(Updated at 1:45 p.m.) Another painted bench commissioned by the Vienna Arts Society has gone missing in the Town of Vienna.

The Vienna Police Department said that a member of the Vienna Arts Society reported that one of their benches was stolen from in front of Ghaffari Orthodontics (100 Church Street NE) between Aug. 9-12 — nearly one month after another painted bench was reported stolen.

The benches are two of the 42 benches painted by local artist and placed around the Town of Vienna. The benches are slated to be sold at a charity auction in November.

The bench taken this month was called “Big Wave” by Artist Viktoriya Maslova.

Kenneth Britz, the artist of another bench, told Tysons Reporter that the Vienna Arts Society is currently working on a way to deter any attempted thefts in the future.

“We are still trusting of the town,” he said, adding that “anything can be stolen from anywhere.”

Britz said that the arts group hasn’t determined yet if Maslova will paint another bench for the town.

He added that the arts group is cooperating with the Vienna Police Department.

The bench that disappeared from outside Grass Roots Fitness (512 W. Maple Avenue) in July was painted by Mary Ellyn Perkowski and featured pink and purple flowers against a black background.

Deborah Kennedy, a spokesperson for the Vienna Arts Society, previously told Tysons Reporter Perkowski plans to paint another bench similar in design to the stolen one — it is unclear when the replacement will be finished or where it will be placed.

Earlier in August, Britz published an open letter in the Sun-Gazette on behalf of the organization condemning the July theft as “an affront to the town and a show of blatant disrespect to its residents and visitors.”

Juan Vazquez, a spokesperson for the Vienna Police Department, said that the department cannot comment on the cases since they are still being investigated.

Photo via Vienna Arts Society/Facebook

The owner behind the Kiln & Co. custard-meets-pottery shops said being a mom-owned, local business has many perks.

Sarah Selvaraj told Tysons Reporter that she gets to spend time with her 9-year-old daughter, who helps paint the pottery and taste the custard.

“It’s definitely given me the freedom of having my daughter with me,” she said.

Selvaraj said Kiln started as a pottery spot that opened in 2013 in Vienna when her daughter was 3.

Three years later, Nielsen’s Frozen Custard closed nearby, leaving Selvaraj and her customers without a sweet treat after making pottery.

“A lot of our neighbors would do the pottery and then get the custard,” she said. So Selvaraj decided to start her own custard shop within the pottery location — and Kiln & Custard was born.

“It was to more to satisfy our needs because we had an addiction [to Nielsen’s] by then,” she said.

While some places serve custard in a soft-serve machine, she said Kiln uses an old-fashioned machine that makes the custard creamy. “We do over 12 flavors every day and they are all organic with no artificial colors,” she said.

Selvaraj then opened the Reston location (1631 N. Washington Plaza) in 2017, followed by the Falls Church spot (455 S. Maple Avenue) last year after the city approached Kiln. People can find custard and pottery at all three locations.

“They had a unique location they were trying to fill in,” she said, “The city had been extremely helpful… It just organically happened.”

The Vienna spot (138 Church Street NW), though, is the home-base. All of the custard gets made in the kitchen there and then delivered daily to the two smaller, satellite spots. The location also has a 3,000-square-foot party room, wheel room, kiln room and a back patio.

While Selvaraj doesn’t have plans to expand the store at the moment, she does have plans to expand the product. “We are stretched to the max with the three locations,” she said.

Selvaraj said she wants to offer a ceramic line by Christmas so that people looking for holiday gifts can purchase items from Kiln.

“We do get a lot of custom orders. We might have a small, curated selection that people can buy off the shelf,” she said.

Whether or not that ceramic continues after the holiday season will depend on customer demand, she said, adding that Kiln appeals to parents to kids.

“Some of the most loyal followers for the custard are seniors who come religiously on a daily basis,” she said. “Moms and kids — if they are coming to paint pottery, they end up getting custard regardless.”

Being a mom herself, Selvaraj understands the appeal of having a space where parents can hang out with their kids during the summer.

“It definitely helps being mom-owned,” she said.

Sunrise Senior Living is suing Town of Vienna officials for $30 million after the Town Council rejected a rezoning application for an assisted living facility downtown.

