JBG Smith may be bowing out of a deal with the county to build a public library in Crystal City within one of its existing office buildings.
Instead of building the facility, JBG Smith now proposes paying a total of $5.8 million across seven years of annual payments, per a minor site plan amendment filed late last month.
The proposed change comes after a few years of stymied negotiations with county government.
“Since the approval of the Library Conditions, the Applicant has engaged in lease negotiations with the County diligently and in good faith,” writes land use attorney Kedrick Whitmore in a letter to the county, filed late last month. “In lieu of providing the Community Facility, the County has agreed to a monetary contribution.”
Such minor site plan amendments require an Arlington County Board hearing, according to the county.
JBG Smith agreed to financially support a new 7,200-square-foot library branch located in an existing building at 1901 S. Bell Street as a condition of redeveloping an old office building called Crystal Plaza One (2050 and 2051 S. Bell Street).
The developer is replacing the office building with two multifamily towers, an “East” and “West” tower, and shift S. Clark Street to the east to create a new S. Clark-Bell Street. About a year of construction remains for the project, which had its final steel beam put in place at the start of this year.
As part of the agreement, JBG Smith agreed to provide a rent-free space for a public library for up to 20 years, parking spaces for county staff and library patrons and $250,000 per year for five years for operational support, per the February filing.
Another condition required the lease for the library to be executed when a specific building permit was issued as construction progressed at the Crystal Plaza One site. Negotiations were already starting to stall when that deadline loomed in October 2022, however.
At the time, JBG Smith and the county had been “diligently working to complete the lease agreement” but would not finalize negotiations before construction reached the milestone, per a county report. The developer has since filed periodic requests to extend negotiations through 2023, permit records show.
Tomorrow (Friday) is the last day to submit feedback on a proposed 370-unit apartment building in Crystal City.
The design is less than half the height recommended in the Crystal City Sector Plan, but developer JBG Smith argues that it would function on a more “human scale.”
The potential building site is located on “Block W” at 2451 Crystal Drive, near Reagan National Airport.
The lot currently contains a small, JBG Smith-owned workout park, playground and seating area, as well as an off-ramp to an access road. A 7-story building overlooking 35-38,000 square feet of open space would replace the off-ramp and part of the existing park, according to a presentation by the developer.
JBG Smith plans to keep the volleyball courts and might relocate other current park features.
The new development would prioritize 2-bedroom units. The project would come with a green roof as well as a courtyard that residents could access. An area adjacent to the park would be dedicated to retail space.
“While not a high-rise or tower composition, the 7-story design works well within the overall framework of providing human scale in a comfortable, pedestrian environment,” JBG Smith development analyst Karolina Pazdrazdis said.
County staff noted concerns about how the new development proposes to reroute an existing service road in a way that would limit access to the adjacent park. The building is also much shorter than the sector plan recommends.
“The applicant has chosen to envision a building that is 85 feet in height, which is well under the 200-foot building height envisioned by the sector plan,”county planner Krissy Walentisch said.
This proposed building deviates from county guidance in other ways. Walentisch said there is a significant overhang — exceeding sector plan recommendations — between the building’s “tower,” composed of floors 3-7, and the building’s “podium,” or ground floor and first floor.
The county feedback form asks residents to provide feedback on the building placement and design, as well as its impact on the current park.
Following community feedback, a Site Plan Review Committee is scheduled to hold its first meeting on the development proposal next month. After this committee meets twice, the development will go to the Planning Commission and Arlington County Board, though dates for this have yet to be set.
Meantime, other JBG Smith projects in Crystal City are also moving forward.
This week, the developer announced that the final beam had been placed atop two residential towers at 2000 and 2001 S. Bell Street, formerly Crystal Plaza. Both the 25-story West and 19-story East towers are slated for completion in the spring of 2025.
