The New York School of Arts — formerly Open Art Studio — has a new home in Vienna at 320 Maple Ave E.
The school, founded ten years ago, is focused on individual-based education in art and design with faculty from programs like Brown and Columbia universities.
The studio had previously been located at 225 Mill St NE.
The school programs range from art programs for children to portfolio reviews for students applying to arts programs.
Registration is currently open for the art foundation summer camp, aimed at students in grades 6 through 8. Classes range from $245 for children under two years old to $760 for older students.
Photo via Facebook
Fairfax County Police are asking for help in finding whoever beat two puppies to death and dumped their bodies in Tysons last week.
Officers were called last Monday (March 11) to the 1900 block of Gallows Road, an office park in southwest Tysons, where they found the two puppies next to a dumpster, said FCPD.
According to a press release:
A necropsy revealed both puppies died from blunt force trauma to their heads. Their breed was not able to be determined due to their young age. They are believed to have been about a month old. One was a male puppy with a unique blue merle coat and the other was a female with a fawn colored coat.
Anyone with information about the case is asked to contact Officer McLemore at 571-221-8030.
Tips can also be submitted anonymously online, by calling 1-866-411-TIPS, or texting “TIP187” and “CRIMES” to that number. Tipsters are eligible for cash rewards of $100 to $1,000 if their information leads to an arrest.
Fairfax police also reminded animal owners that their pets can be surrendered to the Fairfax County Animal Shelter if they can no longer be cared for.
File photo
A new business is opening at Tysons Corner Center to help people get their teeth aligned.
Northern Virginia Orthodontics is scheduled to open a new location next to the Tori Soudan women’s shoe store at the Nordstrom end of the mall. The business currently has offices in Brambleton and Reston.
The expansion was announced on Feb. 1, along with plans to open a joint location with Invisalign, a clear tooth-alignment treatment.
“Everyone deserves a smile they love,” the business said in a Facebook post, “and now it’s easier than ever to begin your own smile transformation while shopping, dining or just visiting Tysons.”
Mall staff said there was no information available about when Northern Virginia Orthodontics would be opening.
Photo via Facebook
Several new streets and major improvements to existing ones are in the works for Tysons.
The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors made a small adjustment on Tuesday (March 19) to make developers pay a little more of their share, but the report offers a glimpse at what’s ahead for local roadways.
With no discussion, the Board voted unanimously to approve a 1.9 percent increase in the developer contribution rate to the Road Fund and approval of guidelines for those funds’ usage in Centreville and Tysons.
“One of the principles of the Comprehensive Plan for each of the road fund areas is that development above the baseline level established in the plan may be approved, if developer mitigates the impact of such increased density or intensity by contributing to a fund for the provision of off-site road improvements,” staff said in a report. “All aforementioned road funds function in this manner.”
The staff report also included a list of transportation projects either underway or in planning for Tysons’ streets.
- Route 123 Improvements: Changes planned for Route 123 in Tysons East in the early stages of being developed as a “superstreet,” which would modify left turn movements to facilitate regional through movement. The project has finished simulations and is currently undergoing initial design.
- Route 7 Widening and Interchange: A study has been recently completed on a plan to widen Route 7 and implement new improvements at the Route 123 interchange. Stakeholder meetings are planned for this summer.
- Cleveland Ramp Alternatives: A new ramp is planned to connect the Dulles Toll Road to new sections of the Tysons East grid of streets. Greater access to the Dulles Toll Road is part of several transportations discussions currently ongoing in Tysons.
- Jones Branch Connector: An alternative access route from eastern to western Tysons passing over I-495. The project is currently in construction with completion planned for this fall.
- State Street: A new street, named State Street, is being developed to connect Boone Boulevard and Greensboro Drive in Tysons. A study of the project has been completed and options for project implementation are being discussed.
- Lincoln Street: Another proposed new street to connect Route 123 to Magarity Road, intersecting with Old Meadow Road and other future streets. The core idea for the new street is to move traffic from existing developments northeast of Tysons Galleria to Magarity Road. A feasibility study is ongoing.
- Center Street: A new street planned within the Tysons urban center. A report is expected sometime this summer.
Many of the new streets listed in the report are centered around the areas northeast of Tysons Galleria and in Tysons East, the points at either end of the Jones Branch Connector and both planned sites for major redevelopment.
Lucy Berkebile, 73, has become Fairfax County’s first fire fatality of 2019.
On Saturday (March 9) around noon, Fairfax and Arlington county firefighters battled a house fire on the 1400 block of Brookhaven Drive. Despite rescue efforts, Berkebile was found dead in the house.
More via a press release from Fairfax Fire and Rescue:
Units arrived on the scene and observed a large volume of fire coming from a two-story, single family home. Neighbors indicated that an elderly female was likely home. Crews worked aggressively to enter the home and initiate an attack on the fire in order to conduct a search for the occupant. The firefighters efforts were hindered by the large amount of fire and exterior obstacles, such as brush, trees, and debris.
Firefighters began an attack on the fire from outside. The fire was quickly extinguished. No firefighters were injured. One occupant was found deceased in the home.
The fire was discovered by a neighbor who called 9-1-1. It is unknown if there were working smoke alarms in the home.
The cause of this fire remains under investigation. Damages as a result of the fire are approximately $398,750.
