News

Management Change at Hotel Palomar — After being sold for some $45 million, Rosslyn’s upscale Hotel Palomar (1121 19th Street N.) will be changing management companies. Effective Feb. 22, Kimpton Hotels will no longer manage the property. Instead, it will be managed in partnership with Starwood Hotels and Le Meridien. [Hotel Palomar]

Legal Advertising Bill Fails in Richmond — A bill that would have lifted the requirement that Virginia localities place legal notices in newspapers has failed in the General Assembly. The bill could have saved localities thousands of dollars per year. Most of Arlington County’s legal advertising is placed in the Washington Times. [Sun Gazette]


News

Hotel Palomar For Sale? — Connecticut-based HEI Hospitality LLC is in talks to buy Hotel Palomar (1121 19th Street N.) in Rosslyn for a reported $45 million, or nearly $300,000 per room. The high-end hotel is currently owned by JBG Cos. and operated by Kimpton Hotels. [Bloomberg]

Redistricting Lawsuit Could Delay Primaries — Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli has requested that the state delay the June 12 congressional primaries by two months, following a decision by the Virginia Supreme Court to allow a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the state’s recent redistricting process to proceed. [Washington Post]


News

The project held its official groundbreaking ceremony yesterday. The hotel, which is expected to open mid-2013, will feature 11 floors and 183 all-suite rooms.

The Residence Inn is part of the Founders Square development, which by fall 2014 is expected to consist of two high-rise office buildings, one high-rise 257-unit apartment building, and a smaller building reserved for retailers — in addition to the hotel. All told, the complex will feature 775,000 square feet of office space and 28,000 square feet of retail space.


News

Firefighters responded to the hotel just after 1:00 p.m. after a 911 caller reported smoke on the 9th floor. Upon arrival, they found a fire — in a 9th floor room — that had been extinguished by the building’s sprinkler system.

Some smoke and water damage was reported as a result of the fire. Nobody was hurt.


News

Post-Earthquake Safety Tips — Arlington County is advising residents to call a structural engineer if they find cracks in their brick facades or chimneys following yesterday’s earthquake. [Arlington County]

Favola/Areizaga-Soto Primary By the Numbers — Just over 10,000 people voted in yesterday’s 31st District state Senate primary between Barbara Favola and Jaime Areizaga-Soto, out of 133,577 active registered voters in the district. More than $538,500 had been spent on the race as of Aug. 10. In other words, candidates ended up spending more than $53 for every resident who bothered to cast a vote in the race.


Around Town

The new Renaissance Arlington Capital View Hotel in Crystal City has one of the best bathrooms in the country, according to a contest sponsored by restroom management and maintenance provider Cintas.

The hotel’s ground floor restroom is one of 10 swanky bathrooms from around the country selected for the tenth-annual America’s Best Restroom contest. This year’s contest includes loos from restaurants in New York City, a casino in Las Vegas, a museum in Chicago and a mobile trailer used by President Obama.


News

Local Real Estate Market Lags — While the average home sales price in Arlington was up 4.6 percent for the first half of 2011, the total volume of sales was down 19 percent compared to 2010. [Sun Gazette]

Garvey ‘Home’ in Alexandria, Arlington — State Senate candidate and Arlington School Board member Libby Garvey is trying to play up her local chops to both Arlington and Alexandria Democrats. “Garvey, a resident of Fairlington, considers Alexandria to be her neighborhood,” the Huntington-Belle Haven Patch reported yesterday. Meanwhile, Garvey told the Arlington County Democratic Committee last night that after debates in Fairfax and Alexandria, “it’s really nice to be home tonight.”


News

(Update at 2:35 p.m.) An elderly woman is dead following a car fire in the parking garage below the Ballston Hilton (950 N. Stafford Street).

Homicide detectives were called to investigate the woman’s death, but according to police spokeswoman Det. Crystal Nosal the death is now being investigated as a probable accident.


Events

The new Renaissance Arlington Capital View Hotel in Crystal City (2800 S. Potomac Avenue) will be hosting “Angry Hours” — a weekly series of live Angry Bird tournaments — every Thursday from July 14 to Aug. 25.

The tournament will be held from 4:00 to 7:00 p.m. at SOCCi, the hotel’s modern Italian restaurant and bar. Players will compete for prizes including hotel stays, free dinners and an iPad. The tournament will also feature its own menu of signature cocktails, with names like “Mighty Eagle,” the “Rio” and the “Golden Egg.”


Around Town

The hotel, located just off of Columbia Pike at 900 S. Orme Street, had been owned by National Hospitality Corporation, a company linked to Sun Myung Moon’s Unification Church.

HEI Hotels and Resorts purchased an ownership interest in the hotel for an undisclosed sum. The company owns 39 hotels in 16 states, including the Sheraton Crystal City.


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