Cava, a Bethesda-based Mediterranean restaurant chain, has just opened in Tysons at 8350 Leesburg Pike.

The restaurant officially opened today (Monday) near the Greensboro Metro. The Cava is located right next door to Honeygrow, a stir-fry restaurant that opened last month.

The Cava on Leesburg Pike will be open daily from 10:45 a.m.-10 p.m. Be warned though, despite the large lot in Pike 7 Plaza, parking tends to fill up quickly around lunch.

This isn’t the first Cava in the area, with locations in Vienna, McLean and another inside Tysons Corner Center. The chain has been expanding rapidly over the last year, including a deal in August that led to the company acquiring Texas-based Mediterranean chain Zoës Kitchen.

The following article excerpt is from our content sharing partner, FairfaxNews.com.

If early ballots are any indication, interest in this mid-term election is running high — possibly as high as in a presidential election year.

As of last Friday, 23,772 ballots had been cast in Fairfax County since early voting began September 15. That’s an increase of 112 percent over the number of early ballots cast at this point in the 2017 election. The figures come from the non-partisan Virginia Public Access Project. In Fairfax City and Falls Church the increase is 115 percent. Statewide, 95,616 ballots have been case for an increase of 97 percent.

“It’s actually quite shocking,” Richard Keech, deputy director of the elections office in Loudoun County told the Washington Post. “This would be the first time without a president on the ballot that we’ve seen this kind of increase.”

Read more at FairfaxNews.com

This Saturday (Oct. 27) Fairfax County residents will have a chance to safely and anonymously rid themselves of all those old pills stockpiled in the medicine cabinet.

Those in the Tysons area can dump their unused or expired medicine at the McLean district police station at 1437 Balls Hill Road free of charge from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. The drop off is only taking pills and liquids, no needles or pressurized canisters.

Other FCPD stations will also be open for drop offs.

Getting rid of unused or expired medicine is important, as abuse, misuse or accidental poisoning can lead to serious health problems, but simply washing the pills down the drain or throwing them away can lead to environmental issues when the medicine filters into a body of water.

Last year’s Operation Medicine Cabinet Clean-Out collected a total 2,623 lbs of drugs across the county, with 264 lbs collected in the McLean district.

For those with a substance abuse issue, services are available in Fairfax via:

• Emergency Services (24/7) – 703-573-5679 (TTY 711)
• Fairfax Detoxification Center (24/7) – 703-502-7000 (TTY 703-322-9080)
• CSB Entry & Referral Services – 703-383-8500
• Call 911 for life-threatening emergencies

Opponents Speak Out at Ramp Closure Meeting — “Proponents were more vocal Oct. 18 at the second Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) meeting about possible temporary closures of a ramp leading from Georgetown Pike to northbound Interstate 495 in McLean, but a majority of local residents who have sounded off still oppose it, VDOT officials said.” [InsideNova]

Police: DUI Suspect Kicks Officers in Merrifield — “During the traffic stop, the officer determined that the driver was under the influence of alcohol and arrested Joshua Ginchereau, 37, of Woodbridge. During the arrest, Ginchereau resisted and kicked 3 officers.” [FCPD]

McLean Firm Wins NATO Contract — “MCR, LLC has been awarded a five-year Advisory and Assistance Services (AAS) framework contract by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) to provide a wide spectrum of scientific, engineering, project management, acquisition, and military functional expertise” [BusinessWire]

Tysons Company Acquired — “Applied Insight, a government IT services company, is deepening its inroads in the national security and intelligence community markets by acquiring McLean-based Organizational Strategies Inc., a 20-year old company that has worked closely with the Departments of Defense and Homeland Security.” [Washington Business Journal]

Fall Foliage Mostly MIA in Va. — “By the final third of October, fiery colors of fall are usually all over the place in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast. Not this year. While we are still at least a week or two from typical peak fall foliage in the immediate D.C. area, this year’s delay in autumn color is unlike anything in recent memory.” [Washington Post]

Photo via VDOT

One week after a fire gutted the abandoned Marco Polo restaurant on Maple Avenue, there’s still no answer for what caused the blaze.

At a Town Council meeting on Oct. 15, Vienna Chief of Police James Morris said the fire was reported around 2 p.m. on Sunday, and by 3:16 p.m. the flames under control. The building was vacant and there were no injuries in the fire, but the building itself is a complete loss.

Morris said throughout the week there have been complaints of kids hanging around gawking at the site. Even when the building was intact though, Morris said there was some unsavory activity at the site.

“The property itself has had broken windows and significant vandalism of buses in the back lot. There has been a lot of activity around that building.”

Battalion Chief Willie Bailey said it’s not uncommon for fire investigations to take over a week, with variables being size of the structure and the level of damage.

Before the fire, the building had been planned for demolition to make way for a new development approved on May 7 this year.

The site has been home to a number of buildings since 1900, but the recently-burned one had been located there since 1954. Local developer Doug D’Alexander applied to have the lot redeveloped in 2015, but a protest petition meant the Town Council would have to vote 6-1 in favor of development. In the end, the development fell one vote short.

