In a new twist, the now-razed Broyhill estate in the Donaldson Run neighborhood is again on the market, billed as a development opportunity for anywhere between six and 36 homes.
Less than a year after its last sale, for $2.55 million, the estate near the Washington Golf and Country Club is once more on the market — this time as a 1.43-acre vacant lot, coming in at a cool $10 million asking price.
The agent, Leesburg-based Serafin Real Estate, says in a listing it “is pleased to present what is perhaps the single largest land offering to come available in Northern Virginia’s most desirable North Arlington (22207) within the last two decades.”
A brochure notes this property is ready for “streamline development” with up to six single-family residences — the way of the Febrey-Lothrop estate — or up to 36 Expanded Housing Option housing units, across two parcels, 11,145 square feet and 51,062 square feet in size.
Neither the agent nor the owners responded to a request for comment.
A video tour of the property at 2561 N. Vermont Street shows that construction fencing remains, as do some remnants of the former 10-bedroom home: brick steps, a wrought iron gate, and a small building corner.
It’s a far cry from the home husband-and-wife duo Mustaq Hamza and Amanda Maldonado told ARLnow they would build after buying the property earlier this year.
Shortly into demolition, they were fending off at least one vigilante preservationist who nicked pieces of the home on his way out. They also had had sharp words for neighbors they said alleged the duo would take advantage of the freshly-passed Missing Middle zoning code updates.
“They don’t believe two minorities can buy a lot for $2.5 million and build another single family house,” Maldonado said at the time. “They believe we’re going to flip it and build a bunch of condos.”
Donaldson Run Civic Association President Bill Richardson says a lingering concern for neighbors is how much of the property will be covered with an impervious surface, with elements such as a house or a driveway.
“Members are very concerned about that, generally, and as it relates to this property,” he said. “It applies whether it’s [developed with] single-family or Missing Middle… Nobody really knows. it’s being marketed for either purpose.”
What remains of the RCA building in Rosslyn looks like something pulled from a post-apocalyptic film.
Demolition work for the building (1901 N. Moore Street) has been ongoing since the end of March and the pedestrian bridge to a building next door was removed in the spring.
Now, passers-by can see a narrowed shell of the building with rebar, pipes and wires drooping from it.
By the end of this month, the RCA building will be “demolished to grade,” notes a calendar on a website providing updates on the building’s progress.
The website also projects a sanitary and storm sewer system will be installed by mid-July or by the end of this month. Once this is done, and electrical infrastructure is relocated, workers will begin installing a retaining wall that will keep the ground in place as they excavate.
“Once at the subgrade, we’ll excavate for the new building’s footings and erect two tower cranes to start pouring concrete,” the website says.
The construction company overseeing the project, CBG Building Company, has “a light pollution reduction and rainwater management plan in order to protect the community’s natural habitat and minimize the project’s environmental impact,” the website adds.
The developer, Jefferson Apartment Group (JAG), will replace the RCA building with a 27-story apartment complex composed of two towers that share a podium and are joined at the rooftop by a sky bridge.
The building, one block from the Rosslyn Metro station, will also have 11,444 square feet of retail space. Planned amenities for residents include a fitness center, pet spa, landscaped patio, green rooftop terrace and a pool.
JAG is aiming to complete the new structure in January 2026.
A long-time Rosslyn sushi spot has closed.
Kanpai Japanese Restaurant inside 1401 Wilson Blvd and near the intersection with N. Oak Street had its last day of service on Friday (June 23), per the restaurant’s Facebook page. Additionally, online ordering is no longer available and the phone number is disconnected.
A sign is also now on the door of the former restaurant appearing to thank the owners. It reads, “Thank you, Kanpi. The best sushi. The best neighbors. The best friends. We will miss you so much.”
Kanpai appears to have been open since at least 2006, according to Yelp reviews. Its menu consisted of sushi, tempura, and other Japanese favorites.
ARLnow has attempted to reach the Kanpai’s owners about the closure, but it’s likely due to the pending redevelopment of 1401 Wilson Blvd. The building is nearly 60 years old and aging. The plan is to build newer, more modern office and retail space in its place. Earlier this month, owner Monday Properties got a two-year extension on the project.
