contestants on the long-running quiz show on Jan. 1., according to a release from the show’s producers.

News

Police Investigating After Vehicle Strikes Pedestrian Near Busy Crystal City Intersection This Morning

By Alex Koma

Published December 21, 2018 at 3:15PM

Police car at night (file photo courtesy Kevin Wolf)

County police spokeswoman Ashley Savage said the crash happened around 6:30 a.m. today near the intersection of Jefferson Davis Highway and 23rd Street S.

Savage said a vehicle struck the pedestrian, who was transported to a local hospital with “non-life threatening injuries.”

News

Amazon Plans to Offer Incentives to Push Future Arlington Employees to Use Public Transit

By Alex Koma

Published December 19, 2018 at 2:45PM

Passengers board at the Rosslyn Metro station (file photo)

Amazon says it will offer “transit benefits” to its thousands of employees bound for Arlington, in a bid to incentivize workers to rely on the county’s public transportation options once they arrive.

The tech giant has long worked to help employees at its Seattle headquarters afford train and bus rides and ease their commutes, but Amazon officials didn’t initially detail similar plans for the new offices it plans to set up in Crystal City and Pentagon City.

Around Town

Photos: ‘Impulse’ and Its Musical, Colorful Seesaws Take Over Pentagon City Parking Lot

By Alex Koma

Published December 18, 2018 at 3:45PM

The "Impulse" art exhibit (via Crystal City BID)

Ever seen a light-up, musical seesaw? If not, you might want to swing by a new public art installation in a parking lot sitting on the border of Crystal City and Pentagon City.

Starting last week, the lot became home to “Impulse,” an interactive art display designed to spruce up the previously barren space at the corner of 12th Street S. and S. Eads Street, just across from the Whole Foods grocery store.

News

With Amazon On Board, JBG Smith Prepares to Bet Big on ‘National Landing’

By Alex Koma

Published December 17, 2018 at 3:45PM

JBG Smith is gearing up to invest hundreds of millions of dollars in Crystal City, Pentagon City and Potomac Yard, arguing that Amazon’s impending arrival could make the “National Landing” area nearly as in-demand as D.C. itself.

In documents delivered to investors last week, the developer revealed its most detailed plans yet for how it expects to work with the tech giant as it moves its 25,000 workers to the county.

Feature

Crystal City Startup Acquires Holographic Football Training Program

By Vernon Miles

Published December 17, 2018 at 2:45PM

Sponsored by Monday Properties and written by ARLnow.com, Startup Monday is a weekly column that profiles Arlington-based startups and their founders, plus other local technology happenings. The Ground Floor, Monday’s office space for young companies in Rosslyn, is now open. The Metro-accessible space features a 5,000-square-foot common area that includes a kitchen, lounge area, collaborative meeting spaces, and a stage for formal presentations.

A Crystal City-based startup’s new acquisition will start to move the company toward offering hologram technology.

News

March of Dimes Moving HQ to Crystal City, Will Get $150,000 in County Incentives

By Alex Koma

Published December 17, 2018 at 11:45AM

An office building at 1550 Crystal Drive (via Google Maps)

The March of Dimes is officially moving its headquarters to Crystal City, now that county leaders have signed off on a $150,000 incentive package to lure the nonprofit to Arlington.

The County Board approved a deal with the research and advocacy organization at its meeting Saturday (Dec. 17). The March of Dimes will now move its main offices from White Plains, New York to an office building at 1550 Crystal Drive, bringing 80 jobs to the county in the process.