Late last month, JBG Smith also filed a new conceptual site plan proposing to redevelop a Crystal City office building. Application materials depict a 15-story office building divided into three sections, slightly off-centered from each other, at 1800 S. Bell Street.
About a year of construction remains for two apartment towers replacing a Crystal City office building.
The final beam was placed atop the two residential towers at 2000 and 2001 S. Bell Street, formerly Crystal Plaza One, this week. Developer JBG Smith and its project manager, Balfour Beatty, announced the “topping out” construction milestone on Monday.
“Congratulations to the team for accomplishing this major achievement,” said Dan Novack, Balfour Beatty’s president for the Mid-Atlantic region, in a press release. “We look forward to continued progress and ongoing collaboration with our owner, industry partners and the local community in providing a premier living development for future residents in the evolving National Landing area.”
Both the 25-story West and 19-story East towers are slated for completion in the spring of 2025 and will offer a combined 775 units with a variety of floor plan options, per the release. The towers will have more than 22,000 square feet of ground-floor retail space as well as rooftop decks and pools.
In terms of public benefits, JBG Smith will add a public park space next to the East tower. It will also build an extension of S. Bell Street, connecting to S. Clark Street, with bike lanes, as well as a new alley south of the East tower.
The development is a stone’s throw from the revamped Central District Retail shopping plaza, or “Crystal Square,” home to taqueria Tacombi, bakery Mah-Ze-Dahr and other shops. It will be near a forthcoming second entrance to the Crystal City Metro station, a planned Virginia Railway Express station, now expected to wrap up in 2026, and pedestrian bridge linking Crystal City to National Airport.
The county approved the project in May 2021 after holding a public hearing. Demolition work began shortly after and JBG Smith broke ground about a year later, in January 2022.
Under the revised site plan, JBG Smith said it would contribute $3.36 million towards the county’s Affordable Housing Investment Fund and $137,495 toward a utility undergrounding fund, as well as $75,000 for a public art installation, according to a 2021 presentation from the developer.
Developer JBG Smith filed a new conceptual site plan late last month proposing to redevelop a Crystal City office building.
The building, located at 1800 S. Bell Street, was leased by Amazon until its lease expired in 2023.
Ahead of Amazon’s planned departure, JBG Smith signaled its plans to “take off-line and entitle [the property] for alternate uses,” per a quarterly investor package from last summer. Amazon has another lease at 2100 Crystal Drive set to expire this year.
Now, the developer is in the early stages of advancing plans for what to do with 1800 S. Bell Street, which is directly north of the Crystal City Marriott hotel and across the street from the Crystal City Metro station.
The tower could get the redevelopment treatment as early as 2026, per JBG Smith’s report.
Application materials depict a 15-story office building divided into three sections, slightly off-centered from each other, with an “architectural feature corner” recommended in the Crystal City Sector Plan.
The sector plan identifies the west border for street improvements and the northeast corner for intersection improvements. It recommends a maximum height of 300 feet.
A floor plan map shows the ground floor will have a bike room, lockers, an “amenity/service” space and two retail spaces along S. Bell Street.
The plans also show “interim conditions” near Route 1. The Virginia Dept. of Transportation proposes to lower elevated portions of the road through Crystal City to grade, turning it into a lower-speed “urban boulevard.”
The transportation agency is also mulling at least one pedestrian bridge or tunnel at 18th Street S., near the Metro station, to improve safety. VDOT’s study of Route 1 is still in its second phase, which is set to wrap up by this summer.
JBG Smith filed the conceptual site plan to get county feedback on right-of-way design, “including interim and permanent conditions relative to Route 1 street improvements,” and project timing, “relative to ongoing right-of-way improvements and coordination with VDOT,” as well as site layout, according to its application.
The county offers the conceptual site plan option to “provide guidance to prospective applicants in the preparation of land use development applications through the preliminary identification of major policy, Zoning Ordinance, County Code, and/or process related issues.”
A bar and restaurant with French bistro inspiration and an “eclectic ambiance” is set to join several new businesses in Crystal City next year.
