The Crystal Plaza Apartments in Crystal City (2111 Jefferson Davis Highway) are under new ownership.
Archstone sold the building to real estate investor Ralph Dweck at the end of last month. No word yet on why Archstone, a major Crystal City land holder, decided to sell the apartment complex.
A drive through parts of Lyon Park, Clarendon and Rosslyn today revealed significant progress on three large residential developments, as well as clean-up work on one ill-fated project.
In Rosslyn, Clark Construction crews are busy cleaning up from last week’s retaining wall failure at the Sedona and Slate apartment site. Workers were busy reinforcing the adjacent Swansen Apartments building, which nearly collapsed into the construction pit after the failure.
Now, as the national economy teeters once again, there’s some question of whether the local economy can remain an island of vibrancy. With federal discretionary spending decreasing, and with the possibility of even steeper cuts down the road, Uncle Sam may not be able to provide the steady flow of cash that kept the local economy going during the last recessionary period.
The local economic indicators are a mixed bag. Unemployment in Arlington is still remarkably low, at 3.9 percent. Home sales are up in the most recent period, but home sale prices are down considerably in Arlington and in the D.C. metro area.
Stewart tells ARLnow.com that he has raised about $175,000 of the $400,000 to $500,000 he needs to bring the watering hole back to life. Having already sold interest-bearing investments, Stewart is now selling ownership shares in the new bar.
Stewart says that he has negotiated a purchase price for an existing business in Clarendon, and now just must raise enough money to get the new Dremo’s off the ground and running.
According to the Sun Gazette, however, county leaders are now deciding whether including the owner’s name in the county’s public real estate assessment database presents privacy concerns.
Over the weekend, the County Board responded to a resident’s complaint about its online property records system by asking county staff to “look into options for redacting the names of property owners” from the search results, according to the paper.
Local Real Estate Market Lags — While the average home sales price in Arlington was up 4.6 percent for the first half of 2011, the total volume of sales was down 19 percent compared to 2010. [Sun Gazette]
Garvey ‘Home’ in Alexandria, Arlington — State Senate candidate and Arlington School Board member Libby Garvey is trying to play up her local chops to both Arlington and Alexandria Democrats. “Garvey, a resident of Fairlington, considers Alexandria to be her neighborhood,” the Huntington-Belle Haven Patch reported yesterday. Meanwhile, Garvey told the Arlington County Democratic Committee last night that after debates in Fairfax and Alexandria, “it’s really nice to be home tonight.”
New details have been released about a major office development in Clarendon.
Real estate investment firm Penzance says it’s about to complete its final site plan filing with Arlington County for the block bordered by Washington Boulevard, 11th Street, N. Highland Street and N. Garfield Street. Penzance wants to turn the block — which currently contains a bank, a bar, a used car dealership, a cemetery monument manufacturer and other small businesses — into a 300,000 square foot office development, complete with a 10-story office building, an 8-story office building, ground-level retail and a four-level underground parking garage.
The Washington Business Journal first reported that Andrew Stewart is eying a 6,000 square foot space somewhere in Clarendon. The exact location has not been revealed.
Stewart has come close securing a new location for Dremo’s several times, but to no avail. In an email to potential investors, Stewart says he hopes this time will be different.
Arlington County leases a 3,119 square foot store, on the second floor near the entrance to Macy’s Furniture Gallery, to house the Woodmont Weavers program. The privately-run but publicly-funded program allows adults with cognitive disabilities to learn how to weave, to sell their creations (placemats, pillows, totes, scarves, hats, etc.) and to earn a wage in the process. The county subleases the space to St. Coletta of Greater Washington, which runs the program on behalf of the Department of Human Services, for a nominal $1 rent.
On Saturday the board is expected to approve a lease and sublease renewal for the mall storefront. According to the staff report, the base rent for the store from Nov. 1, 2011 to Oct. 31, 2012 will be $67,528.80 per year. Add in taxes and utilities, and the expected annual cost rises to $93,911.40.
The National Science Foundation currently employs about 2,100 people at its Ballston headquarters, according to a spokeswoman, but the government agency has indicated that it is potentially interested in moving to a new building when its lease expires in 2013. NSF would like the new space to be about 25 percent larger than its current location at 4201 Wilson Boulevard, and about 12.5 percent cheaper per square foot than the current comparable office rent in Ballston, according to the Washington Business Journal.
The federal government’s office rent cap in Northern Virginia is $38 per square foot, compared to the average Ballston Class A office rent of $43.47, according to WSJ. That has led to speculation that NSF might leave Ballston altogether.
The recognizable building has been sold to the B.F. Saul Company, the Bethesda-based developer behind the recent Clarendon Center project. Last week representatives from Saul presented their redevelopment plan to the North Rosslyn Civic Association. Under the plan, an eight story extended stay hotel will be built on the 1.2 acre site at the corner of Lee Highway and N. Quinn Street. The hotel will include eight stories of guest rooms on top of two stories of above-ground parking.
(The parking must be built above ground since the site sits on solid rock. The building will technically be ten stories high from the Lee Highway side, but will only be considered eight stories due to the steep elevation near the rear of the site.)
While that figure is relatively high, Arlington’s taxes are relatively low by other measures. Arlington residents paid a median 3.46 percent of their income in property taxes, which is only the 328th highest rate in the country. The percentage of one’s home value paid in property taxes by Arlington residents between 2005 and 2009 was 0.77 percent, the 1523th highest rate in the country.
Alexandria residents paid less in property taxes — $3,827 per year — but actually paid more as a percentage of home value — 0.78 percent. In terms of income, however, Alexandria residents paid less than Arlington — 3.33 percent of income.