The building’s parking garage is noted for being the spot where reporter Bob Woodward secretly met with Deep Throat during the Watergate investigation. A historical marker was placed in front of the building in 2011.
Hat tip to Matt Siniscal
It’s time to bid farewell to The Americana Hotel in Crystal City.
The long-time budget hotel along Richmond Highway is being demolished to make way for residential redevelopment across the street from Amazon’s nearly-open second headquarters and a short distance from the Crystal City Metro station.
A spokeswoman for JBG Smith confirmed the demolition to ARLnow this morning (Tuesday).
“Demolition and site work are currently underway, with the earliest possible construction start slated for 2024,” the spokeswoman said, adding that that is all she is able to say at this time.
The Americana Hotel closed in 2020 and JBG Smith quickly purchased it for a new apartment project, consisting of 639 new units, 3,885 square feet of ground floor retail and a distinct architectural feature akin to a partially covered walkway, which was nicknamed the “tabletop.”
The developer’s plans were approved by the Planning Commission and the Arlington County Board in April.
The Americana’s demolition is part of a trend in Arlington County of redeveloping aging motels and hotels.
The iconic Highlander Motel in Virginia Square, a frequent haunt for a motorcycle club, was turned into a CVS. The Days Inn motel in Lyon Village is set to become apartments, which the county is trying to ensure pays homage to the site’s history with a midcentury modern design.
The Key Bridge Marriott, meanwhile, has stood vacant — and is now condemned — after development plans were delayed, likely due to financial issues for the group that owns the site.
(Updated at 12:30 p.m.) Arlington County is gearing up to raze a three-story office building on Columbia Pike this summer and turn it into a parking lot.
To get started, the Arlington County Board needs to kick off public hearings to consider the land-use changes needed for the new use. It is slated to do so on Saturday.
“These subject approvals will facilitate the final steps needed to demolish the existing building and construct the proposed interim surface parking improvements, including the review of construction plans and issuance of permits,” according to a county report.
Parking is a temporary use for the site, which the county bought last year for $7.55 million.
“Arlington County acquired the office building at 3108 Columbia Pike in March 2022, after it was identified as a potential site for a future Columbia Pike branch library and for potential co-location of County Board priorities, such as affordable housing,” the county report said.
The adopted 2023-32 Capital Improvement Plan, however, “anticipates completion of a new Columbia Pike branch library no sooner than 2028 at the earliest, thus presenting opportunities for a temporary use on the site in the interim,” it continued.
The county already determined it cannot save the office building and repurpose it.
“While the site is developed with a vacant, three-story office building, through due diligence completed prior to acquisition, the County determined the building is not fit for re-use and should be demolished,” the report said.
If the hearings are authorized on Saturday and the Board approves and the project, which could happen next month, the Dept. of Environmental Services will demolish the building this summer.
Doing so will expand the number of parking spaces from 63 to 92, per the report, fewer than originally anticipated. The county expected to add 58 spaces for a total of 121, according to a county document from last year.
For now, DES intends to lease the parking to Arlington Public Schools.
“The County has identified an expanded surface parking lot as a recommended interim use, which could support parking needs for the Career Center Campus during its redevelopment project, or accommodate other public parking needs before future redevelopment of the site,” the report said.
The Arlington School Board approved designs for the new, $182.42 million campus last October. Most of the funds were included in the 2022 School Bond referendum, according to an APS webpage.
“The project will now transition into the Use Permit phase and the new Arlington Career Center will be completed in December 2025,” the webpage says.
A letter included in the use permit APS filed for the Career Center in February said the site will accommodate 1,619 students. The site will also fit 775 Montessori Public School of Arlington students for a total of 2,394 students, per another document in the filings.
The pedestrian bridge connecting the Rosslyn’s RCA building to another building (and bar) across N. Moore Street is set to be demolished soon.
The demolition process will start on Saturday and last two weekends: April 29-30 and May 6-7, per a letter to residents of the Central Place apartments, shared with ARLnow.
