Almost one year after it’s expected opening date, Archontiko just started serving up modern Greek dishes in McLean.
The restaurant opened about one week ago, an employee told Tysons Reporter.
Archontiko occupies the former spot of Evo Bistro, another Mediterranean restaurant, at 1313 Old Chain Bridge Road. The restaurant’s opening was delayed multiple times due to construction work and the inspections from Fairfax County.
Diners can find a crab burger, vegetarian entrees, pikilia (a plate of mixed appetizers) and sandwiches served over pita bread with lemon potatoes and salad on the lunch menu. Meanwhile, the dinner menu features seafood and lamb entrees, vegetarian entrees and salads — including Greek salad.
For dessert, there’s baklava, rice pudding with cinnamon, yogurt cake and more.
Executive Chef Markos Baladimas creates dishes inspired by traditional Greek cuisine, “which is combining the simplicity of the raw materials with the richness of their flavors,” according to the restaurant’s website.
The restaurant’s hours are 11 a.m.-9:30 p.m. Monday-Thursday, 11 a.m.-10 p.m. Friday-Saturday and 11 a.m.-9 p.m. on Sundays, the employee said.
Photo via Archontiko
Drivers who regularly take Towers Crescent Drive might want to budget in more time now that the road has two new stop signs near Ring Road and is undergoing road work.
Currently, the road is being repaved, Ellen Kamilakis, a spokesperson for the Virginia Department of Transportation, told Tysons Reporter.
Towers Crescent Drive will soon have a new traffic pattern.
“The final roadway configurations will have one lane in each direction with either left-turn lanes or two-way left turning lane in the middle,” Kamilakis said. “In addition, it will have a bike lane in each direction.”
In response to Tysons Reporter’s question about when the repaving will be finished, Kamilakis said, “It should be relatively soon as the asphalt plants don’t stay open year-round.”
Multi-way stop signs were installed on Sept. 25 at the intersection of Towers Crescent Drive and Ring Road, Kamilakis said.
With the combination of the stop signs and the work blocking a southbound lane, traffic slowed down on Towers Crescent Drive when Tysons Reporter visited yesterday morning.
Plans are no longer in the works for an assisted living facility in the Vienna area after facing criticism by the Planning Commission and residents.
The proposed 86-bed facility would provide accommodations for people with dementia or memory loss at 2347 Hunter Mill Road, adjacent to the United Methodist Church of the Good Shepherd.
The applicant, Orr-BSL Hunter Mill, LLC, wanted to build a two-story building with approximately 43,680 square feet of space, along with outdoor courtyards and a garden for the facility’s residents.
Fairfax County planners gave the proposal a favorable recommendation in the staff report, writing,”In staff’s opinion, the development has been thoughtfully designed to be compatible with adjacent residential uses and to preserve the property’s rural character.”
Many residents opposed the proposed project during a four-hour-long public hearing in July, arguing to the Planning Commission that the proposal does not meet the county’s comprehensive-plan requirements.
Some of the commissioners agreed — including John Carter, the commissioner who oversees the Hunter Mill District.
Carter and another commissioner brought up a long list of issues with the proposal and special needs of the site at the Sept. 12 meeting — like pointing out that emergency vehicles might have trouble traveling to and from the site, which has a two-lane scenic by-way policy.
Carter also said the proposed facility’s size would not fit in with surrounding buildings. “It’s a football field in length,” he said.
Carter deferred the proposal indefinitely — essentially killing it since he said that other developers are eying the site.
“This is only one case. I expect more cases on this site,” he said.
Dranesville District John Ulfelder added that the site is pending being listed on the National Register of Historic Places by the Virginia Department of Historic Resources.
While Ulfelder said that schools and churches would be appropriate on the site, he said that he was worried that a medical facility would “erode” the site’s history.
The application was withdrawn at the end of September.
Image via Fairfax County
Parents and disability rights groups are suing Fairfax County Public Schools for allegedly using seclusion and restraint improperly for students with disabilities, the Washington Post reported last night (Tuesday).
One of the parents suing, Jennifer Tidd, reportedly lives in Reston and her 12-year-old son attended Kilmer Center, a public special education school in the Vienna area that is run by Fairfax County.
“Tidd’s son was secluded on at least 745 occasions and excluded from class several hundred more times over seven years, according to court papers,” the Washington Post reported.
An investigation by WAMU earlier this year discovered hundreds of cases where FCPS students were restrained or put in seclusion multiple times — despite FCPS repeatedly telling the federal government otherwise.
The WAMU investigation highlighted stories from parents who alleged that improper seclusion and restraint happened at Armstrong Elementary in Reston and Eagle View Elementary in Fairfax.
The lawsuit was filed Tuesday in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, according to the Washington Post.
Tysons Galleria has welcomed a new restaurant focused on steak and fries.
“We are a new restaurant specializing in Steak Frites… We prep our ingredients daily in order to ensure only the highest quality food is served,” according to job postings on Snag for Butcher’s Cut.
The restaurant has line cook, cashier and server positions open and pays $15-$18 per hour.
Butcher’s Cut is one of 10 full-service restaurants at the mall, including Lebanese Taverna and the Cheesecake Factory.
Drivers can expect lane closures as work begins tonight (Tuesday) on areas of the GW Parkway in McLean.
The National Park Service (NPS) and Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) wants to repair sections of the GW Parkway in McLean and Clara Barton Parkway in D.C.
On the GW Parkway, the work will take place between Chain Bridge Road (Route 123) and I-495. Drivers can expect single-lane closures from 7 p.m. to 5 a.m.
