The “Tysons After Dark” series highlights different activities that keep people busy once the sun goes down.
Movie-goers have three different drive-in movie options this summer in the Tysons area.
The various screenings recommend that people get their tickets sooner rather than later due to limited capacity. Here’s where people can find the drive-in movies and which dates still have tickets available.
Mosaic District
Tonight, drive-in movies kick off at the Mosaic District with “Captain Marvel.”
People must stay in their vehicles on the seventh floor of the Market parking lot to watch the movies, which will have captions and audio via an FM transmitter on the radio. Movie-theater inspired fare from Alta Strada will be available to order.
While tickets have sold out for tonight’s show and the double feature — “Toy Story 4” and “Jurassic Park” — on Friday, July 24, tickets have not gone on sale for the yet-to-be-announced films on Friday, Aug. 28.
The Boro
Last week, The Boro started off its four-week-long screenings with “Dreamgirls.” The drive-in at The Boro has a pedestrian-only section along with spaces for cars and offers extended restaurant outdoor seating and live entertainment.
“The entire series is sold out, but we are opening a limited number of spots to each upcoming movie at 9 a.m. tomorrow morning!” a post on The Boro’s Facebook page said on Tuesday. Tysons Reporter previously wrote about the full line-up of family-friendly films.
Capital One Center
Capital One Center will soon have drive-in movies from July 11 to Aug. 2 to fundraise for Second Story, a local nonprofit that helps people seeking food, shelter and emergency support.
While the movies at the McLean Metro lot (1820 Dolley Madison Blvd) are free, Capital One is asking people to make a $25 donation when they register.
“How to Train Your Dragon,” which is the series’ first movie on Saturday, July 11, still has available slots. The movies for July 12 ad July 18-19 are sold out.
Registration will open on July 13 for:
- Saturday, July 25: “Shrek”
- Sunday, July 26: “A League of Their Own”
- Saturday, Aug. 1: “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off”
- Sunday, Aug. 2: “Footloose”
Food will be available from Curbside Kitchen. Movie-goers must stay in their vehicles.
Photo via The Boro Tysons/Facebook
As fitness centers are starting to reopen in the Tysons area as Virginia continues to roll back COVID-19 restrictions.
Currently, Northern Virginia is in Phase Two and plans to enter Phase Three on Wednesday (July 1).
Here are a few updates on which gyms are reopening, which are staying virtual and which are closing for good.
Solidcore in Tysons is offering in-person classes as of June 23. They are enforcing a variety of measures to enforce social distancing, such as “alternating machines back-to-front” to maintain 6 feet of distance.
They are asking customers to “minimize gathering in common areas,” to use the bathroom at home and to bring duffles to be stored in the pit of their machine rather than in a common area, according to procedures posted on their website.
Additionally, coaches will not be giving hands-on corrections and will be wearing masks and gloves at all times.
Crunch in Vienna is offering special reopening hours from 6 a.m. until 9 p.m. Monday-Friday and 9 a.m. until 6 p.m. on the weekend.
24 Hour Fitness has closed permanently in Tysons. However, the Falls Church location plans to reopen soon with new protocols to maintain safety. They have created a way for customers to check-in on their own, make workout reservations and even continue working out at home via digital instruction through a mobile app.
Hot Yoga Tysons is offering “two to three” virtual classes each day throughout the week for people who are craving yoga and pilates sessions from their homes.
1 To 1 Fitness in Tysons is also continuing to offer virtual personal training. Their sign-up provides users the opportunity to request a trainer who meets their specific preferences in a coach and a workout.
May gyms and fitness centers may start to open up in July as future guidelines have fewer restrictions. Virginia’s Phase Three will allow fitness centers and pools to open up to 75% capacity.
Photo by Danielle Cerullo on Unsplash
The expansion plans for the Capital One Campus in Tysons may turn out differently than originally expected after the developer approached the Fairfax County Planning Commission last night with new ideas.
Major proposed changes to the plan include the elimination of the planned hotel and the addition of new office space and real estate, which Gregory Riegle, the lawyer representing Capital One, said was requested because of changes to the market.
“Candidly, the hotel industry in Tysons and the Northern Virginia area had a number of challenges in terms of oversupply even before the pandemic. The intervening circumstances have only exacerbated those realities,” Riegle said.
“The overall master plan of the campus remains the same,” Stephen Gardner, a senior planner with Fairfax County, said, adding that the amount of office space will jump to 67%.
Two buildings would slightly decrease in height if this adjustment is approved, while another building would increase its height to 305 feet, which is equivalent to roughly 28 stories, Gardner said. Open space on the campus would remain the same.
The building with the increased height would include 328,974 square feet of extra floor area.
