Fairfax County police arrested a woman from California for allegedly making fraudulent credit card charges at a Marriott in Tysons.

The incident occurred around 10 a.m. on Friday (Dec. 6) at 8028 Leesburg Pike.

“The victim, who resides in Florida, called the hotel to report that someone was using her credit card and making fraudulent charges at the hotel,” according to the police report.

When officers arrived at the hotel, they were directed to the reserved room and charged a 28-year-old with credit card theft, the report said.

The Weekly Planner is a roundup of interesting events coming up over the next week in the Tysons area.

We’ve scoured the web for events of note in Tysons, Vienna, Merrifield, McLean and Falls Church. Know of any we’ve missed? Tell us!

Tysons Reporter also complied a list of the upcoming holiday events, for those seeking festivities.

Monday (Dec. 9)

• NVTC Tech 100 Party — 6 to 8 p.m. at Ritz Carlton Tysons Corner (1700 Tysons Blvd) — This event invites community members involved with technology to network and enjoy drinks and food. The cost of the event ranges from $195-$235.

Wednesday (Dec. 11)

• Holiday Cooking Party — 7 to 10 p.m. at McLean Community Center (1234 Ingleside Avenue) — Attendees will learn how to create recipes including festive fruits, veggies and desserts. Registration is $80 for the public and $65 for district residents. Participants must be over 18 years old.

Thursday (Dec. 12)

• Tysons Women’s Business Book Club — noon to 1 p.m. at 1751 Pinnacle Drive #600 — This book club invites industry professionals to come network and enjoy a new book. Attendees are encouraged to bring business cards and a lunch or snacks to share. It is not necessary to read the book beforehand.
• Holiday Happy Hour — 4 to 7 p.m. at Whole Foods (1635 Boro Place) — High Point Pub will host a happy hour with live music and drinks from Tory Pratt of Pratt Standard Cocktail Company.

Friday (Dec. 13)

• “The R-Word Film” Screening — 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Capital One Bank (1680 Capital One Drive) — The McLean CapAbilities chapter will host this free event to educate the community on the lives of people with disabilities, using key characters in order to shift the conversation and societal views. Lunch will be provided and attendees will hear from the director and people highlighted in the film.
• Vienna Town Council Holiday Reception — 4 to 6 p.m. at Town Hall (127 S. Center Street) — Community members are invited to celebrate the holidays with the Vienna Town Council. This event is free and registration isn’t required.
• Live Nativity Scene — 6:15 to 7:45 p.m. at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (1325 Scotts Run Road) — This event will celebrate Christmas and the birth of Jesus with a nativity — including live animals petting zoo and actors. Cookies and hot cocoa will also be available.

Saturday (Dec. 14)

• “Another Silent Night – The Musical” — 2 p.m. and 6 p.m. at Columbia Baptist Church, The Sanctuary (103 W. Columbia Street) — This musical invites families to hear about an Army officer who returns from WW1 during the Christmas Season.  Childcare for kids ages 5 and under is available with preregistration. Tickets are $5 per person or up to $20 per family.

Photo via Ed Robertson/Unsplash

Tysons Reporter is back with its new monthly crime map showing where the incidents occurred in Fairfax County Police Department’s McLean District Station.

We went ahead and pulled together all of the incidents noted for the McLean District Station in FCPD crime recaps from Nov. 1-30, weeded out the ones that are not in the Tysons Reporter coverage area and plotted them in the interactive map above.

The McLean District Station covers crime in Merrifield, Dunn Loring, Falls Church, McLean, Tysons and Great Falls.

The map only includes information from FCPD and does not include reports to the police departments in the Town of Vienna or the City of Falls Church.

Use the icon in the top left corner of the map to toggle between the various types of crimes displayed.

Fairfax County’s weekday police recaps are not comprehensive lists of every incident and the addresses are approximate. FCPD also notes that information in the recaps “is generally based on initial reports made to the police department.”

Anyone with information about any of these crimes should call 703-691-2131 or 1-866-411-TIPS(8477).

Work is gearing up on a new office tower that is part of the redevelopment of the sites once home to Tysons Biergarten and Clyde’s in Tysons.

Named Tysons Central, the new office tower is coming to 8332 Leesburg Pike — the former spot of Clyde’s — next to the Greensboro Metro station in the Tysons Central 7 neighborhood.

