real estate | ARLnow.com

Published March 16, 2011 at 2:51PM | Updated March 16, 2011 at 7:28PM

The house was built in 1881 by Harry Gray, a bricklayer and a former slave in the Arlington household of Gen. Robert E. Lee. Despite the fact that the house stood alone on a 10 acre piece of farmland at the time, Gray built it in the Italianate style of fashionable townhouses he had seen in the District. The architecture was a statement about how far freed slaves had come since the Emancipation Proclamation.

“The dwelling represents the monumental shift from slaves to freedmen for African Americans in the years following the Civil War,” a National Park Service document states. The house sits at present-day 1005 South Quinn Street, near Columbia Pike and adjacent to what was once a thriving Freedman’s Village.

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Arlington’s Top 10 Government and Private Employers

By ARLnow.com

Published March 11, 2011 at 2:02PM | Updated March 11, 2011 at 4:04PM

Unemployment and office vacancies are low. Real estate prices and hotel occupancy rates are on the rise. And a number of new construction projects are underway. Holzheimer said he expects the local unemployment rate to continue declining in 2011 while the impact from BRAC is mitigated by a robust demand for office space.

Holzheimer noted that between 2008 and 2010, Arlington saw a net employment increase while Alexandria and Fairfax saw a net employment decline.

Around Town

Dr. Dremo’s Still Looking for a New Location

By ARLnow.com

Published March 8, 2011 at 10:15AM

Former Dremo’s owner Andrew Stewart says he has gotten tantalizingly close to securing a new location for the former Arlington landmark, but to no avail. In previous interviews Stewart said he would like Dremo’s to remain in the Courthouse or Clarendon area, but the cost has been prohibitive.

“We have come close a couple of time,” Stewart wrote in an email. “The large companies that lease these spaces don’t take a mom-and-pop, like us, seriously.”

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Morning Notes

By ARLnow.com

Published March 8, 2011 at 7:57AM | Updated March 8, 2011 at 4:03PM

Arlington’s Highway Bottlenecks — An annual report on traffic congestion is out and Arlington has claimed two of the three worst traffic bottlenecks in the region. Westbound I-66 in Arlington, northbound I-395 in Arlington ranked and eastbound I-66 in Fairfax County rounded out the top three spots. [Washington Post]

Colony House Sells to Developer — The Colony House furniture store on Lee Highway has been sold to Bethesda-based developer B.F. Saul for $5.6 million. The company, which developed the Clarendon Center project, says it hasn’t decided what to do with the site yet. In January, we reported that Colony House’s owner is hoping to find a new Arlington location for the store. [Washington Business Journal]

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Morning Notes

By ARLnow.com

Published February 21, 2011 at 6:00AM

Holiday Closures — Most federal and Arlington County government offices are closed in observance of Washington’s Birthday — better known as President’s Day. ART is operating on a holiday schedule and Metro is operating on a modified schedule with on-going closures on the Blue and Orange Lines.

Real Estate Prices Up — Arlington real estate continues its upward trend. The median sales price in Arlington rose by 7.5 percent, according to Arlington Real Estate News.

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Boeing To Build Large Office Complex in Crystal City

By ARLnow.com

Published February 2, 2011 at 12:16PM

According to a site plan submitted to the county, the project will consist of three buildings, each between four and six stories high, built on a 4.7 acre parcel of land along Old Jefferson Davis Highway. The office project is expected to replace a number of dilapidated structures, including the Clark Street Playhouse and the abandoned Crystal City Motel.

(The site is shown to the left, during a rain storm last year.)

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Morning Notes

By ARLnow.com

Published January 20, 2011 at 8:26AM

Clarendon Office Building Sells for D.C. Prices — The 200,000 square foot office building at 3101 Wilson Boulevard, located across the street from the Clarendon Metro station, has sold for a whopping $112.6 million.”Pricing was on par with building trades in Downtown DC,” reports GlobeSt.com. The building is home to a TD Bank and Georgetown’s continuing studies programs. [GlobeSt.com]

County Issues Bonds for Projects — Arlington County has sold $11.9 million in bonds at a relatively low 4.18 percent interest rate. The bonds will fund the last phase of Fire Station 3 in Cherrydale, a new park in Buckingham Village and initial construction of the Arlington Mill Community Center. Although a direct comparison is difficult, in July Arlington sold $73 million in bonds at an interest rate of 2.70 percent. [Arlington County]

Around Town

Metro Halal Cart Gets Evicted from Rosslyn Street Corner

By ARLnow.com

Published January 19, 2011 at 3:36PM | Updated January 19, 2011 at 4:20PM

But now, after threats of being sued or arrested, Metro Halal owner Mohammad Khan has been forced to move the cart to a less trafficked, less familiar section of North Lynn Street. As a result, Khan says, his family and his business are suffering.

“It has affected my business very much,” said Khan, who also owns La’Jawab Kabob House on Lee Highway, where the cart’s food is prepared. “Today I lost money… In this bad economy, my business is destroyed by them.”

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Property Values Rebound in Arlington

By ARLnow.com

Published January 14, 2011 at 12:00PM | Updated January 14, 2011 at 12:20PM

The increase is expected to bring in an addition $30 million in tax revenue for the county, which should help to offset this year’s estimated $25 million budget gap. The county budget office was originally expecting an approximately 1 percent increase in property values.

“It certainly… makes it easier for us to balance the budget,” said Michelle Cowan, Director of the Dept. of Management and Finance, who added that stepped-up commercial lending and property sales helped to drive the increase. “We consider ourselves very fortunate.”

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Real Estate Assessments to Be Released on Friday

By ARLnow.com

Published January 12, 2011 at 10:52AM | Updated January 12, 2011 at 11:09AM

Assessments are expected to rise this year as the real estate market improves. The Sun Gazette reports that the average home sale price rose 4.6 percent in 2010.

Property owners who want to challenge their assessments should be able to do so via an online form any time before March 1, although the form does not appear to be online at the moment. More information on real estate assessment appeals is available here.

Around Town

Iconic Colony House Furniture Store to Sell Property, Relocate

By ARLnow.com

Published January 7, 2011 at 12:48PM

The business plans to cash in on its prime real estate and relocate.

“This is not a going out of business,” Diffee said emphatically. “The property is for sale, the business is not.”

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Zimmerman: Arlington’s Prosperity Is Not an Accident

By ARLnow.com

Published January 6, 2011 at 1:45PM

Zimmerman said unemployment and office vacancy rates have stayed low, while “our real estate values have held better than pretty much any place else.”

According to Blue Virginia’s video, Zimmerman went on to say say that it’s not just Arlington’s proximity to D.C. that has helped it remain prosperous.