LIFE IN THE DMV – The Blog
Amazon Provides Financing for Arlington Housing Acquisition Through New Housing Fund
Amazon has put nearly $400 million in below-market loans and grants toward the Washington Housing Conservancy’s purchase of the Crystal House apartments in Arlington. The 828-unit apartment complex was sold to the Washington Housing Conservancy, an affordable housing...
‘Wonder Woman 1984’ Filmed In Landmark Mall And Alexandria Doesn’t Want You To Forget It
Movie stars Gal Gadot and Kristen Wiig are pretty good in Wonder Woman 1984, but the unofficial film critics at DCist agree that the film’s other star, Landmark Mall, stole the show. The defunct mall in Alexandria’s West End got an ’80s-themed makeover for its role as...
A Proposed Measure in Montgomery County Would Permit Taller Buildings in Certain Districts
A proposed measure in Montgomery County would enable taller buildings in commercial districts. However, it doesn't look likely to pass in its current form. Introduced in November, Zoning Text Amendment (ZTA) 20-05 would permit the county's Planning Board to approve...
Microsoft Signs Lease in Rosslyn
Microsoft has announced that it has signed a lease at 1300 Wilson Boulevard to establish a new sales hub. The Arlington office building formerly housed a location of the Ruby Tuesday chain restaurant on the ground floor. Last month the County Board voted to allow the...
Alexandria And Inova Announce Plans for New Hospital Campus To Replace Landmark Mall
The city of Alexandria has announced plans for a new $1 billion Inova hospital campus on the site of the now-defunct Landmark Mall. The medical campus would be part of a four million-square-foot development including retail and housing that Mayor Justin Wilson says...
The Bill Proposed in 2020 That Could Have the Biggest Impact on Housing in the DC Region
Before the pandemic took hold, and the housing crisis was obvious but less urgent politically, a bill was introduced in Maryland that could have permanently reshaped the area's housing landscape. In January, Delegate Vaughn Stewart (who represents Montgomery County)...
Amazon Moves into Another Crystal City Building
Amazon is moving into its fifth office building in Arlington County. JBG Smith has completed a top-to-bottom renovation of 1770 Crystal Drive as part of Amazon’s HQ2 office space. The building’s entire 259,000-square-foot office portion of the 14-story building is...
How the Space Race is Finding Opportunity in Opportunity Zones
While Opportunity Zones (OZs) were created to incentivize development in economically-distressed areas, the program is also going toward benefiting a loftier endeavor: the space race. Multi-billionaires Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk both have pet projects to offer the...
LA-based Tech Company Moves Headquarters to Reston
Infrascale Inc., a cloud-based data protection company, announced Wednesday it has moved its headquarters from Los Angeles to Reston — where its leadership team is based. Infrascale’s C-suite leadership, including CEO Russell P. Reeder, Chief Financial Officer Rob...
Happy Holidays!
Our team wanted to share a holiday greeting and some of their favorite charities. Happy Holidays, and if you can give this year, please do! David Brown https://foodandfriends.org/ One of my first housemates in Washington, DC (CHIRS EVANS) delivered meals every...
The DC Area’s Priciest Zip Code: The McLean Housing Market, By the Numbers
As the year winds down, UrbanTurf took a final look at the McLean housing market. Earlier the media source reported on the most expensive home sales in the region and the top three were in McLean. The median home price in 2020 was almost $1.3 million, the highest in...
Amazon to Help 29 Million People Grow Their Tech Skills with Free Cloud Computing Skills Training by 2025
As part of their efforts to support the future workforce, Amazon is investing hundreds of millions of dollars to provide free cloud computing skills training to people from all walks of life and all levels of knowledge in more than 200 countries and territories. They...
Two Foxtrot Convenient Stores Are Coming To D.C. With Gourmet Food, Booze, And Grants For Local Businesses
Look out, Wawa — another specialty convenience store is coming to D.C. This time, the newcomer is Chicago-based company Foxtrot, which bills itself as a curated market and café that offers cravings like Jeni’s ice cream and bottles of pinot noir, and can deliver...
Pentagon Row Rebrands as ‘Westpost,’ Adds New Beer-Centric Pizza Restaurant
The Pentagon City shopping center has rebranded as Amazon’s new HQ2 rises a few blocks away. The goal, according to a press release, is to create a “fresh vision” for the retail strip, which first opened in 1999. In announcing the new branding, “Westpost” owner...
Microsoft Expands Its Operations in Reston
Microsoft Corp. is joining the rapidly expanding Northern Virginia high-tech community. The multi-national technological company leased a new office space at Reston Town Center in Northern Virginia, and operations in the new location are set to start next summer....
Answers in the Form of Questions…
What is Jeopardy!? The answers that prompt that question vary depending on the person and the circumstance. It’s one of the longest-running game shows in American television history. It’s a pop culture icon that’s shown up everywhere from Arthur to Saturday Night...
Comcast to Impose Home Internet Data Cap of 1.2TB in More than a Dozen US States Next Year
Next year, Comcast plans to charge home internet customers in northeastern US states for going over 1.2TB of data in a month — a cap that’s already in effect for customers on non-unlimited plans in other parts of the country. In January and February, Comcast will give...
Fulfillment by Amazon Donates Daily to Most Vulnerable
To support Amazon’s community initiatives and their commitment to operating a sustainable business, they identified an opportunity to adjust their logistics network to automatically donate eligible overstock and returned products from Amazon.com, instead of sending...
Dead Zone in Chesapeake Bay is the Smallest in Years
There’s another sign that the health of the Chesapeake Bay is improving. This year’s dead zone in the Maryland portion of the Bay was the second smallest since the state began monitoring it in 1985, according to the state’s Department of Natural Resources. The only...
Metro Pulls 6000-Series Railcars after Second Train Separation in Two Months
Metro is pulling all its 6000-series railcars from service after a train separated on the Red Line. The event bears similarities with another recent separation, the agency said in a statement. “The 6000-series action was ordered due to commonalities with an incident...
Pandemic Disruption Weakening Northern Virginia’s Office Market
The effects of the COVID-19 pandemic seem to have created some disruption in the normally resilient Northern Virginia office market, according to the latest market report by Savills. The company’s Q3 office market report for the area revealed an uptick in availability...