D’Alexander returned in 2017 with a more scaled down version of the development called Vienna Market. The new development would consist of 8,200 square feet of retail space with 44 townhouse condominiums. The development was unanimously approved at the meeting.

Tysons Reporter was unable to reach D’Alexander, so the timeline for the development and the impact of the fire on redevelopment plans are currently, like the cause of the fire, still unknown.

The following article excerpt is from our content sharing partner, FairfaxNews.com.

Vernon Davis of the Washington Redskins and Mohamed Sanu of the Atlanta Falcons are best known for catching passes and outrunning defenders. But the NFL standouts also have a keen interest in business development, and recently announced a joint partnership to open six Jamba Juice stores in Northern Virginia.

While no locations have been formally announced, Davis and Sanu are specifically eyeing areas in Fairfax County (Reston, Chantilly, McLean) and Loudoun County (Ashburn, Leesburg, Sterling) for their stores.

“Jamba Juice is an iconic brand that, like me, cares about helping others live a healthier, higher quality life,” says Davis, who already owns five successful Jamba Juice locations in Northern California. “I honestly couldn’t be more excited about partnering with Mohamed, expanding my relationship with Jamba Juice and, of course, bringing more of the fresh fruit and vegetable goodness of Jamba to the region.”

Read more at FairfaxNews.com

The Tysons Biergarten is looking to close out what’s likely the last Oktoberfest in its current location (8346 Leesburg Pike) with a bang.

Tomorrow (Saturday), the Biergarten will host its Oktoberfest Finale Festival from 3-7 p.m. The festival will feature live music, outdoor games, and face painting as well as the Oktoberfest standards of beer and German food.

While the beer drinking is adults only, the Biergarten will have other activities like a moon bounce and a kids corner for the rest of the family.

Tickets to the finale are $20 if ordered online or $30 at the door, with each ticket including ten tokens for various beers. A full list of beers is available at the event’s Facebook page.

The Oktoberfest tradition will likely continue wherever the beer hall travels, the Tysons Biergarten itself will be relocating down the road to the area around the McLean Metro station, the next stop on the Silver Line.

Even The Fallstead’s biggest proponents admitted there were times it looked like the 82-unit affordable housing complex for seniors was never going to open.

But yesterday (Thursday), after over a decade of planning and struggling to find funding, The Fallstead at Lewinsville Center in McLean opened its doors at 1609 Great Falls Street to the public.

The Fallstead is an independent senior living community, with 72 one-bedroom and 10 two-bedroom rental units available to persons 62 years of age or older with a household income at or below 50 percent of area median income (AMI). Of those units, 10 percent are fully accessible for individuals with mobility impairments and two percent are accessible for individuals with vision and hearing impairments.

In addition, the complex also has amenities like a fitness center, a library, a community garden and more.

The Fallstead is a result of public-private partnerships between the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors and Wesley Hamel Lewinsville LLC, itself a partnership between Wesley Housing Development Corporation and Hamel Builders.

“It was a dream, and at times a nightmare, but we’re here,” said Supervisor John Foust. “We’ve been looking forward to this for a long time. It’s been a very long journey.”

Foust said for years, the cost of redeveloping the parcel of land owned by Fairfax County into an affordable housing facility was not considered feasible. But Foust said that changed as the County looked into developing it as a public-private partnership.

“In McLean it can be a challenge for [older] citizens to find housing,” said Foust. “That need is only growing.”

At the grand opening, guests, neighbors, and new residents were led on a tour of the facility.

“It’s wonderful to have this finished,” said Jan Auerbach, a nearby resident. “These 82 units are terrific, and we need more, but I can’t complain.”

Auerbach and many other visitors said they were excited for the Lewisville Senior Center currently under construction behind The Fallstead. The Lewisville Senior Center is scheduled for completion in Spring 2019.

“It’s been a long time coming,” said Mark Finks, a nearby resident. “There’s been years of talk, now it’s finally here. After all the noise and dirt, it’s great to come here and see it. It looks nice and there’s such a need for it in our community.”

Aurora Singletary is scheduled to move into the The Fallstead soon and said she was delighted to walk around and look at the facility.

“It feels really great to be here,” said Singletary. “My daughter drove by in February and saw the ad for senior housing… When I came in, I thought it was absolutely beautiful. I won’t even have to take the bus to work out, it will be right here near the courtyard.”

Singletary moved to the area recently from Portland. She said one of her favorite things about the facility — apparently in contrast to her previous housing arrangement in the Pacific Northwest — is the fact that it doesn’t reek of marijuana in every room.

Vienna Town Worker’s Car Blocked — “A Vienna town-government employee parked her vehicle in a private lot… while she checked on some vendors at the farmers’ market. The employee was approached by a resident who was upset that she was parked in the private lot. The resident used his vehicle to block the employee’s vehicle until police arrived.” [InsideNova]

Two Assaulted in Falls Church Area — “Two residents were walking into their townhouse when they were approached from behind by four men. The men assaulted the victims and then forced their way into the townhouse. One victim started to call 911 causing the suspects to run away.” [FCPD]