The Vienna Town Council rejected the rezoning application for the proposed 82-unit facility in June after a long back-and-forth over a myriad of concerns involving parking, retail space and the location at the corner of Maple Avenue and Center Street.

While some councilmembers said that they felt Sunrise’s proposed parking for the facility would be sufficient for residents, guests, employees and shoppers, others said the facility would worsen the town’s parking woes.

On June 17, then-Councilmember Tara Bloch put forward a motion to approve the project, which failed with a 3-4 vote. Bloch, Linda Colbert and outgoing Councilmember Carey Sienicki voted in favor of the project. Mayor Laurie DiRocco, Pasha Majdi, Howard Springsteen and Douglas Noble voted no.

A month later on July 17, Sunrise filed a lawsuit in Fairfax County Circuit Court against Noble, DiRocco and Town Attorney Steve Briglia, according to a copy of the lawsuit, which was first reported by the Sun Gazette.

Sunrise is arguing that the Town Council’s rejection violated the Virginia Fair Housing Law by discriminating against seniors and people with disabilities.

“This case is about the Town Council’s intentional exclusion of the elderly and disable senior from residing in downtown Vienna based upon discriminatory, illegal, and irrational biases and assumptions,” the lawsuit says, adding that the town does not have any senior living facilities.

In the lawsuit, Sunrise claims that the rezoning application was consistent with the town’s Comprehensive Plan and that some council members’ concerns about parking “were not grounded in empirical evidence, and thus were necessarily arbitrary and capricious.”

“Simply put, the elderly and disabled were not types of people that the Council wanted to see front and center downtown,” the lawsuit says, “They did not fit into the downtown vision.”

The lawsuit also alleges that the Town Council treated Sunrise differently from other developers seeking rezoning under the Maple Avenue Commercial Zone.

Briglia, the town’s attorney, told Tysons Reporter that the town does not comment on pending on litigation, although he added that the town disputes the allegation that the council violated the Virginia Fair Housing Law. Briglia said that town filed its response to the lawsuit yesterday (Wednesday).

Sunrise is seeking a jury trial and wants the Town Council to reconsider its denial of the rezoning application and pay Sunrise $30 million in damages, plus legal fees.

Image via Town of Vienna

A new pizza place will join other eateries along Leesburg Pike near the Greensboro Metro station next weekend.

MOD Pizza at Pike 7 Plaza (8350 Leesburg Pike) plans to begin serving customers with a soft opening on Sunday, Aug. 25, and Monday, Aug. 26, according to Phil Singh, the location’s construction manager. The new pizza place is sandwiched between Cava and Honeygrow, which both opened last fall.

This location will feature an array of pizzas, salads, sides and soft drinks along with beer and wine.

During the soft opening, the pizza place will have limited hours from noon-2 p.m. and 4-6 p.m.

During these hours, customers will receive a 50% on all menu items with the exception of alcoholic beverages. All proceeds with go to a charity, but Singh said the company has not decided on one yet.

The eatery will officially open on Tuesday, Aug. 27.

MOD Pizza is currently hiring employees for its new location.

Blend 111, a new restaurant and wine bar, wants to offer acoustic music to its diners in the Town of Vienna.

The town’s Planning Commission ok’d the restaurant’s application for a live music permit during its meeting last night (Wednesday).

The restaurant is set to open today (Thursday) at 111 Church Street NW, Suite 101.

The locally-owned restaurant will feature food and wine from Spain, France and Venezuela, a “micro-cafe” and cold-pressed juices.

“Our intent is to offer acoustic, that small type of performances,” Michael Biddick from Blend 111 told the commission. “We’re not a lounge. We’re not a bar. We’re not a disco. We are not a dance party scene in the middle of Church Street.”

Biddick said that while the restaurant wants flexible to try out live music during different types of the day, Blend 111 will most likely experiment with having two musicians per month.

Blend 111, which applied to have live music between 10 a.m.-11 p.m. Tuesday-Sunday, plans to have one or two musicians play acoustic instruments inside the restaurant, according to the application.

While Bey Lounge was recently stripped of its live entertainment permit, the Town of Vienna isn’t losing its musical performances at local eateries.