After a brief discussion, the Planning Commission unanimously voted to favorably recommend the changes to the Board of Supervisors. The county board is set to consider the proposal on July 14.
It is unclear which businesses might take over the additional retail spaces provided by the proposed changes.
“Progress is continuing irrespective of situations with the pandemic and associated issues,” Riegle said, adding that the Wegmans is expected to be completed later in 2020, while the performing arts center will likely be done in 2021.
Image courtesy Fairfax County Planning Commission
Hotels in the Tysons area laid off nearly 1,000 employees this spring due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Tysons Reporter found six hotels that filed notices under the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act with the Virginia Employment Commission (VEC). The WARN Act requires businesses with 100 or more employees to provide at least 60-day notice of a closing or layoffs affecting 50 or more employees, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.
Here are the WARN notices that hotels filed between late March and June:
- Hyatt Regency Tysons Corner Center (7901 Tysons One Place): 54 late march
- The Ritz Carlton Tysons Corner (1700 Tysons Blvd): 344
- Tysons Corner Marriott (8028 Leesburg Pike): 120
- Marriott Falls Church Fairview Park (3111 Fairview Park Drive): 164
- Embassy Suites Tysons Corner (8517 Leesburg Pike): 42
- DoubleTree Tysons (1960 Chain Bridge Road): 57
- Crescent Hotels & Resorts (8661 Leesburg Pike): 171
In total, 952 employees were laid off.
“Employment fell in all major industry sectors, with particularly heavy job losses in leisure and hospitality. The largest job loss during April occurred in leisure and hospitality with a decline of 161,400 jobs to 240,800,” according to the Virginia Employment Commission in late May. “The largest over-the-year job loss occurred in leisure and hospitality, down 169,000 jobs (-41.2%).”
Most of the layoffs happened in March and April and were “due to COVID-19,” according to the WARN notices.
Two Metro stations in Tysons will receive shuttle bus service as part of Metro’s plans to reopen more than a dozen stations this Sunday (June 28).
Metro announced yesterday (Monday) that the Greensboro and McLean stations in Tysons, along with the East Falls Church station are the three stations that will soon have shuttle buses but still won’t offer rail service.
A dozen other stations, including Clarendon, Smithsonian and College Park, will reopen this Sunday with rail service. “Beginning Monday, June 29, buses will be added to the system’s 14 busiest bus lines to provide more capacity and more frequent service as the region reopens,” according to Metro.
Metro closed 15 stations earlier this year due to limited cleaning supplies and decreased ridership. Once the stations reopen this Sunday, Arlington Cemetery will be the only station left without regular service, Metro said.
Meanwhile, Orange and Silver stations west of Ballston are undergoing work this summer, including platform reconstruction and work connecting Phase 2 of the Silver Line.
In addition to the reopened stations, Metro riders can expect bus service realignment starting Monday, June 29.
More from Metro:
Metrobus customers on the region’s busiest routes will notice more frequent buses, less crowding, and more regular service beginning Monday, June 29. An additional 136 trips are being added across 14 routes: 54, 70, 92, 30N, 30S, A4, A6, A8, P6, V4, W4, F4, P12, and T18.
To make these improvements possible, Metro will temporarily suspend bus service on four routes that currently have extremely low ridership — NH2, C14, G2 and M6. Customers along these routes are asked to use other Metrobus routes nearby.
Starting Monday, weekday service will be improved with additional buses on the 54, 70, 92, 30N, 30S, A4, A6, A8, P6, V4, W4, F4, P12, and T18.
Service will be temporarily suspended on the NH2, C14, G2 and M6. Use alternate bus service nearby.
Laura Schwartz is a licensed Realtor in VA, D.C. and MD with McEnearney Associates in McLean. Reach the office at 703-790-9090.
Summer is here, or at least the calendar says it is, which means it’s great weather for family photo shoots.
There are so many beautiful places around Tysons that lends itself well to family photos. I haven’t gone through the necessary steps to see which location may require extra paperwork and/or fees for on site photos, so make sure you check that!
Also, your photographer may know of secret spaces they like to use that are free. But here are some ideas to get you started:
- Meadowlark Botanical Gardens — both inside and out!
- Colvin Run Mill
- The LOVE sign on the W&OD Trail at Northside Park
- Seneca Creek Park Peony Field
- Scott’s Run Nature Preserve
- Great Falls Park
- Cherry Hill Park (Falls Church)
- If you like water, you could also try one of the Creeks: Wolftrap Creek, Pimmit Run, Scott’s Run
Have you taken photos somewhere not mentioned? Please share with others in the comments below!
“When we can’t do theater, what can we do?” Alex Levy, the artistic director of 1st Stage Theatre, posed during a recent Zoom conversation with local artists.