Bar Colline, created by D.C. brothers and hospitality entrepreneurs Eric and Ian Hilton, will join six street-level offerings at two new apartment buildings at 1900 Crystal Drive, announced developer JBG Smith in a press release.
The new restaurant is anticipated to open in early 2025 and will be an interpretation of French bistro Café Colline, which the brothers opened in the Lee Heights Shops along Langston Blvd in June 2020.
The Hilton brothers, operating as H2 Collective, have received national attention for their burgeoning D.C. restaurant empire, including Cafe Colline, Chez Billy Sud in Georgetown, Brighton at the Wharf and El Rey taqueria in Ballston and on U Street NW in D.C.
They are also behind Players Club, Parc de Ville in the Mosaic District, Solace Outpost in Falls Church and delivery-only burger purveyor Gee Burger.
The newest venture will boast a bar and private dining room with an “eclectic ambiance,” a press release from JBG Smith said. Bar Colline’s menu will feature shareable plates, wine and inventive cocktails.
The venue will join multiple businesses coming to the new apartment buildings, dubbed The Grace and Reva. They are Chinese-French fusion restaurant Bar Chinois, Cuban café and bar Colada Shop, national blowout and hair styling brand Drybar, a nail salon called nailsaloon, and popular chains Tatte Bakery & Cafe and New York-based Van Leeuwen Ice Cream.
JBG Smith is also behind an explosion of food options in Crystal City after opening a 1.6-acre dining destination in the Crystal City Water Park last October in an effort to “[cultivate] engaging places that create lively communities and exciting experiences,” JBG Smith Senior Vice President of Retail Leasing Amy Rice said in the release.
“We’re thrilled to welcome H2 Collective’s newest concept, Bar Colline, to the neighborhood and expect it to offer customers a unique and compelling reason to return again and again,” Rice said.
Two new apartment buildings in Crystal City are almost ready for residents to move in.
Construction started on the two residential towers at 1900 Crystal Drive in 2021, nearly one year to the day after JBG Smith received approval to redevelop the aging office building previously there.
Now, JBG Smith tells ARLnow it expects residents can starting moving into the buildings — a 3-minute walk from Amazon’s second headquarters — this February. The developer has already begun receiving partial certificates of occupancy for certain floors of one tower, dubbed “The Grace.”
JBG Smith said it expects to wrap up construction by the third quarter of 2024.
The 583,000-square-foot north tower, The Grace, and a 567,500-square-foot south tower, called “Reva,” are each 300 feet tall and, across them, have 808 rental units and about 40,000 square feet of street-level retail. A pedestrian-friendly street bisecting the towers will connect 18th and 20th Streets S. and a not-yet-built park.
The Crystal City Sector Plan envisions this park space as the largest in Crystal City, at about 74,000 square feet. The plan says it “would allow for a wide variety of uses, such as passive recreation, exhibitions, concerts, festivals, cafes, some temporary kiosk retail, and evening outdoor movies” among other uses, says Dept. of Parks and Recreation spokeswoman Jerry Solomon.
JBG Smith granted to the county a public park easement of approximately 45,000 square feet to establish this open space, dubbed “Center Park.” The county received the easement understanding that the rest of the proposed public space would come as part of a future development, Solomon said.
JBG Smith also contributed $300,000 for the park’s master planning, a community engagement process where people will weigh in on programmed elements and other features.
“The current [Capital Improvement Plan] envisions the design of Center Park to begin in FY 2025 with construction to begin some time in FY 2027,” she said in an email. “In July 2024, the County Board will be considering the FY 2025-2034 CIP which may contain changes to the potential timelines and funding for public space development within the Crystal City corridor.”
While residents of The Grace and Reva can start moving in February, it is looking like a summer opening for at least some of the six announced businesses move into the ground floor retail spaces.
