If such a shutdown were to happen, Moran says he believes that furloughed federal employees would not be reimbursed for their time off due to Republican opposition to such a move. A shutdown could last several weeks and have a “severe impact” on the local economy, Moran warned.
“This is very, very, serious,” Moran said. “Federal employees need to understand that this is not 1995, when we closed down… and [employees] were fully reimbursed.”
Arlington County recently approved a building permit that will allow the market to build Americans with Disabilities Act-compliant bathrooms — one step in the beer garden approval process. The other step will come on May 14, when Westover Market goes before the county board to ask for a live entertainment permit, which is necessary in order for the beer garden to host musical acts.
At the moment, the market is only permitted to seat nine people in the beer garden, which used to host large neighborhood gatherings.
On Thursday night Arlington County held a small business ‘listening session’ at Clarendon Ballroom. More than 50 business owners showed up to tell county staff what they like and don’t like about how the county treats small businesses.
The event was part of County Board Chair Chris Zimmerman’s year-long push to make Arlington more small-business-friendly. Zimmerman gave the opening and closing remarks at the event, but it was county planning and economic development staff who led the group discussions that were the evening’s main substance.
The hookah lounge/pool hall/nightclub/restaurant at 3111 Columbia Pike opened around the beginning of the year and was able to attract crowds to some events, but not on a day-to-day basis. The name has been removed from the building’s exterior and we haven’t spotted any activity there in several weeks.
Since the club has no listed phone number, we have been unable to confirm its fate. However, we hear the club had problems obtaining a live entertainment permit and was subject to several police inspections.
The space used to house a Quiznos restaurant, which in September was replaced by a homegrown sandwich shop called Ganges Grill and Ice Cream. Ganges, which was plagued with problems from the start, did not last very long, and now the storefront is up for lease.
We hear that the rent is about $4,000 per month.
Clarendon and Courthouse have changed — a lot — over the past couple of decades.
The arrival of Metro in the late 1970s and early 1980s heralded the demise of many small mom-and-pop retailers and ethnic restaurants that once gave the area its unique character. It also helped speed along the end of large department and five & dime stores.
Grand Opening for USAA Office in Pentagon City — A new USAA branch has opened on Pentagon Row. The “financial center” — in company parlance — will hold its grand opening celebration from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. on Saturday, April 2. The branch is located at 1301 South Joyce Street.
Doorways Job Featured — Arlington-based Doorways for Women and Families is looking for a new executive director. The job was featured as the MyFoxDC.com “Job of the Day” yesterday. The listing notes that Doorways’ annual operating budget has more than doubled in the past five years, to $3.1 million. [MyFoxDC]
Kathi Moore, who co-owns the bar with her ex-husband, Jay Moore, says their lease is up at then end of the year and she does not expect the landlord to renew it. The landlord, an ownership group led by Clarendon-based Buck and Associates, is under contract with a developer that plans to redevelop the land occupied by Jay’s and two small, adjacent commercial buildings.
That is not to say that Jay’s will close at the end of the year — they may be kept on a month-to-month lease until the developer is ready to proceed with its project. But one thing is for sure: Jay’s days are numbered.
The parcel is the block between Highland Street, Garfield Street, Washington Boulevard and 11th Street. It’s currently home to the T.A. Sullivan & Son cemetery monument business, Eleventh Street Lounge, Potomac Crossfit and a car dealership. All will be torn down to make way for a new ten-story office building with ground level retail space, according to a business owner, who did not want to be identified.
Penzance, a District-based developer, has land purchase contracts in place and hopes to start construction in either 2012 or 2013, according to the business owner.
A construction crew is working to convert what was once a Blockbuster video store into a Petco pet store.
The Blockbuster closed in January at the intersection of Lee Highway and N. Harrison Street. A worker said he expects the build-out to be complete in a month.
On New Year’s Day, County Board Chairman Chris Zimmerman kicked off the year by declaring that the board wanted to be seen a “facilitator, a partner to small business” in 2011.
The subtext of his comment was that the county was looking to reverse course from 2010, when a series of mini-controversies over enforcement of county ordinances had some entrepreneurs questioning Arlington’s commitment to small business.
The Columbia Pike landmark will serve its last customers on Sunday. The store is moving to a new, larger location next to the Home Depot in Seven Corners.
General Manager Ryan Sasse said the store has been doing well financially and is moving into a bigger space so it can start marketing patio furniture next to snowboards and ski jackets during the summer. Despite continued redevelopment on the Pike, Sasse says rising rent hasn’t been a concern.
