Thieves did not take the Independence Day holiday off, keeping Arlington police busy this past weekend.
It was a long weekend of vehicular mayhem across the county. In one of the earlier incidents, nearly three dozen vehicles — all Hondas and Acuras — had their airbags stolen overnight Saturday into Sunday in various neighborhoods, including the Rosslyn and Pentagon City areas.
A shoplifting suspect led Arlington police on a foot chase in Pentagon City, then allegedly bit an officer before finally being taken into custody.
The incident happened Monday afternoon in the area of the Pentagon City mall, along the 1100 block of S. Hayes Street.
A major project to make Army Navy Drive in Pentagon City more bike- and pedestrian-friendly is expected to kick off later this year.
The Arlington County Board approved a $10.6 million construction contract for the long-planned “Complete Streets” project at its meeting this past Saturday.
New Renderings of Days Inn Development — “The plans to replace the Days Inn on Arlington Boulevard with 251 multi-family units and around 3,000 square feet of retail are coming into focus. New plans filed with Arlington County last week provide the first renderings for The Arva, the eight-story project designed by STUDIOS Architecture.” [UrbanTurf]
Yorktown Girls Lax Wins State Tourney — “After qualifying for the state tournament for the first time in 2019 and enjoying success by going 1-1 and losing in the semifinals, the Yorktown Patriots were hungry for much more in that competition. This spring, the girls lacrosse team indeed got considerably more, by winning the Virginia High School League’s Class 6 state tourney with a 3-0 record and capping its best season in program history.” [Sun Gazette]
Rent Keeps Going Up — “Arlington’s median apartment-rental rate remains highest in the metropolitan area and has fully rebounded from dropoffs during the early part of COVID, according to new data. With a median rental rate of $1,999 for a one-bedroom unit and $2,391 for two bedrooms in May, Arlington’s average rental… is now up just under 13 percent year-over-year.” [Sun Gazette]
Arlington Making Much Multifamily — From a spokesperson, about a new set of national rankings: “Multi-family units authorized in Arlington increased by 1,095.8% — a total addition of 2,838 units — between 2020 and 2021. Out of all midsize cities, Arlington experienced the 5th largest increase in multi-family home construction.” [Construction Coverage]
With temperatures rising and summer now here, the county’s spraygrounds and interactive water features are all now open except for Mosaic Park.
Arlington has four spraygrounds and two interactive water features that are typically open Memorial Day until Labor Day. Among them:
A new casual Mexican restaurant is looking to start serving later this year at the Pentagon City mall.
Rosa Mexicano is aiming for a September 1 opening, according to the Fashion Centre at Pentagon City website. It’s moving into the 5,500-square-foot former Sugar Factory space, which has an outside entrance facing S. Hayes Street.
A restaurant at the Pentagon City mall has been evacuated due to smoke coming from the roof.
Firefighters from Arlington, Alexandria and elsewhere are on scene at wood-fired pizza eatery Matchbox, at 1100 S. Hayes Street, trying to find the source of the smoke. It’s currently believed that debris within the kitchen’s ventilation system may have caught fire.
A beemer barbecue following a single-vehicle crash closed part of S. Joyce Street near Pentagon City this morning.
The circumstances leading to the crash, which heavily damaged the BMW before it burst into flames, are unclear. The crash happened around 6 a.m. and left the male driver with facial injuries, according to scanner traffic.
Overflowing trash cans are becoming a more common sight in Pentagon City and Crystal City, but the county is pledging to clean up the mess.
In recent days, several local residents posted photos on social media of neighborhood trash cans and recycling bins filled beyond the brim with soda cans, food wrappers, pizza boxes, coffee cups, and doggie bags. The problem, as noted, seemed to happen more on weekends.
Amazon has announced four more local businesses that will open at the first phase of its HQ2, known as Metropolitan Park, in Pentagon City.
HQ2 will be home to Arlington’s second Conte’s Bike Shop, a South Block, the second location of Vienna-based Social Burger and the first brick-and-mortar location of HUSTLE — a high intensity cycling workout business.
The growing cadre of tech employees working in Pentagon City and Crystal City now have new places to go for their sneakers and hoodies.
Two new stores recently opened at Fashion Centre at Pentagon City mall on S. Hayes Street. SneakerMat is on the second level near Nordstrom and specializes in sneaker cleaning, restoration, and repair. It also has a collection of footwear for purchase.