“We’re working this fall so the parkways are ready for winter driving,” Superintendent Charles Cuvelier said in the press release. “Even though this work won’t address the entirety of either road, it’s part of the National Park Service’s long-term plan to maintain and eventually reconstruct both.”
The project plans to level uneven parts of the road, add new pavement markings and replace old asphalt.
“The work will last into late fall with completion depending on the weather in the weeks ahead,” the press release said.
Construction crews are also working to fix the cause of a sizeable sinkhole that opened up on the GW Parkway back in March.
“The FHWA recently finished 50 vertical feet of excavation to remove a 60-year-old brick drainage structure that had failed,” the press release said. “Workers are now completing the installation of a new drain and back-filling the excavated area.”
NPS is also competing for federal grants to fully fund a project that would reconstruct GW Parkway near Route 123.
Map via Google Maps
As residential use explodes in Tysons, Fairfax County officials are quick to point to a growing amount of affordable housing in the area.
Chris Caperton, the director of the Urban Centers Section, updated the Board of Supervisors today (Oct. 8) on the progress in Tysons in the last year.
One of the biggest takeaways — “Residential is hot in Tysons,” Caperton said.
Currently, Tysons has 53.1 million square feet of development and is projected to reach 56.9 million square feet by 2021 — about 5.5. million square feet under the project in the comprehensive plan.
“We’re sort of catching up to that number,” Caperton said.
Of the 53 million square feet, more than half of it is office space, while about a quarter is residential.
“We do see an increase in residential use,” he said, saying that the jobs to household ratio jumped from 2.5:1 in 2005 to 6.8:1 now. (The comprehensive plan calls for a 4:1 ratio.)
Providence District Supervisor Linda Smyth was quick to note that affordable housing units have increased, saying that more than 200 have been recently added to Tysons.
Caperton added 750 affordable housing units have been completed, while 4,220 are expected in the near future. It is unclear if Caperton’s calculations included just approved developments or also unapproved ones as well.
When Tysons Reporter wrote about Affordable and Workforce Dwelling Units (ADUs and WDUs) in May, Tysons had 536 units at the time with an average occupancy rate of 94% and 3,919 were committed by developers.
Residential uses aren’t the only increases in Tysons. Caperton shared that transit options — like an 8% increase of Metro ridership in the Tyson area since April — are flourishing. The Tysons Corner station is now the busiest one for Capital Bikeshare in Fairfax County since May — surpassing the Wiehle-Reston one, Caperton said.
Caperton and several supervisors pointed to growing connectivity in Tysons — from the new Vesper Trail to the Jones Branch Connector — that will hopefully get Tysons to reach the county’s vision as a place to work, live and play.
A crash today (Tuesday) has closed several lanes on Leesburg Pike near the ramp from I-495 in Tysons.
The east left lane and the left center lane are closed, according to the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT).
Drivers should expect delays due to the crash.
Map via Google Maps
The Vienna Arts Society is seeking the public’s help to solve the mystery of the stolen painted benches.
The first bench was stolen between July 7-9, followed by the second bench between August 9-12. Vienna police are currently investigating.
The arts group sent out an email today (Tuesday) to our sister site ARLnow with the subject line: “VIENNA ART SOCIETY ASKS FOR HELP IN RECOVERING STOLEN BENCHES.”
“Art Center Director Lu Cousins, says ‘It’s possible someone witnessed their theft and they may no longer be in the immediate area. We have been working with the Vienna Police Department to secure the remaining benches and we’re hoping that anyone with information will come forward,'” the email said.
The benches are valued at $500 and $600, Sgt. Conor Tracy, who works in the Vienna Police Department’s Criminal Investigations Division, told Tysons Reporter.
“To my knowledge, there is no video footage from security cameras of either incident,” Tracy said, adding that the police department does not have any leads or suspects at this time.
The Vienna Arts Society is determined to keep the remaining 40 benches painted by local artists available for public enjoyment until they get auctioned off on Nov. 2.
New security measures include bolting the benches to the ground and chaining them to nearby objects, Tracy said.
While the Vienna Arts Society recommissioned a bench to replace the missing one from Grass Roots Fitness, the artist of the other stolen bench won’t be painting a new one due to time constraints.
Anyone with information about the stolen benches can contact the Vienna Police Department at 703-255-6366.
Photo via Susan Scanlon
Appeals of zoning determinations for controversial proposed therapy facilities in McLean will head to Fairfax County’s Board of Zoning Appeals in January.
Newport Academy, a therapy program for teens with mental health or addiction problems, wanted to open two treatment facilities — one along Davidson Road and another at 1318 Kurtz Road in the Salona Village neighborhood.
While the planned treatment facilities have received widespread community backlash, Newport Academy has hinged its claim on the two locations being by-right uses — a use that won’t require approval by the Board of Supervisors.
Fairfax County Zoning Administrator Leslie Johnson issued a letter in May saying that Newport Academy’s three adjacent properties at 1620, 1622 and 1624 Davidson Road would be a congregate living facility.
Newport Academy is trying to appeal the Davidson Road decision, saying that county staff overreached in its determination.
While Johnson later noted that Newport Academy is no longer planning to open a facility at the Davidson Road properties, Dranesville District Supervisor John Foust told Tysons Reporter that the appeals process will continue for Davidson Road.
Foust said that Newport Academy plans to sell the properties, but doesn’t want the zoning determination to negatively impact future plans elsewhere.
In August, Johnson issued a letter saying that the Kurtz Road facility is a group residential facility — a win for Newport Academy.
Three appeals from McLean residents want the decision about 1318 Kurtz Road overturned.
The Board of Zoning Appeals will consider the four appeals at 9 a.m. on Jan 22.
First image via Google Maps
