
A former office building turned residential complex in the West End is headed back to the City Council on Saturday, Sept. 18, for some new amenities — like replacing a surface parking lot with a dog park.
The Park + Ford apartment buildings at 4401 Ford Avenue opened earlier this year but developer Lowe Enterprises Real Estate Group is already back to the city looking to add to the project. The developer is proposing to replace a pair of parking spaces across the street from the building with a new amenity space and a dog park — both private, unfortunately for West End locals looking for an alternative to the Shirlington Dog Park.
The staff report said the plan is to convert 19 surface parking spaces to a 6,300 square foot dog park and 21 parking spaces into a 6,600 square foot resident amenity space, which could have seating and playground equipment but might also be flexible enough to host food trucks. The report noted that dog parks are becoming an increasingly popular feature of Alexandria development.
“Since dog ownership is common at multi-family buildings, dog parks are an increasingly common amenity,” staff said. “For example, the nearby Array and Nexus at West Alex have a shared dog park. Public dog parks are an alternative to each building setting aside their own space, but the nearest public dog park is an over 38-minute walk away and not close enough to the project site for regular use. As a result, Staff believes that this amenity will benefit residents of this site and will help to reduce impacts on City-owned dog parks.”
In terms of public benefits, the project will add new 50-foot sidewalk on the street and install a new bus shelter outside the building.
Staff are recommending approval of the parking lot conversion.
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If you had a chance to enhance a child’s future with a time commitment of less than 2 hours a week, how would you respond? You have that opportunity right now to join over 200 Alexandrians as a reading tutor volunteer with the Alexandria Tutoring Consortium (ATC).
ATC tutors work with one child in kindergarten, first, or second grade in Alexandria public schools who need extra help with reading. Tutors meet with their Book Buddy 1-2 times each week for 30 minutes October-May at school, during school hours. Many struggling readers only receive one-on-one instruction through this program, and it makes all the difference. Last year, ATC served 195 children, of whom 82% ended the year reading on grade level and 96% made substantial reading gains. But the need is great, and we are still seeing learning lags from the pandemic.
This year, ATC plans to significantly increase the size of the program to reach over 250 students and to serve every elementary school in Alexandria. This is very exciting news, but we will only succeed if we can recruit more tutors. ATC trains you, matches you with a child, and provides ongoing lesson materials and support.

If you have been thinking about buying your first home or haven’t owned one in the last three years, THIS IS FOR YOU!
In the DMV area, it can be difficult to save the downpayment necessary for you to get into your own home. We have a solution. The Funder’s Summit!
We have assembled a summit with different municipalities to tell you how to access their funds for your home purchase.
2023 Alexandria Fall Festival
Food trucks, bounce houses, pony rides, magic shows and more at the 2023 Alexandria Fall Festival, an Alexandria Living event presented by The Patterson Group. Join us at River Farm on Sunday, Nov. 5 from 11 a.m. – 4 p.m.