Per window dressings and Arlington County permits, 1900 Crystal Drive will be home to new outposts of Tatte Bakery & Cafe, a the ice cream shop Van Leeuwen, D.C.’s Chinese-French fusion restaurant Bar Chinois and Cuban café and bar Colada Shop, a nail salon called nailsaloon, and New York City-based botox spa Peachy.
Nailsaloon recently opened a location in Chevy Chase and aims to move into Crystal City this summer, a spokeswoman said.
Colada Shop is also targeting a summer opening, a company spokeswoman said.
The other businesses did not respond to requests for more information about when they might open.
JBG Smith says it still has some retail space to fill, so additional announcements may be coming.
From rendering to reality. The 1900 Crystal Drive development is transforming National Landing's skyline with its two standout towers – the Grace and Reva.
🔗 Learn more: https://t.co/vzv0WOcE8i pic.twitter.com/2hcnfrpIyn
— NationalLanding (@NationalLanding) January 3, 2024
Arlington County has selected a contractor to oversee work to build a new second entrance to the Crystal City Metro station.
Over the weekend, the Arlington County Board approved a nearly $8 million contract, plus a contingency of $197,497, with Gannett Fleming, Inc. to provide construction management and quality assurance services for the project.
Viewed as a way to further revitalize Crystal City and improve access and accessibility to the station’s east end, the second entrance will be located at the northwest corner of 18th Street S. and Crystal Drive.
Construction is expected to begin in the fall of 2024 and last about 2.5 years, according to the county. Previously approved state and local funding will pay for the project, which has a total budget of $146.1 million.
A long-standing goal of county transportation planners, the second entrance will include a direct route, accessible to people with disabilities, to connect users who access the station from the east. It is intended to improve connections for pedestrians and cyclists and to the nearby bus and Virginia Railway Express stations.
There will also be additional space inside the station to accommodate long-term passenger demand.
“The Crystal City Metrorail station is among the most heavily used in Arlington County and Northern Virginia,” per a report. “The Crystal City area is experiencing continued growth and will have significant redevelopment in the next few years.”
The station was also one of the five transportation projects associated with Amazon’s second headquarters, including a pedestrian bridge to Reagan National Airport and an at-grade Route 1.
The project will be delivered via a public-private partnership with developer JBG Smith, which owns a significant amount of property in the neighborhood. It approached the county with an unsolicited proposal to undertake the project and, in 2020, the county struck a deal with the developer to prepare 30% complete designs.
This project was included in the current 2023-2032 Capital Improvement Plan at an estimated cost of $94.9 million, based on conceptual planning work, but costs have increased since then, the county says.
The new $146 million budget is based on the 30% complete designs, a redesign of the station entrance and “upward cost pressures industry-wide,” according to the county.
JBG Smith has been working to finalize the station design since August, after the county approved a $117 million contract with JBG Smith and Clark Construction for final design and construction.
Gannett Fleming was selected from four contractors that bid this summer to help oversee the design and construction. The county says $8 million, plus contingency, is “fair and reasonable” because it is within 12% of an independent cost estimate for the project of around $7 million.
Six new businesses, including the popular chains Tatte Bakery & Cafe and Van Leeuwen, are setting up shop in Crystal City.
Promotional signs for the new shops are visible in the ground-floor windows of one of the two 300-foot residential towers at 1900 Crystal City Drive. Approved in 2020 and under construction by 2021, the towers — set to open early next year — will house 811 residential units and nearly 40,000 square feet of retail space.
The complete lineup includes a trio of D.C.-based businesses — Chinese-French fusion restaurant Bar Chinois, Cuban café and bar Colada Shop and a nail salon called nailsaloon — plus New York City-based botox spa Peachy, which recently opened its second location in D.C.
Tatte, Van Leeuwen and Colada Shop have filed permits to operate along the pedestrian walkway behind the north tower — known as The Grace — at 269 19th Court S., according to county permit records.
JBG Smith, the predominant property owner in Crystal City and Pentagon City, declined to comment.
