housing | ARLnow.com

Morning Notes

Published October 18, 2018 at 9:00AM

More Housing Coming to Pentagon City — Developer LCOR is working on plans for a new apartment building in Pentagon City, to be built on a site that currently houses a blocky, low-slung building containing Verizon telecommunications infrastructure. Arlington has seen “a rising demand for luxury rentals,” including at a recently-completed LCOR building in Crystal City. [Washington Business Journal, Washington Business Journal]

Woman Charged With Bringing Gun to DCA — “The TSA said an Arlington, Virginia, woman was stopped at a checkpoint at Reagan National Airport on Tuesday with a loaded 9 mm handgun in her carry-on bag. There were 14 bullets in the handgun, including one in the chamber. She was cited by the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority police.” [WTOP]

News

County Board Contenders Split on How Much Cash to Send to Affordable Housing Loan Fund

By Alex Koma

Published October 11, 2018 at 4:45PM

There isn’t much daylight between the two contenders for County Board this fall on affordable housing issues in Arlington, but the pair is offering different answers on one key matter: how much money the county should chip in to encourage affordable development.

Independent incumbent John Vihstadt and Democratic challenger Matt de Ferranti have both stressed the importance of preserving affordable homes in Arlington as part of their respective campaigns, and both did so once more in responses to a questionnaire from the advocates at the Alliance for Housing Solutions, released yesterday (Wednesday).

News

Morning Notes

By ARLnow.com

Published October 9, 2018 at 8:55AM

Arlington Losing Big Office Tenant — “BAE Systems Inc. is moving its headquarters to Falls Church as part of a consolidation of its Northern Virginia office space… The move will also further ding Arlington County’s office vacancy rate, which at the end of 2017 was 20.6 percent.” [Washington Business Journal]

Hazmat Situation at Kaiser Permanente — Arlington County firefighters responded to a hazardous materials incident at Kaiser Permanente in Falls Church yesterday. Five people were evaluated by medics and, of them, two were transported to the hospital. [WJLA, Twitter, Twitter]

News

Without a Surge in Construction, Planners Warn of a Massive ‘Housing Shortfall’ Across D.C. Region

By Alex Koma

Published September 17, 2018 at 1:45PM | Updated September 17, 2018 at 2:39PM

Ballston Quarter/Liberty Center construction cranes - file photo

Arlington and the rest of the D.C. region could face a massive “housing shortfall” in the coming years without a surge in new construction, according to a new analysis by regional planners.

A study presented to the board of the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments last Wednesday (Sept. 12) suggests that the region needs to add 100,000 more homes than are currently projected to be built between now and 2045.

News

Report: Arlington Boasts One of the ‘Healthiest’ Housing Markets in the Country

By Alex Koma

Published August 7, 2018 at 2:45PM

Arlington has one of the “healthiest” housing markets in the country thanks to a stable supply of affordable homes, according to a new study.

The financial research firm SmartAsset ranked the county first in Virginia and 24th in the nation in a new evaluation of the country’s largest housing markets.

News

Real Estate Tax Break Program for Seniors Set to Change Next Year

By Alex Koma

Published July 17, 2018 at 12:45PM

(Updated at 1 p.m.) Some changes are on the way for Arlington’s real estate tax relief program for seniors, though officials declined pursue the sort of sweeping overhaul favored by some in the community.

The County Board approved a series of tweaks to the program’s eligibility criteria Saturday (July 14), in a bid to better realize the county’s goal of helping older Arlingtonians stay in their homes even as values, and associated tax bills, creep upward.

News

Morning Notes

By Alex Koma

Published July 17, 2018 at 8:30AM

Metro Leaders Square Off with Union Over Strike Threat — The transit service is still negotiating with its largest union to avert a strike, though details remain murky. Virginia’s Republican lawmakers in Richmond are urging Gov. Ralph Northam to ask a federal court to intervene to prevent any work stoppage. [Washington Post]

County Board Approves Incentives for DoD Tenant — Arlington officials agreed to spend $8 million over the next decade to keep the Office of Naval Research in a Ballston office building. [InsideNova]

News

Dorsey: Stop Trying to ‘Protect Neighborhoods’ from Density

By Alex Koma

Published July 12, 2018 at 10:45AM

County Board Vice Chair Christian Dorsey is urging people around Arlington to embrace density in their communities and abandon the idea of “protecting” certain neighborhoods from development.

News

Report: Arlington Will Add 24,000 New Homes Through 2040

By Alex Koma

Published July 6, 2018 at 2:45PM

Crystal City is set to add 5,300 homes over the next 20 years, leading the way among all of Arlington’s Metro corridors, according to county projections.

In all, the county will likely see a total of 24,000 new homes built between 2020 and 2040, according to the “Arlington Profile 2018” released by the county this spring.

News

Despite Hefty Rent Prices, Arlington Ranked Among Top Places for Solo Renters

By Alex Koma

Published June 27, 2018 at 1:45PM

That’s according to a new study of 100 of the nation’s largest cities and counties by the financial data research firm SmartAsset. The company ranked Arlington 17th among that group for places where renters have the financial wherewithal live alone, largely because of the robust median income level of the county’s workers.

SmartAsset found that full-time employees in Arlington have a median income of just over $90,000 a year, putting the county at the top of the list among the firm’s top 25 places where renters can afford to go solo.

News

Report: Arlington Has Lost More Than 14,500 Market-Rate Affordable Homes Since 2000

By Alex Koma

Published June 25, 2018 at 4:45PM | Updated June 25, 2018 at 5:26PM

Westover garden apartment building (photo via Arlington Partnership for Affordable Housing)

Rent prices on more than 14,500 homes in Arlington have surged past rates deemed “market affordable” since 2000, according to a new report.

In an evaluation of affordable housing around the region, the Northern Virginia Housing Alliance found that the county has seen steep declines in the number of homes affordable for people making 60 percent of the area’s median income. In Arlington, federal officials set those levels at $49,260 a year for a one-person household and $70,320 for a four-person household.

News

Morning Notes

By ARLnow.com

Published June 21, 2018 at 8:55AM | Updated June 21, 2018 at 11:41AM

It’s Summer — Today is the first day of summer and the longest day of the year in terms of daylight. [Fortune]

Verizon 911 Outage — Updated at 11:40 a.m. — From Arlington Alert: “Due to a regional Verizon outage, Verizon mobile phones may not be able to reach 9-1-1 or non-emergency numbers in the area at this time. Please use Text-to-9-1-1 or another phone carrier if the voice call does not go through.” Callers in Alexandria, Fairfax and Prince William are also affected by the outage. Service was restored around 11 a.m. [Twitter, WJLA]