The building, which plans to have a private roof terrace and parking garage, is a part of a development that was approved in 2014.

More from Foulger-Pratt:

Tysons Central is the first step in the massive redevelopment of Tysons, made possible by the Metro’s Silver Line extension. This signature office tower will reside adjacent to approximately 1,100 residential units, 200 hotel rooms, and 135,000 sf retail at full build out.

Right next door you’ll find The Boro — a 4.2 million sf development featuring a variety of shopping, dining and entertainment options, including a Whole Foods and Showplace Icon multiplex.

Developer Foulger-Pratt is ready to start construction to get the project done by early 2021, the Washington Business Journal reported.

Tysons-area companies made up nearly half of Fairfax County’s list this year of top workplaces for commuters.

Fairfax County’s Board of Supervisors recognized 17 companies on Tuesday (Dec. 3) who have taken steps to become more commuter-friendly.

The eight companies in the Tysons area include:

• Anderson Cooper Group Architects (McLean)
• Appian (McLean)
• Avineon, Inc. (McLean)
• Envision (Vienna)
• KETTLER (McLean)
• Inova Health System Fairfax Hospital (Falls Church)
• MCR, LLC (McLean)
• Trowbridge & Trowbridge (McLean)

Three companies in Reston, three in Herndon, two in Fairfax and one in Alexandria also made the “Best Workplaces for Commuters” list.

Fairfax County offers a program through the Fairfax County Department of Transportation (FCDOT) provides employers with information about ridesharing and other transportation alternatives for workers, according to a press release.

“We are excited to celebrate the first 100 Fairfax County employers leading the nation in providing high-level commuter benefit programs to their employees,” Marcus Moore, FCDOT’s lead employer outreach specialist with the Fairfax County Department of Transportation, said in a press release. “Employers offering commuting alternatives receive value through enhanced recruitment and retention of staff, decreased parking expenses as well the ability to limit employee absenteeism. It’s a win-win for the employers, the employees and Fairfax County.”

The annual “Best Workplaces for Commuters” lists stems from the county’s partnership with a membership program managed by the Center for Urban Transportation Research at the University of South Florida “to recognize employers who have excelled in implementing green commuter programs, including ride-sharing, transit benefits, biking and walking, teleworking, alternate work schedules and other strategies,” according to the county.

Photo via KETTLER/Facebook

Tysons Partnership will receive up to $1 million from Fairfax County to help rebrand Tysons and rethink the group’s business model.

Tysons Partnership is working with Gensler to rebrand the area to encourage economic growth and is also looking to establish a “sustainable business and funding model” for the nonprofit association.

Currently, the members of Tysons Partnership pay dues, Sol Glasner, the nonprofit’s president, told the board in September.

The Board of Supervisors approved the funding, which comes from Economic Opportunity Reserve, on Tuesday (Dec. 3).

The funding could get allocated toward placemaking events, branding efforts, sponsorship and media outreach Joe LaHait, the debt manager for the Department of Management and Budget, told the county board in September.

Tysons Partnership aims to have the rebranding study done by the end of the year, which it will share with Fairfax County, according to county documents.

As part of the approval of the funding, the county requires that the recommendations from the final report do not overlap with the Fairfax County Economic Development Authority and that Tysons Partnership consider funding options as part of a new business model that provide long term sustainability, according to the county.

More from the county:

EOR funding will result in an equal match from the Tysons Partnership, who are fundraising their allocation from their membership. The county will request from the Tysons Partnership at the end of each financial quarter a summary of their fundraising amounts.

The county will then provide an equivalent EOR allocation to the Tysons Partnership. This process will continue following successive quarterly reviews up to a maximum county contribution of $1,000,000.

Several Fairfax County supervisors, including Providence District Supervisor Linda Smyth, have said that the funding could help revitalize Tysons with a more “sophisticated” branding approach. In the past, branding efforts have included water tank decals and streetlight banners, Smyth said.

Fairfax County police say that the 60-year-old man who was struck by a vehicle in Tysons on Monday night has died.

Police said in an update today (Wednesday) that D.C. resident Abraham Feldman was crossing Old Courthouse Road at the intersection of Lord Fairfax Road around 7:19 p.m. when he was struck by a 2001 Chevrolet Tahoe traveling eastbound on Old Courthouse Road through the intersection.