Levy was at his brother’s house while sharing his thoughts on what the future of 1st Stage during the hour-long “Cultural Tysons” panel.
More than 50 households logged on as Levy; local painter and teacher Deborah Conn; bookstore owner Jen Morrow; and Lori Carbonneau, the head of the McLean Project for the Arts, weighed in on various facets of COVID-19’s impacts on Tysons’ art scene.
Levy introduced himself to viewers by tackling a perception of Tysons — and Northern Virginia west of Arlington — as a “cultural wasteland.” His fellow panelists agreed that the pandemic is highlighting how small businesses and local artists and institutions contribute to the area’s culture.
“It reinforced how much people want local,” Jen Morrow, the owner of Bards Alley in Vienna, said during the Zoom panel.
The bookstore is currently offering curbside pick-up and online shopping. The “Take a Chance on Me” option for staff to recommend books in the store based on shoppers’ chosen genres and price points has “been a home run,” she said.
“I think people are really discovering how much they miss their access to the arts,” Conn, the local watercolor painter, said. “They need the arts. They need the theater. They need the books.”
With some of her art hanging behind her, Conn talked about the changes she’s experienced during the pandemic: better class attendance now that she’s teaching via Zoom, a greater demand for more demos and more creative ways to showcase art.
Conn, who is also the gallery curator at 1st Stage, shared that one of her friends started a fence post art gallery, while a few others are doing driveway galleries: “We have to be seen.”
The virtual meeting on Saturday (June 13) was part of the Community Conversations series that 1st Stage started five years ago.
“It’s a really popular thing that we did, and we realized it was one of those things that we can move to a digital platform during the pandemic,” Levy told Tysons Reporter earlier this week. “So we started that two months ago, doing these community conversations via Zoom.”
While success stories might make the pivot to online look easy, the panelists shared the uncertainties they still face months into social distancing, quarantine, stay at home orders and COVID-19 restrictions.
Some things haven’t been figured out yet, like how to offer in-person summer classes or host ArtFest online, Carbonneau, MPA’s executive director, said. While MPA missed an exhibition in the spring, the arts organization is moving forward with plans for a virtual exhibition.
1st Stage, in particular, has been grappling with how to reconcile its mission and atmosphere — “Our primary mode of work is to gather people in small spaces,” moderator Emily Wall, who is the theater’s associate producer, said — with state and local requirements to reduce the risk of spreading the virus.
In March, the theater suspended its upcoming productions and closed its doors. A month later, the theater announced that “A New Brain,” which was supposed to run March 26-April 19, will be its next show, but the dates haven’t been determined yet. The Logan Festival of Solo Performance is canceled for July but plans to return next year.
Levy said during “Cultural Tysons” that institutions with video skills and equipment before the pandemic had an easier time adjusting. Even organizations that weren’t focused on tech before now have incentives to catch up.
Carbonneau noted that the switch to online programming allows for greater geographic diversity. For example, one of MPA’s students is in Italy, while one of its teachers is in New York opening a studio, she said.
The increased accessibility to audiences and artists is an “exciting” opportunity for the theater, Levy told Tysons Reporter.
“In our [Zoom panel] on Saturday, people from all over the county [were] part of the conversation, and that’s been a really cool benefit,” he said. “These virtual conversations have allowed us to open up to a whole group of people who would never be able to be a part of it because they’re just physically too far at any given time.”
For people who missed the Zoom panels or want to view them again, the recorded conversations are archived on 1st Stage’s YouTube channel — another perk of holding virtual events.
In addition to the Community Conversations series, 1st Stage is also planning a series of Zoom classes to address a longing for human connection.
“We are going to create a series of classes that are not really intended for professionals but intended for people to connect to art-making in ways where they maybe never have before and to do it with our artists and with each other,” he told Tysons Reporter.
Another idea, which is in the planning stages, would allow multiple organizations to co-produce a piece for Zoom. “We can break apart the way we make theater… and then see what happens when we bring it together and then let it be a live event so that it still has some of that feeling of theater where anything can happen,” he said.
While Zoom will make these ideas possible, Levy said the pandemic’s impact on the theater’s season has opened up time to reimagine future plans.
“Normally I think we need to be done by, you know, X days because we had to put it into our season,” he said about the co-production idea. “Now we can say, ‘Let’s let it go at the pace that feels like it’s creating the best work, and when it’s ready, we’ll do it.'”
Currently, the theater is using this time to talk about how to invest in artists in the longterm and “how we disrupt our own process every now and then.”
“We’ve been having conversations about like, ‘Well what would it look like to start talking to an artist, not six months before we do a show but two years before we do a show?’ and ‘What can we change about the way we build and create a show when we think like that?'” Levy said.
Questions about the use of space outside the theater — 1st Stage is currently looking into opportunities to perform outdoors — and how the relationship with the audience will change are also on the list.
