Happy Friday! Here are the latest stories about the Tysons area that the Tysons Reporter team has been reading:
Remembering a McLean Teacher — “Rita Olson, beloved music and science teacher at The Country Day School, has passed away. After a courageous battle with cancer for the past six months, Rita passed away peacefully early Saturday morning.” [Patch]
Business Leaders Say School Matters — “Business and nonprofit leaders gathered for the Northern Virginia Chamber of Commerce’s Regional Economic Outlook event last week had one thing on their mind: keeping the region’s workforce growing for the area’s expanding businesses. To do so, they said, two things will be necessary — regional collaboration and high-quality education.” [Inside NoVa]
Tysons Restaurant Lands “Most Romantic” List — “A handful of Northern Virginia and D.C. restaurants are on the OpenTable ‘100 Most Romantic Restaurants in America for 2020’ list” including Eddie V’s at 7900 Tysons One Place. [Patch]
Online Grocer Leases HQ Space in Tysons II — “Ocado Solutions is opening a new headquarters office in Tysons, Virginia, in a deal announced just weeks after the company disclosed plans to open one of its first robot-powered fulfillment centers in suburban Washington, D.C.” [Costar]
How Can Tysons Become Walkable? — “Tysons is evolving from suburb to city, but try to walk around and it still feels disjointed, with very long walks from one block to the next. Filling in these spaces is a growing network of non-street paths, including elevated walkways and mall promenades.” [Greater Greater Washington]
North Italia is open at #TheBoroTysons! Visit their new location 👉 1651 Boro Place. 🍝 🍕 pic.twitter.com/aYaDZoVpGp
— The Boro (@TheBoroTysons) February 5, 2020
“Going green” will take on a new meaning in Falls Church as the city joins a larger initiative to separate glass products from the rest of the recyclables on the curb.
Beginning Feb. 19, the City of Falls Church asks that residents separate glass from their normal recyclables and instead bring them to the local recycling center (217 Gordon Road) — where items will go in special purple bins for processing, according to the city’s website.
Neighboring areas, including Arlington County, are also taking part in the initiative.
If residents do not want to make the extra trip to the recycling center, officials ask that people simply throw glass items in the trash — or better yet, find a way to reuse their glass jars for storage, vases, drinking glasses, planters, or craft projects.
Failure to remove glass items from a recycle batch will contaminate it, the website warned, and the whole recycle batch will have to be thrown away.
According to a press release from the city:
Glass is no longer economically or environmentally sustainable in a single-stream recycling system. Glass is heavy, which increases the cost of transporting recyclables to and from recycling centers. Glass containers placed in single-stream curbside bins tend to break during collection and transport to Material Recovery Facilities (MRFs), which can then damage machinery and contaminate bales of other more valuable items.
To encourage participation in the new recycling program, the city is participating in the “Purple Can Club Pilot Program” alongside other districts within Northern Virginia.
“I believe we are the last in the region to join. We were evaluating options, and the centralized Purple Can was chosen as the pilot program,” a city spokesperson said.
Officials are asking residents to thoroughly rinse out or wash items before recycling them.
For people living in an apartment or similar community, the website said to check with a landlord or property manager about the changes.
Anyone looking for other purple can recycling sites can check out the map below.
Map and photo via City of Falls Church
Great Falls-based Our Mom Eugenia will bring its Greek cuisine to the Mosaic District later year.
According to a liquor license permit, the restaurant is set to fill Little Dipper Hot Pot House’s spot at 2985 District Ave, Suite 185.
Our Mom Eugenia is looking to open its new spot in the spring, according to a Facebook post.
The restaurant is named after Eugenia Hobson, who was a chef at Mykonos Grill in Rockville, Athenian Plaka in Bethesda and at Nostos in Tysons, according to the restaurant’s website.
A Yelp review from 2019 says Little Dipper Hot Pot House closed its Mosaic District location, although it’s unclear when or why. The closest one is now in the Falls Church area at 3000 Annandale Road, Suite 102.