Photo via Fairfax County Fire and Rescue
If you stop by Founding Farmers Tysons, be sure to offer congratulations to manager Paris Twyman for her recent nomination as “Manager of the Year” for the 2019 RAMMY Awards.
The RAMMY Awards are an annual competition hosted by the Restaurant Association Metropolitan Washington to celebrate excellence in local restaurants.
Taco Bamba Taqueria, which started in Falls Church and now has locations throughout Northern Virginia and D.C., was also nominated for two awards.
The restaurant was nominated for “Favorite Fast Bites of the Year” and owner Victor Albisu was nominated as “Restaurateur of the Year.”
Photo via Founding Farmers
The Jones Branch Connector is coming along, though construction has necessitated a series of weekend closures over the last few weeks.
A video put together by the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) laid out the goals of the Jones Branch Connector and a look at what’s ahead for the project.
MT @VaDOTNOVA: Check out the latest on the Jones Branch Connector project in Tysons! When complete, each direction will have 2 travel lanes, bike lane, multi-use path & wide median for future transit. @fairfaxcounty @VAExpressLanes @tysonspartners pic.twitter.com/PVLrSbFafe
— Fairfax County Government 🇺🇸 (@fairfaxcounty) March 18, 2019
The project first had a partial opening in December — with one lane of traffic opening in each direction — giving drivers a preview of the bridge that will connect east and west Tysons. According to the video, new bike lanes and sidewalks are planned to open sometime in the spring and a second lane opening in each direction.
“VDOT and Fairfax County have really partnered together to improve transportation in Tysons,” William Cuttler, a VDOT engineer, said in the video. “This $60 million project is going to go a long way to provide multimodal connections and helping to transform this city.”
Cuttler said the connection will aim to not only benefit drivers looking to cross over the Beltway, but also offer residents of western Tysons quicker access to the McLean Metro station at the east end of the bridge.
“Currently the Beltway operates as almost a barrier between the east side of Tysons and the west side,” Tom Biesiadny, director of the Fairfax County Department of Transportation, said in the video, “so building additional connection across the Beltway is really important.”
Mike McGurk, from Transurban corporate relations, said the Jones Branch Connector would also help the accessibility of the I-495 Express Lanes.
The project is expected to be completed this fall.
Photo via VDOT
South American chicken chain Pollos Keiko has opened its first American location — “Keiko Charcoal Chicken” — this week at 235 Maple Ave E. in Vienna.
The restaurant offers a variety of chicken options, from quarter-portions for $5.49 to whole chickens and three sides for $24.99, as well as salads, sandwiches, and sides like rice and plantains.
Nelson Barrios, one of the partners opening the restaurant, repeated the old real estate axiom for opening in Vienna: “location, location, location.” Barrios said he didn’t see anything quite like Keiko available in Vienna. (Don Pollo, a Peruvian chicken chain that opened a few blocks south in January, said the same thing).
Barrios said, for the most part, it was easy to get started in Vienna, though some of the administrative issues along the way were stressful.
“But once that’s done, you get to the fun part,” Barrios said. “It’s the reason someone wants to open a restaurant in the first place.”
Barrios encouraged Vienna residents to come in and try the chicken. Among the sides, Barrios said one of the more unique was “Tallarin Saltado” — a Peruvian stir fry noodle dish with green peppers and onions.
UrbanStems may be gone from the BrandBox pop-up, but those looking for a little more greenery around Tysons Corner Center can look forward to a new “indoor garden oasis” coming to the mall this weekend.
Mall owner Macerich Properties partnered with Bloomia, a cut flower farm, to create “Field of Tulips” — an indoor garden in the mall’s Fashion Court.
According to a press release:
Guests can wander the garden featuring a variety of tulips in different shapes and colors, all hydroponically grown in the USA. The flowers can be picked and purchased with 10 percent of proceeds benefiting the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, the local charity handpicked by Tysons Corner.
The Field of Tulips garden is scheduled to be in place from March 22-24. The garden is free to enter and is open from 10 a.m.- 9:30 p.m. on Friday and Saturday, and from 11 a.m.- 7 p.m. on Sunday, according to the press release.
Photo via Tysons Corner Center
Five months after it was destroyed in a fire, the ruined husk of the Marco Polo restaurant building in Vienna has finally been completely demolished.
It’s unclear when demolition began, but by March 19 most of the rubble had been removed from the site.
The restaurant was originally built in 1954. In 2015, local developer Doug D’Alexander applied to have the lot redeveloped as Vienna Market, but the application failed. A more scaled-down version was presented in 2017 and was approved.
The development plans were complicated an alleged intentionally-set fire that gutted the building. Two teenagers were later arrested and charged with setting the fire as part of a vandalism spree.
The charred remains were left as a visible blight along Maple Avenue, though Vienna staff said plans for development are still in the works.
In January, Cindy Petkac, director of planning and zoning for the Town of Vienna, said the building was expected to be demolished within the month.
Vienna residents remembered the building, a longtime local prom-date spot, fondly.
Marco Polo… Vienna will always remember you fondly…. I think we all have had first dates, and prom dates, and meeting here over the years… Thank you for your service!
— Vienna Business Association (@vba_vienna) March 17, 2019