Jefferson Apartment Group, one of the developers leading a joint venture to redevelop the RCA property at 1901 N. Moore Street as an apartment tower, confirmed that the information shared was correct. The letter provided some details about expected traffic impacts as a result of the demolition.
“Please note that North Moore Street will be completely closed off to pedestrian and bus traffic during this period, except for cars that need to access the garage entrance for 1911 Fort Myer Drive,” the letter said.
The bridge connects the old office building to the retro pool hall Continental. Demolition could impact the buses and shuttles that pick up people in front of the bar’s beer garden and take them to D.C., such as the shuttle between Georgetown University and the Rosslyn Metro station.
“All parties of bus routes that stop at the corner of North Moore Street and 19th Street N. have been notified of the work, and they will notify all customers of any route changes,” the note to residents said.
Demolition began earlier this month, Axios reported. Rather than an implosion, Jefferson Apartment Group previously told ARLnow that the building will be dismantled bit by bit.
The county approved plans to replace the concrete-cladded office building with a 27-story, 423-unit apartment building in June 2021. Construction is expected to take three years.
Like the RCA building itself, pedestrian bridges in Rosslyn are relics of a mid-century planning belief that bridges make pedestrians more comfortable by separating them from vehicular traffic, noted a 2014 Washington Business Journal article.
Forty years later, these were already out of vogue, per a scathing passage in a 1999 study of Rosslyn.
“To the planners of the early 50’s and 60’s, presumably it seemed orderly and logical to separate the pedestrian flow with its erratic, unpredictable movements, from the fast-moving steel machines of the road,” wrote the local architecture firm the Lukmire Partnership in the study.
Publications from that time illustrated these passageways as wide, open, landscaped spaces that were somehow “strikingly devoid” of any signs of a vibrant urban streetscape, the report continued.
“Buried in the back of the planners’ minds perhaps lingered images of the piazza at San Marco in Venice or those of Rome,” Lukmire Partnership concluded. “If so, in the instance of Rosslyn, something was lost in translation.”
Demolition began this weekend on the 70-year-old Broyhill mansion in the Donaldson Run neighborhood.
The lengths to which some have gone to oppose it, including allegedly impersonating a photographer and stealing tile today (Monday), has left a bitter taste in the mouths of the owners.
The 10-bedroom home at 2561 N. Vermont, near the Washington Golf and Country Club, went on the market last November for $3.6 million after the previous owner died and the beneficiary, the Catholic Prelature of Opus Dei, decided to sell it to a residential buyer, the Falls Church News-Press reported.
As of January, the only interested buyers were husband-and-wife duo Mustaq Hamza and Amanda Maldonado. They purchased the home — described on Redfin as a “jewel [that] unfolds like a diamond necklace” — f0r more than $1 million under asking price, with the intention of knocking it down and building something more suitable for family life.
“The house was built for entertaining, not for raising a family,” Maldonado told ARLnow this morning.
Some however, are upset to see it go. On Saturday, Hamza said people shouted profanities and walked onto the property and demanded materials be set aside.
“That’s not what we expected when we were trying to plan,” he said, adding that now, he and his wife are doing some “soul-searching.”
“Our intention coming here to build the house for our family seems predicated on the fact that this was a nice neighborhood to raise our children in and stay forever,” he said. “It seems not to be the case, and disappointed as we are, we’re open to having been wrong.”
Unwanted visitors — flouting signs saying “private property” and “danger” — continued on Monday afternoon, when ARLnow photographer Jay Westcott was taking photos of the demolition.
When Westcott arrived, he met a man impersonating a photographer, who announced he was “here to take the pictures.” In addition to a camera, he wore a fluorescent vest, a hard hat and a K95 mask, and left in his red Prius with, Hamza says, historically unremarkable tiles and air filters. He says he is considering filing a police report.
The couple insists that the home is not the historical marvel it has been made out to be. They have preserved items inside and given them away if people requested them, the couple said.
“There’s nothing architecturally stunning about the house — it’s a 1950s replica,” Maldonado said. “There’s nothing in the house that can’t be purchased today. We looked to see if there was anything worth preserving and anything that there was, we saved.”
