County Board Member Mary Hynes seemed a bit surprised at last night’s Bluemont Civic Association meeting when she started fielding questions about a development plan for the North Arlington neighborhood.
“It’s not on the county’s radar,” she told anxious residents and businesses owners who had gathered in the library of the Arlington Traditional School.
As it stands now, however, Wiinky’s is a homegrown restaurant concept operating within a very crowded market space — subs, salads and burgers — in a building that has seen a succession of failed restaurants. And they don’t even have a sign yet.
The restaurant is the brainchild of a young George Mason University grad and Arlington native named Ryan, who didn’t want us to use his last name. Ryan — nicknamed “winky” in high school — recently left his job as a manager of a local pizza restaurant to open his own business. He said he wanted to create a “cool spot” that would remind him of the backyard barbecues he used to love as a kid.
Ready?
If you said ‘burger restaurant,’ you are correct! A new burger concept called “Wiinkys” (no, that’s not a typo) is coming to the storefront at 3902 Wilson Boulevard. The space used to house the Pike Grill and, after the grill closed, Papi Pollo.
Update at 2:30 p.m. — The ‘all clear’ has been given. Streets and sidewalks are being reopened.
Police have shut down sidewalks in the area of Wilson Boulevard and North Quincy Street in Ballston due to a bomb threat at Everest College (801 N Quincy St).
Early Buds — Maybe Punxsutawney Phil was right. The photo above was taken by Flickr pooler Clio1789 near Rosslyn on Friday.
Dr. Dremo’s Site Set for Development — Construction could begin by the end of the year on the hallowed ground that once was home to Dr. Dremo’s and Taco Bell. The site, on the 2000 block of Wilson Boulevard, will house 154 residential units and 30,000 square feet of retail space. Meanwhile, a development on the 1800 block of Wilson Boulevard is still awaiting financing. The project — a 107,000 square foot office building — will eventually displace the Rhodeside Grill and Il Radicchio restaurants. [DC Mud]
Update at 3:30 p.m. — The road has reopened.
Wilson Boulevard has been shut down in the area of North Jackson Street and Washington Boulevard in Clarendon.
The buildings that used to house Arlington Motorcar Service, Medical Service Corporation International and the Fashion Dreams tailor between Rosslyn and Courthouse are no more.
Demolition work has reduced the three small buildings on the 1700 block of Wilson Boulevard to rubble. A large, empty lot and a pile of debris is all that remains. (See the before and after photos below.)
The 7-Eleven store at 5112 Wilson Boulevard in Bluemont was robbed around 2:45 this morning.
A man walked into the store, implied that he had a gun and then took money from the cash register, according to Arlington Police spokesperson Det. Crystal Nosal. No weapon was seen and no one was injured.
Crews will tear down three small buildings that most recently housed Arlington Motorcar Service, Medical Service Corporation International and the Fashion Dreams tailor. The work will make way for a five-story office building that will include 108,000 square feet of medical office space, 28,000 square feet of ground-level retail and 230 underground parking spaces.
Construction is expected to begin in February or March, once demolition is complete.
A bicyclist was reportedly struck by a vehicle at the intersection of Wilson Boulevard and North Randolph Street in Ballston around noon today.
Initial reports suggest the cyclist is conscious and will be okay.
Arlington police officers positioned themselves at the busy intersection of Wilson Boulevard and North Lynn Street during the morning traffic rush and the lunch time pedestrian rush, in an effort to catch people violating basic traffic safety laws. During the course of the morning rush hour alone, they handed out 33 citations to drivers and gave 50 verbal warnings to pedestrians and cyclists.
The enforcement was part of the Metropolitan Washington Council of Government’s eighth annual Street Smart safety campaign, which officially launched today with a lunchtime press conference in Rosslyn.
Police and paramedics are out at two separate pedestrian accidents along Wilson Boulevard, both near accident-prone intersections.
One accident is on North Rhodes Street at Wilson Boulevard, where we’ve taken note of two separate crashes in the past few months.