The upcoming Bear Branch Tavern (133 E. Maple Avenue) also wants to entertain patrons with live music.

Blend 111’s application is set to go before the Board of Zoning Appeals on Sept. 18.

Photo via Twitter

Work planned for four Metro stations next summer will impact riders in Vienna, Merrifield and Falls Church.

The Vienna, Dunn Loring, West Falls Church and East Falls Church Metro stations on the Orange Line are slated to be affected next summer, along with four Green Line stations in Maryland. The work is a part of a multi-year project to reconstruct 20 station platforms.

Currently, Metro shut down Yellow and Blue lines south of Ronald Reagan National Airport this summer.

While that reconstruction plan was announced more than a year ago, more details on the Orange Line shutdown are set to get announced in September or October, WTOP reported.

“It is unclear how much of the work will be done with total shutdowns, and how much could involve single-tracking,” WTOP reported.

Until the plans are announced, let Tysons Reporter know in the comments if the Metro work next summer will impact you.

Caboose Brewing Company is releasing new brews to celebrate Virginia Craft Beer Month this August.

The brewery unveiled its new Blackberry Gose this week and plans to release its 300th brew, a Key Lime Gose, next week, according to a press release.

“The Blackberry Gose is a juicy wheat ale with a mild and approachable sourness,” according to the brewery. “It’s jam-packed with blackberries for a fruity and refreshing counterbalance to the ever-present sea salt additions.”

The brewery described its Key Lime Gose as a “tart and fruity wheat ale with key lime and salt character.”

The new Gose ales will have happy hour pricing on Labor Day weekend at Caboose Commons in Merrifield (2918 Eskridge Road) and Caboose Tavern in Vienna (520 Mill Street NE).

The happy hours will be:

• Saturday (Aug. 31) — 7 a.m.-1 a.m. at Caboose Commons, 11 a.m.-midnight at Caboose Tavern
• Sunday (Sept. 1) — 7 a.m.-11 p.m. at Caboose Commons, 11 a.m.-10 p.m. at Caboose Tavern
• Monday (Sept. 2) — 7 a.m.-11 p.m. at Caboose Commons, 12 p.m.-11 p.m. at Caboose Tavern

The brewing company will also have its Fog IPA available in 16-ounce cans on Thursday (Aug. 15) to coincide with a canning event from 8 a.m.-2 p.m. and happy hour on the Fog IPA from 8 a.m.-11 p.m. at Caboose Commons.

Photos courtesy Caboose Brewing Company 

A thief is on the loose in Vienna after one of the town’s painted benches went missing.

Earlier this year, the Vienna Arts Society commissioned local artists to paint benches, gifted by donors, that would eventually be sold at a charity auction. But around July 7, one of the benches was mysteriously snatched and is still missing over a month later.

According to a police report, the painted bench was first reported missing by a Vienna Arts Society member when they noticed it disappeared from outside Grass Roots Fitness (512 W. Maple Avenue).

Deborah Kennedy, an artist and spokesperson for the Vienna Arts Society, told Tysons Reporter that the arts group knew there was a small risk that the benches would be stolen, but no one really thought it would happen.

“It’s a small town and we thought people would be looking out for them,” she said.

The police have not informed the group about any potential leads, she said, adding that there was not any video of the thief that she knows of nor were the benches bolted down to the ground.

Juan Vazquez, a spokesperson for the Vienna Police Department, said that the department cannot comment on the case since it is an ongoing investigation.

Mary Ellyn Perkowski painted the floral bench with pink and purple flowers against a black background. Named “Spring,” the bench “was inspired by a bed of tulips she had photographed at Meadowlark Botanical Gardens in Vienna,” according to a Vienna Arts Society newsletter.

It is one of 42 other benches placed around the Town of Vienna.

Kennedy said that Perkowski plans to paint another bench similar in design to the stolen one. It is unclear when the replacement will be finished or where they will place it.

Kenneth Britz, the artist of another bench, published an open letter in the Sun-Gazette on behalf of the organization condemning the theft.

“It is also an affront to the town and a show of blatant disrespect to its residents and visitors,” Britz wrote.

