An Arlington woman woke up this morning to find a .45 caliber bullet in her living room.
This incident happened on N. Bedford Street in the Lyon Park neighborhood. A resident of a townhouse called police around 9:00 a.m. after finding that a bullet — likely a stray bullet — had punched through the front of her house and had come to rest on the living room floor. Only the woman and her husband were at home at the time, according to Arlington County police spokesman Dustin Sternbeck.
Construction on the new $62 million apartment project at 2201 Pershing Drive, at the intersection with Route 50, is nearing completion. One of the two buildings is expected to open in mid-July, with the other expected to open in September. The apartments in each feature sound-resistant windows, hardwood floors, stainless steel appliances, and in-unit washer/dryers.
The 188-unit complex is currently leasing for both residents and for retail tenants.
The large new apartment complex on the corner of Arlington Boulevard and N. Pershing Drive in Lyon Park has now started leasing.
2201 Pershing, as the complex is known, is billed as a luxury apartment community with 188 residences and 31,000 square feet of ground floor retail space. Rent starts at $1,810. New residents are expected to start moving into their apartments in July, according to developer Equity Residential.
(Updated at 1:35 p.m.) Pershing Drive has been closed at N. Cleveland Street, between N. Barton Street and N. Danville Street in the Lyon Park neighborhood, due to a reported gas leak.
So far crews aren’t sure how big the ruptured gas line is, but there are concerns that it may be a larger distribution line.
Lyon Park Community House Plan Approved — A permit to expand and renovate the historic Lyon Park Community Center was approved on Saturday by the Arlington County Board. The planned changes to the house, owned by the private Lyon Park Citizens Association, includes an updated kitchen and a new sunroom. [Arlington County]
Pike Affordable Housing Project Approved — Also on Saturday, the County Board approved up to $6 million worth of lending to local nonprofit developer AHC Inc. to build a new 83-unit affordable housing complex. The building will replace a Shell gas station along Arlington’s western end of Columbia Pike. [Arlington County]
The association has requested a permit to expand and renovate the community house, which was built in 1925 and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. If approved, the permit would allow for the addition of more than 1,000 square feet. Among the changes would be an update to the kitchen and the addition of a sunroom. The plan also includes various updates to make the house handicap accessible.
Typically, an expansion of this kind would also require the addition of parking spaces; In this particular case, 13 extra. However, the building was constructed before a zoning ordinance regarding parking was put in place. Therefore, county staff has recommended that the expansion be allowed without the addition of parking spaces. The permit would require the association provide handouts with off-site parking information to anyone who applies to rent the facility.
Hope Proposes Cigarette Tax Hike — Arlington’s Del. Patrick Hope (D) is planning to introduce a bill that would increase Virginia’s relatively low cigarette tax. Unlike past years when Hope has proposed a cigarette tax hike only to have it promptly killed by Republicans, Hope is now proposing that revenue from the tax go directly to car tax relief, rather than to anti-smoking programs or Medicaid funding. [WTVR]
Record Profit for Virginia ABC — Virginia’s state-owned ABC liquor stores and restaurant wholesale business saw record sales and a record profit in fiscal year 2011. The Virginia Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control says it recorded an all-time high profit of $121 million last fiscal year, amid record demand for wine, liquor and mixers at stores and from restaurants. The state’s top-selling liquor, meanwhile, is Jack Daniels. [Associated Press]
What was once the Lee Center strip mall is now a big, dusty hole in the ground.
Construction is well underway on what is known as the 2201 North Pershing Drive project. When work wraps up in mid-to-late 2012, the $75 million project at Route 50 and Pershing Drive will consist of 188 rental apartments and nearly 33,500 square feet of ground-level retail space.
The fair is being held on the grounds of the Lyon Park Community Center (414 N. Fillmore Street) from 11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. The event will feature carnival games, pony rides, moon bounces, a bake sale, a plant sale, food and drink concession stands, and live bluegrass music.
Following the fair, from 3:00 to 4:00 p.m, the third annual Lyon Park Big Wheel Grand Prix will be held. Helmet-clad competitors — kids and adults — will careen down N. Garfield Street on plastic “big wheel” tricycles for racing glory — and to raise money for the community center’s upcoming renovation.
The annual Lyon Park-Ashton Heights house tour will be held this weekend.
This year’s event will mark the 90th anniversary of the founding of Ashton Heights. The tour will feature homes built between 1904 and 2009. Along the way there will be antique cars, retro costumes, old documents and demonstrations of green technology.
Arlington’s Office of Emergency Management issued the following statement tonight regarding a water main break in Lyon Park.
Commuters should avoid the intersection of Pershing Drive and N. Barton Street due to a water main repair now underway. Pershing Drive between Wayne Street and N. Barton Street is one travel lane with flaggers. Access from Barton Street onto Pershing Drive is affected. The break occured today during the installation of a new 12-inch water main. One residential block of N. Barton Street from Pershing Drive to N. 9th Street and a small number of businesses in the 2200 block of N. Pershing Drive have been notified that they will remain without water while repairs are made into the evening.
Residents are quite opposed to the county taking away parking on one side of narrow neighborhood streets to allow fire engines and garbage trucks to operate safely. But they also want more zone parking to keep outsiders from parking on the same streets. And at least one gentleman wanted folks who rent houses to have their street parking limited to just two cars.
Residents expressed indignation that their streets weren’t plowed during snow storms, making navigation treacherous. Then some asked if there was any way streets could be closed to through traffic. One man earnestly suggested quadrupling the number of speed humps and lowering the speed limit to 15 miles per hour.