Image via Google Maps
After a sudden closure, the Greek restaurant Archontiko plans to reopen by the end of the month in McLean, according to its owner Doros Theodore.
The closure at 1313 Old Chain Bridge Road in early January was sparked by staffing problems, including the chef, Theodore said, adding that employee turnover was high.
Though he doesn’t have an exact reopening date for the location, the restaurant is expected to begin serving food by the end of February — with the addition of a new chef and assistant.
Anyone who walks by may see construction at the location. Archontiko originally opened in October of 2019, but the interior is getting a makeover per the request of the incoming chef, Theodore said.
Theodore also said the restaurant will continue to service a variety of Greek and Mediterranean dishes along with small plates once it reopens.
Tysons Reporter reports local news for Tysons, McLean, Vienna, Falls Church and Merrifield.
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A craft beer store inspired by the owner’s dog has delayed its grand opening near the Dunn Loring-Merrifield Metro station.
Owner Tyler Cohen, who lives in the Mosaic District and has been blogging his tours of breweries across Virginia, previously told Tysons Reporter that his black dog, Ash, inspired the name Black Dog Beer Shop.
The store is now set to hold a grand opening at 2672M Avenir Place on Valentine’s Day (Feb. 14), according to the website.
More from the website:
Black Dog Beer Shop has a robust selection of craft beers from around Virginia as well as regional and national craft brands. We have 16 taps for growler fills and tons of cold refrigerator space. Whether you’re looking for a good, local cider of the newest double dry-hopped DIPA, we’ve got you covered.
The store plans to be open from 9:30 a.m.-9:30 p.m. Monday-Thursday, 9:30 a.m.-10 p.m. Friday-Saturday and from 10 a.m.-6 p.m. on Sundays, according to the website.
Dranesville District Supervisor John Foust said he’s supportive of plans to extend the express lanes on I-495, but has major concerns about the timing of the project with Maryland’s piece.
The I-495 Northern Extension Project would expand express lanes from the Dulles Toll Road to the George Washington Memorial Parkway, replace overpasses and noise walls and add a shared-use path. The project could save drivers up to 25 minutes during peak-hour commute times, according to the presentation given at the meeting.
Toll revenues are expected to support the cost of the project, according to the presentation.
Maryland is currently evaluating its options to rebuild and widen the American Legion Bridge, Susan Shaw, from the Virginia Department of Transportation, told the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors.
Preliminarily, construction could start on Virginia’s portion of the project in 2021 and take three years to finish, Shaw said.
“Obviously, solving the congestion issues at the American Legion bridge are just absolutely essential that we do that,” Foust said at the Transportation Committee meeting on Tuesday. “This project doesn’t solve the congestion problems.”
While Foust said that the project is a “necessary piece of the puzzle that will do that,” he said that most of the relief will come from increasing capacity and widening the Beltway from Maryland.
Foust said he thinks it would be a “huge mistake” to start the Virginia part of the project before it can get aligned with Maryland’s timeframe.
“Timing is everything here,” Foust said. “You’ve got to get this coordinated better with what they’re doing in Maryland or a bad situation is going to get worse.”
A public meeting on the project is set for March 12 at Langley High School (6520 Georgetown Pike) from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Public comments will be accepted through March 30, although Shaw said the public can reach out anytime after that.
“You want to extend the express lanes, but that’s not a good enough public purpose reason for doing this,” Foust said.
An international ramen restaurant plans to open next month in The Boro in Tysons.
Diners can try authentic ramen and other Japenese cuisines at Hokkaido Ramen Santouka (1636 Boro Place) once it opens in March, according to the website.
“The Santouka restaurant will be the first ramen restaurant from Japan to open in Virginia, as well as their first foray into the greater Washington D.C. area,” a press release said, adding that this will mark Santouka’s 61st location around the world.
