Seven out of 17 awards went to Arlington properties.
The big winners included Courthouse’s new Fire Works Pizza restaurant and the county’s new Dept. of Human Services office, which both won awards for best interior.
real estate
The retail space formerly occupied by Cherrydale Clockworks is up for lease.
Anyone interested in opening up shop on Lee Highway can lease the 1,600 square foot space for a relatively cheap $1,995 per month (good luck finding a 1,600 square foot apartment with a monthly rent below $2,000). Plus, the lease comes with two parking spaces in the rear of the building.
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The plan may also involve the building of office space above or in place of the current Macy’s department store.
No timeline was given for the renovations. Ohio-based Forest City Enterprises owns the 580,000 square foot mall, which attracts 1,000,000 visitors per year.
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Happy Columbus Day — Normally-clogged commuter routes are clear as government employees and many private sector workers have the day off to celebrate Columbus’ discovery of the New World. Arlington government offices are closed, as are all library branches. It’s expected to be the hottest Oct. 11 on record in the DC area, so if you have the day off, get outside and enjoy it.
Blue and Orange Line Cut in Two, No Major Problems — Commutepocalypse didn’t quite go the way some media outlets expected. More from TBD.
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The firm that operates the underground shops at 2100 Crystal Drive wants to take 5,661 square feet of open retail space and convert it to office and storage use. But that would come at the expense of a vacant 17,919 square foot space that, until 2005, housed a Safeway store. The landlord has been trying to find another grocery tenant, but has been fighting a strong headwind caused by the weak national economy and the imminent departure of 13,000 jobs from the Crystal City area.
Essentially, the request to convert vacant space to an office use is a white flag — an admission that after five years of trying to market the space to grocery stores, leasing agents have come to the conclusion that no one wants to run a 17,919 square foot grocery store in the Crystal City underground at this time. While keeping open the possibility of a smaller, Trader Joe’s-sized market, the landlord is trying to find a way — any way — to productively fill some of the excess space.
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Crystal City Serves Up Latin Flare — On Sunday, food and wine lovers flocked to Crystal City for the consumption bonanza known as Vintage Crystal. Now in its fourth year, Vintage Crystal continued last year’s Latin theme. There were South American wines, tequila tastings, salsa dancers and lots and lots of food. See more photos on Flickr.
Capital Bikeshare Gets New York Times Write-up — The Old Gray Lady spent some time in Arlington recently to preview the Capital Bikeshare system, which officially launched yesterday. Not content to give Arlington and DC all the spotlight for hosting the largest bike share system in the country, the Times noted that New York is studying a possible bike sharing program of its own: 30,000 bikes, nearly 30 times as many as Washington’s modest collection of 1,100 custom-designed Capital Bikeshare cycles. More from the New York Times.
The Arlington Tenant-Landlord Commission is scheduled to hear arguments for a plan to renovate the 162 Colonial Village apartment units owned by Wesley Housing Development Corporation. The hearing will take place at 7:30 p.m. in Azalea Room (lobby level) of 2100 Clarendon Boulevard.
The plan calls for major upgrades and configuration changes, including new windows, kitchens, bathrooms and insulation. The grounds will also be improved, with new walkways and lighting.
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The rise in residential rent comes at a time when a number of Pentagon City apartment complexes have sold at sky-high valuations. The Hampton Apartments at 1425 South Eads Street recently sold for $33.5 million, and the Metropolitan at Pentagon City luxury high-rise at 901 South 15th Street just sold for $125 million, according to the GlobeSt.com article.
RED’s report states that between the first quarter of 2009 and the first quarter of 2010, Pentagon City posted the fastest rate of multifamily rent growth of any Northern Virginia submarket. The 4.9 percent year-over-year growth in Pentagon City compares to 2.4 percent growth along Columbia Pike and -1.4 percent rent growth along the Rosslyn-Ballston corridor.
The strange case of Haze Restaurant, Bar and Lounge is coming to a close.
Essentially an old house gussied up in goth black paint and gaudy decorations, Haze looks severely out of place between the Arlington Arts Center and a soon-to-be yoga studio (formerly Curves). It was apparently meant to be a lounge-y kind of a place, which could have brought some nightlife to the relatively dead section of Wilson Boulevard near the Virginia Square Metro, but it was brought down by some very poor planning.
End of the Rainbow Found — During yesterday’s sunny downpour in Pentagon City, we spotted the actual end of the rainbow. Turns out it’s the shuttered Crystal City Motel on Old Jefferson Davis Highway. Bad news for anyone wanting to search for a pot of gold: you’ll first have to scale the high fence around the decaying property.
Library Book Sale This Weekend — Central Library (1015 N. Quincy St.) is holding its two-day Friends of the Library Summer Book Sale this coming Friday and Saturday. The sale will take place outside, next to the garden and the tennis courts. See the Library Blog for more info.
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Northrop Spurns Arlington, Doesn’t Even Call — First, Northrop Grumman decided to head to the grassier, cheaper environs of Fairfax County. Now, it turns out Northrop didn’t even give a “thanks but no thanks” call to Arlington Economic Development, which had been working with the company as it considered a building in Ballston for its new headquarters. More from WBJ’s Sarah Krouse. Also: Northrop, if you’re reading this, you still owe us a call regarding the status of your Rosslyn office.
Metro Plans Confusing Service Change — Metro is considering shifting some Blue Line trains to the Yellow and Orange Lines by next summer to help expand capacity. Simple, right? Wrong. Our friends at Greater Greater Washington will make your brain hurt by trying to explain in 1,000 words how Metro plans to pull it off.
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Twilight Fans Stay Up Late for Latest Film In Series — A sizable crowd showed up at the Regal Cinema in Ballston Common Mall last night for a midnight screening of The Twilight Saga: Eclipse. There was no mob scene outside — moviegoers with advance tickets steadily filed past the box office and into the theater. Most were exuberant girls and young women, although about one in ten was accompanied by a doting and expressionless boyfriend (or father). To accommodate the unusual crush of people coming out of the mall parking lot at 2:30 a.m., police directed traffic near the theater after the movie.
Byrd Funeral Will Take Place in Arlington — The funeral and internment of long-time Senator Robert Byrd (D-WV) will take place in Arlington on Tuesday. The funeral is scheduled to start at 11:00 a.m. at Memorial Baptist Church (3455 North Glebe Road). The service is open to the public, although seating is limited. Byrd, who died Monday at age 92, will be buried next to his wife Erma in a private internment at an Arlington cemetery.