Northern Virginia home builder Marvin T. Broyhill Sr. built the mansion in 1950 after making his fortune building the classic 3-bedroom brick homes that could be bought for $20,000 during the post-World War II housing boom, according to the neighborhood conservation plan for Donaldson Run.
The RCA building in Rosslyn could soon be demolished — not with a bang, but mechanically and over the next five months.
“We are awaiting issuance of the demolition permit,” said Greg Van Wie, the senior vice president for McLean-based Jefferson Apartment Group. “[We] anticipate receiving it any day and commencing immediately thereafter.”
The looming demolition work comes nearly two years after the county approved plans to replace the concrete-cladded office building at 1901 N. Moore Street with a 27-story, 423-unit apartment building in June 2021. Construction of the building is expected to take three years.
“We are currently completing the interior demolition and abatement so [we] have not necessarily been delayed, just working through the County requirements for full demolition,” Van Wie told ARLnow today (Thursday).
JAG is leading a joint venture to demolish the building, built in 1969, as well as the skywalk connecting it to the Rosslyn Gateway building. The new structure, comprised of of a north and a south tower joined at the base and at the rooftop with an “amenity bridge,” will have retail and parking across the third and fourth floors and underground.
A letter to residents of JBG Smith-owned mixed-use apartment building Central Place, shared with ARLnow, informed residents that demolition would start Friday.
Van Wie said he is “not sure it will be Friday.”
Residents noticed prep work for the site occurring last fall. At the time, Van Wie told ARLnow he did not yet have a demolition schedule to share, but did say it will be dismantled, rather than imploded, “so there won’t quite be the same show as with the old Holiday Inn, unfortunately.”
The letter to Central Place residents outlined hours of demolition and expected closures over the next five months.
“We are expecting temporary closures of N. Moore Street just north of N. 19th Street,” it reads. “All closures will be coordinated between the developers and Arlington County.”
Per county zoning ordinances, demolition may take place Monday through Friday from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m., and on weekends and holidays from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., the letter said.
“In our experience, teams will begin working promptly in the mornings, however it is common that activity will slow in the evenings,” the letter continued.
JAG projected demolition would occur in February or March back in December, when the Washington Business Journal reported that a joint venture led by JAG acquired the building for $55.5 million.
Three years ago, JAG took over the plans to redevelop the property from Weissberg Investment Corp., which built the initial building in 1969 and had plans to redevelop it back in 2017. The original plans were later put on hold.
Demolition could start on the former Inner Ear Studios building next year.
On Saturday, the Arlington County Board is set to review a contract to demolish the nearly 70-year-old warehouse and building at 2700 S. Nelson and 2701 S. Oakland streets in Green Valley, near Shirlington. The demolition will make way for a flexible open space for arts programming.
“The building is in a deteriorated condition, has exceeded its service life, and is cost prohibitive to repurpose, repair and maintain,” according to a county report. “Therefore, demolition was recommended.”
Work could take about 180 days and construction could be completed by the summer, per the report. Electrical outlets and hydrants would be installed as part of the project.
Arlington County plans to outfit the lot with a large event space, a small performance area, a temporary public arts space, a makerspace and seating. It will incorporate objects saved from the former epicenter of the D.C. punk scene.
“Several items of significance were salvaged from the Inner Ear Studio that occupied the warehouse prior to the County,” the report says. “Arlington County Cultural Affairs and Public Art are involving the community in shaping the future use of the site and incorporating the salvaged items for a flexible, open space that will be established after demolition.”
Arlington acquired the property in late 2021 in a bid to create an arts and industry district in Green Valley and make the arts more accessible in south Arlington.
The building is adjacent to the Arlington Food Assistance Center and the Arlington Cultural Affairs building, where an outpost of Arlington Independent Media is now located, and across from Jennie Dean Park.
Inner Ear Studios has remained active since moving out of its long-time home, with recording space now located in the basement of owner Don Zientara’s Arlington house.
Work is underway to take down the aging RCA building in Rosslyn — but a demolition schedule has yet to be set.