Police said Feldman “was in the vicinity of the crosswalk” when the crash occurred. He was hospitalized with serious injuries and died earlier today, police said.

“The driver remained at the scene and is cooperating with detectives,” police said. “Preliminarily, alcohol does not appear to be a factor for the driver or the pedestrian. Detectives have not yet determined if speed was a factor for the driver.”

Police are asking that anyone with information contact the Crash Reconstruction Unit at 703-280-0543.

Image via Google Maps

Fairfax County officials say that a newly approved parking rate for the county’s largest malls would not adversely affect Tysons malls.

Yesterday (Tuesday), the Board of Supervisors approved the zoning ordinance amendment that will allow lower parking rates at the four largest malls in the county — the two in Tysons, Fair Oaks Mall and Springfield Town Center.

The proposal was based on a review of the parking rates and demand at large regional malls by consulting firm Nelson/Nygaard.

The county’s planners stressed that the focus of the zoning amendment was meant to help Fair Oaks Mall, yet it sparked concern about whether it would create parking problems at Tysons Corner Center and also about the lack of data for the Tysons malls.

Nelson/Nygaard study’s evaluated parking data for Fair Oaks Mall and the Springfield Town Center, but the study did not evaluate the two malls in Tysons.

“It really has no bearing on Tysons,” Providence District Supervisor Linda Smyth said yesterday, noting that Tysons Corner Center is a part of the Planned Tysons Corner Urban District’s (PTC) parking rates, which allows for lower parking rates. Tysons Galleria is not a part of the PTC District, but could opt-in.

“There has been concern raised in the community that it would [cause issues in Tysons], but I agree with Supervisor Smyth that the real impact is in Springfield and Fair Oaks, where we need to reduce the parking requirements,” Dranesville District Supervisor John Foust said.

The change now lets shopping centers with 800,000 square feet of gross floor area or more to have a parking rate of 2.5 instead of four spaces per 1,000 square feet of gross floor area.

In addition to the zoning change, the county board also approved directing staff to prioritize review of the parking rates in phase two of the zoning ordinance modernization effort.

Jersey Mike’s plans to start serving subs with a side of fundraising today near the Spring Hill Metro station in Tysons.

Located at 1501C Cornerside Blvd, the sandwich chain is one of several eateries in Tysons West Phase III — a redevelopment that added new retail buildings across from Walmart.

Other options for diners include the newly opened B.GOOD, Smoothie King and Dunkin’ Donuts.

Franchise owner Asha Thakur, the franchise owner, is set to hold a grand opening and free sub fundraiser today (Wednesday) to Sunday (Dec. 8) to support the Children’s National Hospital, according to a press release.

People who live or work in the area might snag one of the 10,000 coupons circulating throughout the community offering a free regular sub for a minimum $2 contribution to the Children’s National Hospital.

Over in Falls Church, the upcoming Jersey Mike’s at the Falls Plaza location (1108-A West Broad Street) is expected to open at a later date, a spokesperson for the company told Tysons Reporter.

The Tysons spot is open from 10 a.m. until 9 p.m. every day, the press release said.

Updated at 1:15 p.m. — Shortly after 1 p.m., the lanes reopened, MATOC tweeted. Drivers can expect delays up to 2.5 miles. 

Earlier: Drivers can expect delays from a tractor-trailer crash on I-495, which has caused the closure of several northbound lanes.

The crash is located along the highway north of Leesburg Pike (Route 7), according to the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT). The crash happened shortly after 12:30 p.m., according to a tweet from the Metropolitan Area Transportation Operations Coordination Program.

The left, left-center and right-center lanes on northbound I-495 are currently closed, according to VDOT.

As of 1:10 p.m., traffic is backed up from I-66 to the Dulles Access Road along northbound I-495, according to Google Maps.

FINAL: Tractor Trailer Crash. I-495 NB (Inner Loop) past VA-7 (Exit 47). Fairfax County, VA. All travel lanes have reopened. Remaining delays are approximately 2.5 miles.

— MATOC Alerts (@MATOC) December 3, 2019

Tractor Trailer Crash. I-495 NB (Inner Loop) past VA-7 (Exit 47). Fairfax County, VA. 3 left lanes are blocked, 1 right lane gets by. Delays are approximately 1 mile.

— MATOC Alerts (@MATOC) December 3, 2019

Map via Google Maps