While 1st Stage normally starts the theatrical process with a play, Levy said he wonders what would happen if they started with a blank page instead. The theater has also been reaching out to actors to see if they want to write plays and asking playwrights if they have an interest in directing.
“We have long believed that theater gets made in a certain way,” he said. “I think who’s in those power positions are going to be shaken up… Theater is no different than any other institution where those in power can hang onto that power and tend to reinforce it.”
Levy sees art institutions as a guide — “Our job is to be out ahead of governments and for-profit businesses and model what it can look like” — and the questions 1st Stage is tackling fit into a bigger query about how to disassemble power structures.
“I think the kinds of stories we tell are going to change. I think the kind of people that tell those stories are going to change. The ways in which we tell them are going to change,” he said.
Ultimately, Levy hopes the disruption will alter not only future art, but also the ways that art gets made.
“What this is really allowing us is to think about what years from now might look like too. So, to build something that is not about ‘Oh this is a cool show,’ but build something that says ‘This is a way in which we create cool shows’ for years,” he said.
Image via 1st Stage Theatre/YouTube
Madeline Taylor contributed to this report
As Northern Virginia continues to ease COVID-19 restrictions, Tysons-area restauranteurs are not only unveiling new eateries but also re-envisioning dining experiences.
Restaurant owners shared with Tysons Reporter their varying reopening plans.
Solace Brewing Company, a collaboration of D.C. restauranteurs Eric and Ian Hilton and BlackFinn Ameripub co-founder Steve Ryan, was originally poised to open a new location in Falls Church by May 1.
But the opening got delayed due to the pandemic, Jon Humerick, Solace’s co-founder and director of operations, said.
“When everything started, we obviously had to put everything on hold,” said Humerick.
The brewery, boasting several unique offerings of in-house IPAs, now plans to open within the next two weeks, operating under Phase 2 guidelines requiring seating at half-capacity for indoor and outdoor dining.
Taqueria Loca, a Mexican restaurant run by the Great American Restaurants group (GAR), debuted a “ghost kitchen” in Vienna in addition to their Sterling location before Northern Virginia began its transition into Phase 2.
This meant that they were available online and cooking in the kitchens for curbside pickup and delivery — however, they were not serving customers in-person, according to Jon Norton, the CEO of GAR.
“We are also creating a ‘patio and beer garden’ in the valet area of Coastal Flats [Tysons Corner] so that guests may begin to enjoy the Taqueria Loca experience in a physical space as well,” according to Norton.
As of June 12, all GAR restaurants officially reopened at half-capacity.
Shipgarten, a new food and dining concept from the owners of the now-closed Tysons Biergarten, was originally planning to open in June. However, they are now pushing their opening until the end of Phase 3.
“We are going to use paper products and more disposable items like disposable menus,” Managing Partner Matt Rofougaran said in describing the safety measures they will be taking.
In addition, there will be plexiglass sneezeguards to separate the bartenders from the customers, and the tables in the 30,000-square-foot facility will be separated by 10 feet rather than the 6-foot guideline to ensure extra distance.
“We’re going to have plenty of room for social distancing,” Rofougaran said.
Photo via Solace Brewing/Facebook
Law firm King & Spalding plans to come to Tysons, per Fairfax County officials.
The Fairfax County Economic Development Authority announced the newcomer at 1650 Tysons Blvd today.
“Firms that bring global expertise in corporate law are absolutely essential for a strong business and technology ecosystem, so we are delighted to welcome King & Spalding to Fairfax County and Northern Virginia for its 22nd worldwide location,” FCEDA President Victor Hoskins said in a press release.
Hoskins noted that this announcement adds to the growing business community in Fairfax County. Last month, Microsoft said that it will create a new technology hub in Reston.
Based in Atlanta, the corporate law firm will have a 25-person team in Tysons, according to the press release.
King & Spalding Chairman Robert Hays, Jr. said in a statement that the new office will allow the law firm to serve the tech sector in the D.C.-area.
Image via Google Maps
After opening a little more than a year ago, City Works in Tysons closed its doors, according to a company spokesperson.
Located right outside the Capital One headquarters, the American tap house and eatery (1640 Capital One Drive N.) first announced a temporary closure due to COVID-19, but a statement to Tysons Reporter today says there aren’t any plans to reopen the spot.
“With the challenges presented in the current environment, Bottleneck Management is focusing its energy into well-established City Works restaurants in other markets around the country, while remaining focused on future national expansion,” according to the statement from Bottleneck Management, which operates City Works.
It is unclear exactly when the company decided to permanently close the location or what will happen to the spot.
“City Works is proud to have served the Tysons community, and thanks their guests for their patronage,” the statement said.
Image via Google Maps
