local business | ARLnow.com

Zimmerman Promises Pro-Business Measures

Published January 3, 2011 at 9:46AM | Updated January 3, 2011 at 10:36AM

Like the jolly elf, Zimmerman quietly listened to the hopes and dreams (and gripes) of business owners throughout the year, then delivered a tidily wrapped present in the form of his speech at the county board’s New Year’s Day organizational meeting.

Zimmerman, who was officially elected chairman of the county board earlier in the meeting, told the assembled few (and those “watching over their toes” on the county’s TV channel) that “to realize our goals for the community, we need businesses to succeed.”

News

Morning Notes

By ARLnow.com

Published January 3, 2011 at 5:55AM

Area Bars Ring In New Year’s With Ringing Cash Registers — Initial reports from the field suggest Arlington bars and restaurants did big business on New Year’s Eve. In particular, two Irish bars brought in plenty of green. Ireland’s Four Courts in Courthouse was crowded, he hear. Another tipster tells us that the cavernous Columbia Pike watering hole P. Brennan’s — which charged a $5 cover for an evening that included a champagne toast and live music — was so busy that it apparently ran out of glasses. Said our Pike partier: “Congrats to them… higher cover next year?”

HGTV Couple Moves to South Arlington — A recent episode of HGTV’s House Hunters featured a couple who ended up moving from a condo in the District to a house in the Shirlington Crest development, reports Shirlington Village Blog.

News

Morning Notes

By ARLnow.com

Published December 30, 2010 at 5:28AM | Updated December 30, 2010 at 11:37AM

Artisphere Gets Latin Flavor — Arlington’s Guajillo restaurant and the District’s Casa Oaxaca restaurant have been chosen to jointly run a full-service restaurant and bar in Artisphere, the county’s new cultural center. The county board is expected to formally approve a lease at its Jan. 22 meeting. More from TBD.

Le Village Marche Merging with Verbena — Two Shirlington Village stores are becoming one. Le Village Marche, a French housewares store, is moving into the larger retail space of Verbena, a stationary store under the same ownership. The mew store, which will inherit the Le Village Marche name, will continue to offer many of the same products and services as Verbena. More from Shirlington Village Blog.

News

Morning Notes

By ARLnow.com

Published December 21, 2010 at 5:30AM

R&B Songstress Mya Spotted in Clarendon — Mya Harrison, of hip hop, R&B and acting fame, was spotted getting her hair and makeup done at Kavenchy Spa Salon (1025 North Fillmore Street) in Clarendon yesterday. Mya was getting ready to shoot a music video in the District, reports Yeas & Neas.

Real Estate Predictions For 2011 — Local Realtor Laura Rubinchuk has released her predictions for the Arlington real estate market in 2011. Expect flat prices, sluggish sales, fewer foreclosures and more groundbreakings, says Rubinchuk.

Around Town

“Critical Mass” of Bars and Restaurants Keeping Residents in Arlington

By ARLnow.com

Published December 16, 2010 at 11:43AM

It was just a few short years ago that Arlingtonians had to make lame excuses for why their D.C. friends should trek into the county. In 2006, one DCist writer (and Arlington resident) bemoaned “Arlington’s low bar diversity and mediocre dining choices” while trying to make the case that the Wilson Boulevard Taco Bell was a potential selling point.

Now?

News

Morning Notes

By ARLnow.com

Published December 14, 2010 at 7:43AM

McDonnell Pushes For Quick Action on Health Care Challenge — Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell, who praised state Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli’s now-successful challenge to President Obama’s health care reform law, wants the federal government’s inevitable appeal to go straight to the Supreme Court rather than take a more circuitous route through a federal appeals court. “Everybody knows it’s going to go to the U.S. Supreme Court,” the governor told Fox News.

W&OD Trail Closure Postponed — A portion of the W&OD Trail was supposed to be closed today to allow for power line work, but that has been postponed indefinitely because of the wind, a county official says.

News

Board Approves Ballston BID, Says No to More Taxis

By ARLnow.com

Published December 13, 2010 at 3:58PM | Updated December 13, 2010 at 4:35PM

The board approved a supplemental commercial property tax in Ballston to pay for the formation of a Ballston Business Improvement District. It did so with the encouragement of many large property owners — like JBG, Shooshan Company and Ballston Common Mall owner Forest City — but over the objections of a few, like the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association and the Nature Conservancy.

“A Business Improvement District for Ballston is the best vehicle for building on Ballston’s already considerable assets and positioning it for the future,” Arlington County Board Chairman Jay Fisette said in a statement. “With the success of our BIDs in Crystal City and Rosslyn, we know that this new BID will contribute greatly to the future success of Ballston.”

News

Morning Notes

By ARLnow.com

Published December 13, 2010 at 5:00AM

Wreath Ceremony At Arlington National Cemetery — Volunteers helped to lay some 24,000 wreaths on the graves of military personnel at Arlington National Cemetery on Saturday. More from NECN.

Flight Delays at DCA — It was a miserable Sunday for many air travelers, as bad weather caused some big delays for flights arriving and departing at Reagan National Airport. More from the Washington Post.

Around Town

Quarterdeck Restaurant Gets a New Lease on Life

By ARLnow.com

Published December 9, 2010 at 5:01AM

The Quarterdeck Restaurant has been saved.

Owner Lou Gatti, who suddenly announced last month that the 31-year-old seafood restaurant would be closing, now says the Fort Myer Heights institution will, in fact, remain open.

News

County Prepares to Fight Sign Lawsuit

By ARLnow.com

Published December 8, 2010 at 2:00PM | Updated December 8, 2010 at 2:48PM

County Attorney Stephen MacIsaac says the county has a number of arguments to counter the lawsuit’s claims. The suit argues that regulators are infringing on a small business owner’s free speech by deeming a large mural painted on the side of her building a commercial sign and not artwork.

“I think it should be fairly apparent under the sign ordinance that this is a sign,” MacIsaac said. The mural is “clearly an effort to promote this woman’s business… to depict it as public art, I think, is a bit of a stretch.”

News

TBD & Politico Operations Expanding in Rosslyn

By ARLnow.com

Published December 6, 2010 at 3:59PM | Updated December 6, 2010 at 4:30PM

Allbritton’s landlord has applied for a site plan amendment to convert space that was originally intended to be a television studio into work space for the web divisions of its WJLA-TV and Politico properties. The nearly 6,000 square foot space is a former retail bay in the interior mall of the 1000/1100 Wilson Boulevard office complex.

Citing the “evolution of the broadcast television industry into a web-based online media,” Allbritton will take what the board initially approved in July 2008 to be a new TV studio for WJLA and convert it into cubicles and offices for web employees. County staff is recommending the board approve the change at its Saturday, Dec. 11 meeting.

Opinion

Morning Poll: Spending Less Time in the District?

By ARLnow.com

Published December 6, 2010 at 7:15AM

But what exactly is fueling the expansion? The openings have far outpaced Arlington’s population growth. From a purely economic standpoint, there can only be a few explanations for how so many new bars and restaurants can open and stay in business.

One theory is that we’re spending more and more money going out to restaurants and bars. With so many new options, perhaps residents feel more compelled to go out when they would have otherwise stayed in.