Bonchon Chicken opens new Alexandria restaurant — “South Korean chicken chain opens its first restaurant in the City of Alexandria.” [Alexandria Living Magazine]
George Washington Birthday Parade on Feb. 21 highlights month-long celebration in Alexandria — “This afternoon Visit Alexandria announced more than a dozen events that will take place next month to celebrate George Washington’s birthday.” [Zebra]
Just hours before a Joint City Council/School Board Subcommittee meeting, new Alexandria City Manager Jim Parajon spoke with Alexandria City Public Schools Superintendent Gregory Hutchings, Jr.
Parajon, who started work earlier this month, said it was a great conversation and that he looked forward to working collaboratively with Hutchings, who wants a 2.6% salary step increase and a 2.5% market rate adjustment for all eligible ACPS employees in the upcoming fiscal year 2023 budget.
Alexandria is hoping to cut back on the noise nuisance from leafblowers and street buskers.
At a Waterfront Commission meeting last week, city staff discussed changes made to the noise code in December.
A 40-year-old Alexandria man suspected of participating in a drive-by shooting in the West End earlier this month was released on bond shortly after being booked in the Alexandria jail.
On January 8, police were called to the area of South Pickett Street and Edsall Road after a witness reported a man driving a black Nissan point a handgun outside of the window and fire two rounds at an unknown person, according to a search warrant affidavit.
It took more than 10 years to dream up and two years to build, and the 370,000-square-foot Potomac Yard headquarters for The Institute for Defense Analyses officially opened this month for more than 1,000 employees in Alexandria’s Potomac Yard neighborhood.
The new office was designed in 2012 by D.C.-based KGD Architecture, and is located a stone’s throw from the incoming Potomac Yard Metro station, which is expected to open this spring.
The underlying idea behind last night’s (Monday) Agenda Alexandria discussion about the Torpedo Factory Art Center is that everyone involved wants the best for the facility. However, there are very divergent ideas about whether stagnation or change will kill the beloved Old Town art facility.
The panel discussion followed months of back-and-forth between city officials and artists over a suite of potential changes to the Torpedo Factory.
Landmark Mall is no more. The site is being rebranded, and ‘Landmark’ is not part of it. — “Foulger-Pratt is moving on from Landmark Mall. Not the project, of course, just the name.” [Washington Business Journal]
Alexandria joins 6 other school boards in suit against Youngkin order calling masks ‘ineffective and impractical’ — “This morning the Alexandria School Board and six others in Virginia filed a joint lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of Executive Order Number Two, signed by new governor, Glenn Younkin, on Jan. 15.” [Zebra]
Alexandria voted in 2019 to stick with one high school across two campuses, but how exactly students get from one location to the other remains a topic of some consternation.
The City Council was supportive of plans for the Minnie Howard campus of Alexandria City High School presented at the meeting on Saturday — with the Council voting unanimously in favor and Mayor Justin Wilson calling it an example of positive collaboration in an occasionally fraught relationship. But getting students from Minnie Howard to the King Street campus and vice-versa is still a nagging cause for concern.
Shopping center Restaurant Depot on Eisenhower Avenue (4600 Eisenhower Avenue), a big-box store that sells equipment to restaurants, is looking to purchase open space from the city for an expansion.
Jetro Cash & Carry, owners of Restaurant Depot, are headed through the city approval process for an offer to purchase 32,459 square feet of the public right of way adjacent to the property for additional warehouse space.
There’s a new coffee shop on King Street. Turkish Coffee Lady officially opened its doors at 1001 King Street in Old Town, joining a handful of neighboring coffee-inspired hangouts.
The space at the corner of Patrick Street (also Route 1) and King Streets is the former location of Blüprint Chocolatiers, and the second floor was notoriously once home to white nationalist Richard Spencer.
Alexandria’s City Council voted to approve a partially city-funded hotel project at 699 Prince Street despite opposition from community labor activists.
The project drew some attention for the city involvement in funding — 1% of the tax revenue generated by the project will be paid back to bond trustees — but at the City Council meeting on Saturday, the majority of the discussion centered around how the city should use its involvement to push for better labor practices.