Boston-based bakery Tatte, known for its coffee, sandwiches and pastries, operates 11 locations in the D.C. area, including one at Clarendon Crossing, which opened in 2021.
Van Leeuwen, an ice cream chain headquartered in New York, currently operates three outlets in D.C. and plans to launch a fourth at Union Station. The Arlington outpost would be the brand’s first in Virginia.
Colada Shop operates six locations in the D.C. area and, as part of its Arlington expansion, plans to open a new location in Clarendon.
Hat tip to Matt Miller
(Updated at 11/30/23) After a 2-year wait, the much anticipated restaurant Surreal in Crystal City is “tentatively” scheduled to open this Friday, according to a restaurant spokesperson.
While a firm opening date is not confirmed, the spokesperson told ARLnow everything is ready and they are “just waiting for one final inspection.”
Located at 2121 Crystal Drive, Surreal — described as an ‘elevated diner’ — was announced in 2021 by developer JBG Smith, which is also behind Crystal City Water Park, a 1.6-acre outdoor food hall and park close by. (A previous version of this article referred to Surreal as a Latin American restaurant.)
The restaurant — co-founded by acclaimed D.C.-based chef Enrique Limardo — anchors JBG Smith’s plans to create a venue inspired by nature.
“Designed as a landscape itself, the interior blurs the line between the indoors and outdoors to create a unique dining-in-the-park experience,” per a press release.
Limardo and his business partner, Ezequiel Vázquez-Ger, manage several restaurants in the D.C. region, including Michelin-starred Imperfecto, under the umbrella of their restaurant group, Seven Reasons Group.
Surreal will be open for breakfast, lunch and dinner, seven days a week. The menu includes a variety of dishes, including a Latin-inspired shakshuka for breakfast and items like swordfish carpaccio, gnocchi and a “twisted foot-long hotdog” for lunch and dinner.
Those in the mood for an adult beverage have several options, such as a piña colada made with two kinds of rum or a negroni topped with a “floral and fruity foam,” the release says.
The park is situated in one of the county’s multiple “sip and stroll” zones, meaning guests can take their drinks on the go and enjoy them in the park.
Starting today, all 11 food vendors and restaurants within Crystal City Water Park are officially open for business, following a soft opening two weeks ago.
Morning to night, the 1.6-acre outdoor food hall and park in Crystal City will serve everything from indulgent duck-fat fried chicken sandwiches to Indian-style crepes filled with lentils and chutney to gelato.
The kiosks include:
- D.C.-based café and wine bar Brij
- Bubbie’s Plant Burger, serving plant-based and kosher-certified burgers, fries and soda pop
- Cracked Eggery, serving egg sandwiches, bowls and sides
- DC Dosa, selling South Indian street food fare
- D.C.-based Dolci Gelati, serving a rotating list of gelati and espresso-based drinks
- Falafel Inc., a charitable food spot that feeds refugees through its falafel bowls, sandwiches and sides
- PhoWheels, the first brick-and-mortar location of a D.C. food truck selling Vietnamese-inspired dishes
- Tiki Thai, serving dishes inspired by Thai and Polynesian cuisine
- Queen Mother’s, a fried chicken spot that previously operated on Columbia Pike
Perched atop a water wall at the back of the park, meanwhile, is the cocktail and oyster bar Water Bar.
Operated by Atlanta-based hospitality group STHRN, the restaurant offers light lunch and dinner options, ranging from salads, seafood sandwiches and oysters to ceviche and specialty cocktails.
For something more casual, STHRN operates a New York-style pizzeria that serves beer, wine and cocktails, called Crush Pizza.
The park’s owner, JBG Smith, aimed to provide a comprehensive dining experience from breakfast through dessert, Amy Rice, the company’s senior vice president of retail leasing, tells ARLnow.
“We were really deliberate in wanting to make sure we could create a bit of an 18-hour offering,” she said.
