A traveling musical about women’s suffrage, called “19” after the 19th amendment, is stopping in Tysons this weekend for two shows as part of a tour celebrating the upcoming 100th anniversary of the amendment’s passage.
The musical highlights the stories of Alice Paul, Ida B. Wells, Susan B. Anthony and other suffragists who fought for the right to vote.
“The inspirational story of these fearless women is brought to life through jazz, spoken word, dance, and audience interaction,” according to the musical’s website.
Tomorrow night (Friday) and Saturday, the show will perform at 1st Stage in Tysons. Each show starts at 8 p.m.
Tickets are $20 for adults and $15 for students of members of the military.
Later this month, the 1st Stage theater will open “The Brothers Size,” a play by “Moonlight” co-creator Tarell Alvin McCraney about a pair of brothers reuniting in the Louisiana bayou. The play will run from Jan. 31 to Feb. 24.
Photo via Facebook
There’s a handful of design options for the new Vienna police station, but all of the plans being considered by town leaders will double the size of the existing building.
The Vienna Town Council plans to review three proposals for the project from Dewberry Architects Inc. at a meeting on Monday (Jan. 14).
The current station is 11,800 square-feet, while all of the new designs are over 28,400 square feet.
All of the designs extend the station southwest along Locust Street away from Center Street. In addition to new rooms for roll call, interviews,and other daily police-work uses, the new station designs feature a large “community room” and public lobby.
Two of the designs are very similar, both featuring the same distinctive curved meeting room at the Center Street end of the building, but with different parking layouts at the far side of the station.
Price estimates for the project range from $13 million to $15 million, with an estimated construction start date in fall 2020.
The project’s approval was not without some controversy, however. At a Town Council meeting earlier this week, Councilmember Pasha Majdi opposed awarding a contract for project management, saying there were better projects that could be funded instead.
Things are getting better for Tysons’ economy, but slowly.
For offices around Tysons, the boom anticipated with the opening of the Metro in 2014 has been more of a trickle as growth continues at a more sluggish pace than initially anticipated.
The Office Submarket Report on Tysons Corner (their wording, not ours) by Ryan Rauner, an associate broker with Realty Markets, shows a market experiencing steady, if unremarkable, growth.
“Despite slow demand growth at the metro level, some has trickled down to Tysons, helping vacancies improve slightly over the past few years,” the report said. “An explosion in the residential population has not yet been matched by strong office-demand growth, despite four Metro stations opening in the submarket.”
While the expansion of the Capital One facility was a welcome boon, the report notes that most tenants are not actively expanding their footprint and there has been a spate of large move-outs, specifically pointing to public affairs consulting group Interel’s decision to leave Tysons for Washington D.C.’s East End Submarket.
Which isn’t to say there haven’t been plenty of new clients coming into Tysons. Apian announced in April it would be moving to Tysons while Cvent announced it would be expanding its local offices. Facebook is also reportedly looking for space at Tysons II to occupy between 75,000-85,000 square feet.
In 2015, office vacancies in Tysons were near 18 percent. Since then, vacancies have steadily fallen to 15.6 percent. Forecasts for the market show vacancies taking a dip in middle-2019 then continuing a steady decline.
The high supply of office and relatively low demand led office rents in Tysons to face a steep decline from 2012-2014. There’s been some growth there, averaging about 2 percent from 2015-2018, but the report also warned not to view that growth as a trend.
“High vacancies could continue weighing on growth,” the report said. “Rents have continued their increase this year but at a relatively slow pace — as of early December, rents had increased by roughly 2 percent for the year. At the metro level, rents surpassed their pre-recession peak in 2015, but those in [Tysons] are just now reaching that point.”
The report did note that Tysons isn’t alone in its lackluster rent growth, that several other locations across Fairfax have also faced similar low rents.
None of this has slowed construction, however. There was 1.2 million square feet of new office space created between 2014-2017. Last year also saw a record high of office space opening with Capital One’s 975,000 square foot expansion.
The report notes that there are two notable projects underway: The Boro and View at Tysons.