Menu items will include the restaurant’s tonkotsu soup, gyoza, karaage-style fried chicken and desserts, according to the press release.
“To make our signature tonkotsu broth, we simmer pork bones for about 20 hours over the low heat until it becomes pearly white and then add the vegetables, dried fish, kelp and other savory ingredients to it,” the location’s Facebook page said.
The eatery’s hours of operation will be from 11 a.m. until 9:30 p.m. Monday-Thursday, from 11 a.m. until 10:30 a.m. Fridays and Saturdays and from 11 a.m. until 9 p.m. on Sundays, the website said.
Reservations will not be available at this location, according to the website, which added that there are only dine-in options — no takeout.
Photo via Hokkaido Ramen Santouka/Facebook
Vienna Town Councilmember Douglas Noble announced earlier this week that he plans to retire after his current term ends.
Noble was first elected to Town Council in May 2016, according to his town bio. His term expires on June 30.
Noble told the Town Council on Monday that he’s been helping with mom’s knee replacement rehabilitation, along with assisting his wife with an aunt who has Alzheimer’s disease and helping dad publish a photography book.
“I note this not without a touch of irony, considering last week I was accused of being ageist and discriminatory by a member of a public,” Noble said. “And I guess public officials should simply accept that people attack us personally.”
Noble has several things he’d like to see the Town Council accomplish in the next two years.
“I need to get the zoning code update right and we need to get it finished,” Noble said, adding that he also wants to see updates to the comprehensive plan.
He said he’d also like the town’s performance dashboard to be online and move projects and studies forward more quickly.
“And lastly, in the next couple years — four years, 10 years — we need to have a real conversation about this small town thing,” Noble said. “We need to come to grips with the idea that we haven’t really been a small town since the 1950s.”
Noble said some of the highlights of his time on the council have included the Vienna Community Center getting finished, the new police station started, expanded community events and added town positions.
Noble’s announcement means that at least three new faces will join the council later this year.
Councilmembers Pasha Majdi, Howard Springsteen and Linda Colbert are running for Mayor Laurie DiRocco’s seat.
The terms for Majdi and Colbert both expire this year, while Springsteen’s current term ends next year.
Councilmembers Nisha Patel and Steve Potter’s terms expire in 2021.
Image via Town of Vienna
As WMATA looks ahead to summer Metro repairs, more details have been revealed about the Orange Line closures that will impact riders in Northern Virginia.
Beginning May 27, the Vienna, Dunn Loring and East Falls Church stations will be closed, according to a WMATA presentation at a Falls Church City Council meeting earlier this week, which added that the Silver Line from McLean to Wiehle-Reston East will also be affected.
Crews will update slip-resistant tiles, LED lighting, add new large digital displays and build new shelters on the platforms during the closures, WMATA representatives said at the meeting.
WMATA representatives also said free buses will replace trains at each of the affected stations and riders can expect the closures to last through Sept. 7.
Summer was chosen as the ideal time for the project because ridership is down slightly during that time of the year, the representatives said.
“We found it was really much more efficient when we use longer extended periods (of closures),” one representative added, compared to completing updates at night or over weekends.
During closures, four bus routes will offer riders alternative options:
- from Vienna to West Falls Church
- from Dunn Loring to West Falls Church
- from East Falls Church to Ballston
- from Rosslyn, then to Courthouse before stopping at Ballston and finally to Vienna
There will also be added on-demand shuttles from Vienna to Dunn Loring and West Falls Church to East Falls Church.
The presentation also mentioned that Silver Line trains from McLean to Wiehle-Reston will stop at each station but run on a reduced schedule.
Riders can expect the West Falls Church station to remain open but with single-tracking and for trains to go through — but not stop at — the East Falls Church station.
There will also be a variety of Metro Buses, ART Buses and Fairfax Connector Buses that will also be affected, according to the presentation.
Image (2) via City of Falls Church