Photo via Susan Scanlon

This regularly-scheduled sponsored Q&A column is written by Val Sotillo, Northern Virginia-based Realtor and Falls Church resident. Please submit your questions to her via email for response in future columns. Enjoy!

Question: I’m looking to purchase a home that’s walking distance from the metro station. What are my housing options and what neighborhoods do you recommend around the Vienna Metro Station?

Answer: Vienna Metro Station is the last stop on the Orange Line. The station is in Oakton, in the median of Interstate 66 at Nutley Street (Virginia State Route 243) which provides quick access to 495 and can take you to D.C. in 25 minutes. You can get to Dulles Airport in 20 minutes. Overall, a great location!

The communities around the metro are beautiful and offer many housing options. It’s a mix of original homes and new construction; condos and large homes. The area is very walkable with lots of green spaces, and it tends to be quiet during the weekends.

What’s Great About The Neighborhood

Location — The Vienna Metro is located minutes away from Tysons. Depending on which side of the metro you are, you could walk to Pan Am Shopping Center. It’s less than 2 miles from the upcoming mixed use development Scout on the Circle, which will have small shop retail, and a 54,000 sq. ft. Giant Food.

It’s also less than 3 miles from the Town of Vienna and all its amenities. (Check my past column about Town of Vienna)

It’s only a 5 minute drive to the thriving Mosaic District, offering many options for dining (True Food and B Side are some my favorites!), shopping, fitness and entertainment.

Active Community — The Providence Community Center is just steps from the metro and it provides the residents of all ages various fun activities such as Yoga, crafts,and chess club. Here’s the full schedule.

There are parks within walking distance such as Nottoway Park, offering tennis, basketball and volleyball courts, gardens, picnic areas and wooded nature paths.

If you have a dog, you can walk to Moorefield Park. The play area is shaded by mature trees and completely fenced in, providing a cool and safe retreat for dogs and their families. Water is available on site as well. All dogs must be licensed by the Town of Vienna or Fairfax County.

Housing

There are many different options for detached homes, townhomes and condos. If you’re interested in new construction, check out my column about Metro West.

Within 1.2 miles from the metro, there are 66 properties for sale, ranging from a one bedroom condo for $179,900, to a brand new 6,000 sq. ft., 5 bedroom single family home for $2,295,000. You can see the active listings here.

Twelve properties are under contract, ranging from a 1 bedroom condo at $195,000, to a new custom built, 6 bedroom single family house at $1,449,900.

In the past 6 months, 86 condos were sold for a median price of $327,500; 110 townhouses were sold for a median price of $549,000; and 71 single family homes sold for a median price of $815,000.

I visited some active listings in the area, and the nearest to the metro is a 2 bedroom condo, located at 2971 Centerboro Drive #379 (Courtesy of RLAH Real Estate).

Here’s a little video tour for you:

If you’d like more information, or would like a question answered in my weekly column, please reach out to [email protected]. I hope to hear from you soon.

Val Sotillo is a licensed Realtor in Virginia, Washington D.C., and Maryland with Real Living At Home, 2420 Wilson Blvd #101 Arlington, VA 22201, 703-390-9460.

The annual Cops & Kids Fun Run will soon return to the Town of Vienna.

Scheduled for Sunday, Sept. 22, this free athletic event gives community members the chance to get to know members of the Vienna Police Department while enjoying various festivities.

The police department has arranged for family-friendly activities including police motorcycle and helicopter tours, a dunk-a-cop dunk tank, food, an obstacle course and a mile-long run.

The event will be held at the Vienna Elementary School (128 S. Center Street). Registration is now open, and the first 300 kids to register will receive a t-shirt and goody bag.

This community outreach tradition began in the ’90s but was recently revitalized.

“After a break of more than a decade, in 2016 Chief Morris assembled a team to revive the beloved community event with hopes of making it bigger and better than ever,” according to the event website.

The 2019 COPS AND KIDS FUN RUN registration is now open. Go to the website https://t.co/EO4QkelEk1 for more information. pic.twitter.com/cdDFtIXTVm

— Town of Vienna Police (@VPDVA) August 12, 2019

Photo via Vienna Police Department