The Boro is anticipated to include 582,000 square feet of new office space. Boro Tower, the main office component of the project, is currently 70 percent pre-leased and is expected to be ready sometime this year.
The View at Tysons is further out in development but is expected to include 570,000 square feet of office space and the region’s tallest building as part of a 2.8 million-square-foot mixed-use development.
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The following article excerpt is from our content sharing partner, FairfaxNews.com.
Vienna Theatre Company’s production of J.M. Barrie’s Peter Pan debuts at 8 p.m. Friday, January 18. Weekend performances will be staged through February 2. General admission tickets are $14 and available via viennava.gov/webtrac.
The production flips the script on several traditional facets of the original play, including the character of Peter, who is cast and portrayed as a woman; the inclusion of written stage directions as narration; and use of a digitally projected set.
Read more at FairfaxNews.com
Image of the Vienna Community Center, where Vienna Theatre Company productions are staged, via RRMM Architects
Months after a large fire leveled the restaurant, Marco Polo still stands as a burnt out husk on Maple Avenue.
The building had been long vacant and was set to be demolished, even before two teens allegedly set fire to the building as part of a small crime spree.
The site is owned by a limited-liability corporation, Vienna Vision LLC, and was planned to be redeveloped as 8,200 square feet of retail space and 44 townhouse condominiums. The development was approved in 2017.
Town of Vienna staff say a letter has been sent out to representatives of the property’s owners with questions regarding the property and condition, urging them to do something about the building’s “blighted condition.”
After Vienna staff sent a letter requiring action within 30 days, Doug D’Alexander, the property’s developer, applied for a demolition permit on Dec. 16. Additional information about the demolition was requested and no response has been offered by D’Alexander.
Tysons Reporter attempted to contact D’Alexander but has not received any response.
“As part of the development process, the site plan was approved in early December,” said Lynne Coan, communications and marketing manager for the Town of Vienna. “Next steps as part of the [Maple Avenue Commercial] process would be for the project to go before the Board of Architectural Review and for the developer to apply for building permits.”
If no progress is made, the town government could move forward with blight proceedings, where the town would demolish the building and charge the expenses to the property owner.
Big Names Among Potential Galleria Tenants — “Tysons Galleria… is in advanced talks with Tiffany & Co., Apple Inc. and gourmet grocer Balducci’s, in addition to high-end movie theater chain iPic, to open in portions of the space, according to two sources with knowledge of the discussions.” [Washington Business Journal]
Possible Money Motivation in McLean Double Murder — “The newly unsealed search warrant reveals why Megan Hargan might have carried out the crime: Megan’s mother discovered someone had attempted to wire ‘large amounts’ of money from her bank account on the day before her slaying. Pamela Hargan notified her bank the transfer was fraudulent. On the day of the killings, a second transfer was initiated to send money to a title company that was handling the purchase of a home by Megan in West Virginia.” [Washington Post]
Huge Tysons Development Still Looking for Office Anchor — “The developer behind Scotts Run had courted Amazon and Apple in hopes of landing an anchor for its planned 8M SF Tysons development, but neither of those panned out. Cityline Partners now continues to search for a tenant to kick off construction on the project’s office component. Cityline is one of several developers with major Tysons office projects waiting in the wings, hoping to sign pre-leases before breaking ground.” [Bisnow]
FCPS Offering Sub Gigs for Furloughed Feds — “Fairfax County Public Schools, the largest school district in Virginia, is offering substitute teaching positions to federal employees furloughed during the government shutdown. The hiring event will take place Friday, Jan. 11, from 2 p.m.-4:30 p.m. at the FCPS Administration Center, 8115 Gatehouse Road, Falls Church.” [Patch]
Senators Press Administration on Tax Refunds — “Virginia Senators Mark R. Warner and Tim Kaine (both D-Va.) have sent a letter to Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin asking how Virginia taxpayers will be affected by the government shutdown, which has left the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) short-staffed and potentially unprepared for the beginning of the 2019 tax-filing season.” [Fairfax Times]
McLean Foundation Sets Grant Deadline — “The McLean Community Foundation has set a deadline of Feb. 1 for non-profit organizations seeking to apply for its next round of grant funding. The foundation recently awarded nearly $67,000 in grants, including funding to McLean Little League and the Old Firehouse Teen Center, among others.” [InsideNova]
The area around the West Falls Church Transit Station could start to see some major development soon.