The forthcoming residential redevelopment for 1901 N. Moore Street, by McLean-based developer Jefferson Apartment Group, was approved in June 2021.
Sixteen months later, JAG Senior Vice President Greg Van Wie tells ARLnow that “the crews are removing cell tower equipment from the roof in preparation for demolition.”
As of now, though, there is no set date for the demolition, Van Wie said.
“We will have more updates on the schedule in the coming weeks,” he said.
A reader noted to ARLnow that he noticed the cell towers were gone in late September. This month, he described a large crane clearing the roof of HVAC units and other equipment, while down below, N. Lynn Street was closed down to one lane.
Those who were hoping for a dramatic implosion may be disappointed.
“We will be dismantling the existing building rather than imploding it so there won’t quite be the same show as with the old Holiday Inn, unfortunately,” Van Wie said.
One December morning in 2020, the 18-story hotel in Rosslyn came down during a controlled demolition that closed local roads and I-66. A new development with a 25-story residential tower an a 36-story hotel tower are being built in its place.
After taking apart the 13-story, 1960s-era RCA building, JAG will build a 27-story, 423-unit apartment complex. The planned 260-foot tall building is composed of a north and a south tower joined at the base and at the rooftop with an “amenity bridge.”
The fourth floor will feature a landscaped terrace and the roof will also have garden elements. There will be two levels of retail and 286 parking spaces spread across garages on the third and fourth floors and underground.
As part of the project, the developer will remove inner loop roads around the Rosslyn Metro station, as well as the skywalk connection between the RCA building and the Rosslyn Gateway building.
The developer will also donate $2.2 million toward improvements within Rosslyn, such as for Gateway Park, and add a mix of buffered, protected and unprotected bike lanes, colorized bus lanes, new intersections, a relocated red-light camera and a new Capital Bikeshare station.
A vacant, county-owned building in Glencarlyn could start coming down this fall, pending approval from the Arlington County Board this weekend.
This Saturday, the Board is slated to consider awarding a contract to tear down the old Virginia Hospital Center urgent care facility at 601 S. Carlin Springs Road.
“If approved, the contractor will begin mobilizing in the fall,” according to the project’s page on the county website. “Expected completion of the demolition is summer 2023.”
Arlington County acquired the old VHC Urgent Care in a land swap with the hospital. VHC received county-owned land at N. Edison Street for its expansion project, interior work on which is ongoing until this December.
While a private medical office building continues to operate next door at 611 S. Carlin Springs Road, the VHC building has sat vacant since the acquisition. Come winter, thrill-seekers take to the hill on the grounds for a sledding spot.
In order to use the land, the county needs to tear the VHC building down, as it “is not fit for further use due to mold and other issues,” according to a county presentation to neighbors of the building last September.
To do so, while continuing operations at the medical office building, the county had to separate the shared water, power and gas utility lines.
“This work began in February 2022 and is close to completion,” county spokeswoman Jessica Baxter told ARLnow in an email. “Throughout this project, we have been working closely with the adjacent medical office building to allow ample time for them to accommodate their patient/client schedules with the start of the demolition.”
Later this month, the county will install install solar-powered lights in the parking lot as “a temporary solution” once power to the site is disconnected in the fall, she said yesterday (Tuesday).
Boarded up windows and signs forbidding entry are visible from the perimeter of the site. These are in place and county staff check the perimeter of the site daily “to deter intruders,” according to the county’s 2021 project update to the neighborhood.
Arlington experienced a few delays getting to this point. Besides having to accommodate the medical offices next door, Baxter previously told ARLnow the project had to repeat its solicitation of bids, after a first round did not net any interested contractors.
A complete demolition is still a ways off, as are plans for how the county will use the site.
“Future uses of the site will be determined at a later time,” Baxter said this week. “After demolition, grass will be planted and maintained.”
Many Glencarlyn residents hope to see an expanded nature area, says neighbor Julie Lee.
“The site borders Glencarlyn Park and the Long Branch Nature Center,” she tells ARLnow. “It would provide additional outdoor recreational opportunities, as well as additional outdoor learning space for Campbell Elementary School which has a nature focus.”