At the park’s grand opening tonight, attendees can sample from nine newly opened restaurant kiosks, a sit-down seafood restaurant and bar or a new pizza place, all while listening to music. A month-long live concert series kicks off next Friday.
The kiosks are home to several minority- and women-owned businesses that were “having a hard time making the jump from a farmers market or food truck into a traditional brick and mortar,” Rice said.
“Typically, if you were a retail-like, fast-casual restaurant, and you wanted to start a new restaurant in a new building, it would probably be upwards of a million-dollar-plus investment to actually get your business up and running in that location,” Rice said. “We removed both of those barriers by creating these turnkey kiosks for these operators.”
Those looking for recommendations can try Water Bar’s “Middle Ground” cocktail, a Mezcal-based drink with tepache, made from fermented pineapple, and grapefruit, lime and peppercorn. At Crush Pizza, the mushroom lemon cream pizza was memorable.
Live music performances from 5-7:30 p.m. will start at the venue next Friday, Oct. 13, and run through Nov. 3. A performance by Virginia native R&B artist Bryan Lee will kick the inaugural concert.
“This series is just the first of many engaging Water Park events that will celebrate our diverse and growing downtown,” Tracy Sayegh Gabriel, president and executive director of the National Landing Business Improvement District, said in a press release.
After nearly three years of waiting, the Crystal City Water Park is slated to reopen next week, JBG Smith announced yesterday.
The newly renovated, privately owned 1.6-acre park will feature nine restaurant kiosks, a cocktail and oyster bar, seating areas, public art installations, new water features — including a water wall — and a live performance stage.
“Water Park is a manifestation of our vision for National Landing as a premier 18-hour community that warmly embraces families, workers, students and visitors of all ages,” Kai Reynolds, chief development officer at JBG Smith, said in a press release.
“In addition to creating an urban oasis where people can relax, linger and enjoy time spent together, we have intentionally curated Water Park to serve as a celebration of the region’s rich and diverse culinary traditions,” he continued.
JBG Smith says it plans to host a grand opening ceremony next Friday, Oct. 6, from 6-10 p.m.
After deferring an initial proposal due to concerns about pedestrian and cyclist safety, the Arlington County Board approved plans for the park in March 2021. Construction started in March 2022.
While the park previously had a small food and drink kiosk, the new iteration has nine kiosks for a variety of food vendors, with a focus on “local, minority- and women-owned businesses.”
The vendor lineup features:
- Brij, D.C. a café and wine bar by Skyler Kelley, supporting single mothers, the LGBTQ+ community and people who are homeless
- Bubbie’s Plant Burger, a Kosher, plant-based American eatery by the creators of D.C.’s Pow Pow, Margaux Riccio and Shaun Sharkey
- Cracked Eggery, a D.C. food truck known for inventive egg dishes that now has two brick and mortar locations in Cleveland Park and Shaw
- Dolci Gelati, a D.C.-based gelato shop offering over 450 seasonal, artisanal flavors, plus coffee and espresso
- Falafel Inc., a Georgetown-based charitable eatery that offers hummus and falafel dishes
- PhoWheels, a new Vietnamese-inspired food vendor
- Tiki Thai, a Reston-based Thai-Polynesian eatery
- Queen Mother’s, a fried chicken concept created by James Beard Award semi-finalist Chef Rahman “Rock” Harper
In addition to the kiosks, there is be a new cocktail and oyster bar, dubbed “Water Bar,” perched on top of the water wall at the back of the park.
The restaurant, operated by the Atlanta-based hospitality group STHRN, features a raw bar and an extensive cocktail list, according to JBG Smith. STHRN will also be opening an outpost of Crush Pizza, its New York-style pizzeria.
“We are excited to bring the delicious taste of Water Bar to life through unique, tasty cocktails and the deeply immersive flavors of the east coast,” Elizabeth Feichter, a partner at STHRN, said in the release.