A public meeting is set for Tuesday (Jan. 15) from 7-9 p.m. in the Northern Virginia Center at 7054 Haycock Road to discussed the proposed changes. According to staff at District Supervisor John Foust’s office, more information about the proposed development will be presented at the meeting.
The plan is to allow a mix of uses on property belonging to the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) and Virginia Tech. The WMATA proposal could include 150,000 square feet of office space, 500 multi-family units in townhomes, and 50,000 square feet of retail. Height limits, currently 45-65 feet, are proposed to go up to 65-85 feet.
Meanwhile, Virginia Tech is looking to add new institutional, office, retail and residential uses to the Northern Virginia Center property southwest of the WMATA property.
Plans for the site allow new development, so long as that work doesn’t interfere with the property’s use as a transit hub and the surrounding road network supports the development without diminishing access to the station.
The plans do not include the Village and Pavillion Condominiums to the southeast along Haycock Road.
In the planning documents, staff said the proposals would encourage a mix of uses in a compact, pedestrian-friendly urban form within a 5-7 minute walk of the station while preserving existing stable neighborhoods near the station.
Photo via Fairfax County Government
It’s not exactly the university regional experts say Tysons needs to thrive, but a local seminary could be moving into a new office across town this year.
Reformed Theological Seminary is currently seeking a permit for a college/university use in an existing office building at 8227 Old Courthouse Road. The new location would be double the size of the school’s current facility at 1651 Old Meadow Road, near the McLean Metro station.
The staff report says administrative staff would be on the site during the day with classes held Monday through Saturday. The site is anticipated to have 45 total full-time students, with up to 30 present at any given time.
The report notes that properties near the site are primarily being developed with office uses. The building is part of the South Old Courthouse subdistrict along the southern edge of Tysons, which acts as sort of a buffer between Tysons and residential neighborhoods on the outskirts of Vienna.
“The vision for this edge is to retain the existing low-rise and low-intensity character, which provides a transition in scale and intensity from mid-rise and high-rise commercial development along Leesburg Pike to adjacent single-family neighborhoods,” staff wrote.
The meeting is tentatively scheduled to be brought to the Planning Commission next Wednesday, Jan. 16, with a review at the Board of Supervisors on Jan. 22.
After a series of noise complaints, Bey Lounge’s live-entertainment permits could once again be on the chopping block.
Bey Lounge, a bar and restaurant at 303 Mill Street with Lebanese cuisine, hookahs, and live music, currently has four pending noise violation charges for incidents across the last several months. Town Attorney Steve Briglia said the most recent violation was this past Saturday (Jan. 5) night.
Briglia said the first case is scheduled to go to court this Monday (Jan. 14), with more court appearances planned for early February.
If the lounge is found guilty of the noise violations, Briglia said his office is planning to present a motion to revoke the site’s conditional use permit to the Board of Zoning Appeals (BZA).
“It’s clearly audible,” said Briglia. “Officers are able to hear it on [nearby] streets and across residential lines.”
This isn’t the first time the lounge has gotten into trouble over noise levels. In 2017, the BZA voted unanimously to renew Bey Lounge’s conditional-use permit for live entertainment but required that between 11 p.m. and 2 a.m. on Fridays and Saturdays, the noise cannot exceed 51 decibels at the property line.
“We did that once before and there had been some better behavior by Bey Lounge,” said Briglia. “But I think things have changed.”
Discussion at the Vienna Town Council meeting on Monday (Jan. 7) showed that many in the city’s leadership are fed up with the noise violations.
“I fully support revoking the permit,” said Councilmember Pasha Majdi. “It’s not strike three, it’s strike fifteen.”
Photo via Google Maps
