It’s been a busy week in Alexandria.
Our top story was on Jeffrey Gary, a 35-year-old Fairfax County man released on bond after allegedly abducting and sexually assaulting two women at the Braddock Road and Potomac Yard Metro stations last month.
City officials and housing leaders celebrated the start of construction Wednesday (June 18) on a $160 million affordable housing project in Old Town.
The groundbreaking ceremony for The Heritage at Old Town – Block 4, located at 431 S. Columbus Street, marks the beginning of a 27-month construction period to replace affordable housing that was demolished nearly two years ago. The displaced families won’t be able to move back until late 2027, completing a four-year displacement from their Old Town community.
Among the movers serving Alexandria, VA, 495 Movers stands out for a simple reason: its local hourly rate includes packing materials, furniture disassembly and reassembly, and protection for floors, walls, and elevators. The company has been in business since 2009 and has completed more than 20,000 moves, a number that keeps climbing.
Anyone who has hired movers in the DC area knows the familiar pattern. A low hourly rate wins the call. Then the invoice arrives with a charge for boxes, a charge for taking the bed apart, a fee for the stairs, and another for the elevator. By the end, the number on the bill has little to do with the number in the ad. 495 Movers was built to avoid that.
495 Movers is a full-service moving company serving Alexandria and the rest of the DMV, founded in 2009 by people who had worked as movers for several other companies first. They wanted to do it differently.
“We wanted to take a different approach, offering a simple, honest, and transparent approach for the customer,” said Moti Kachlon, co-owner at 495 Movers. For local moves, that meant building the most common extras into the hourly rate. Seventeen years and more than 20,000 moves later, the company is still growing.
Alexandria is a hard place to move. A truck on an Old Town block gets watched by neighbors, property managers, and a family wondering whether the sofa will make the turn on a staircase built long before sofas got this big.
Old Town’s rowhouses have narrow staircases and tight turns, which is why large furniture often has to come apart to get out. Del Ray’s bungalows and rowhouses have basements that hold more than anyone remembers. And condo and apartment buildings in Carlyle, Potomac Yard, and the West End often require movers to carry a certificate of insurance and book the elevator, with building managers who care a great deal about scuffed hallways. The street adds its own complications, from cobblestones to limited curb space.
That’s the context for how 495 Movers prices its work.
For local moves, the rate covers four things that many movers bill separately:
Alexandria residents are being encouraged by city officials to prepare immediately for several days of extreme heat starting this Sunday (June 22), as the National Weather Service predicts temperatures that could feel as high as 107 degrees.
City officials have activated emergency cooling resources and issued comprehensive safety guidelines in response to the dangerous weather this weekend.
The City of Alexandria Fire Department is partnering with the American Red Cross for a “Sound the Alarm” event in North Old Town on July 12. They’re seeking volunteers to help install free smoke alarms and educate residents about home fire safety in North Old Town.
The event runs from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Charles Houston Recreation Center (901 Wythe St.). Volunteers are expected to arrive by 8:45 a.m. for check-in and breakfast, followed by a training session.
Curious about strength training but not sure where to start? Or perhaps you're looking for a more efficient alternative to traditional gyms?
Imperium Strength & Longevity invites the Alexandria community to an Open House on Sunday, November 1, from 11 AM to 2 PM.
City staff are recommending a phased transition to replace school buses for Alexandria City High School students with DASH buses.
The City Council asked staff in January to consider the transition for ACHS, Virginia’s largest high school with multiple campuses and over 4,500 students. Staff have returned with the recommendation for a three-phase approach that would kick off in the fall of the 2026-2027 school year.
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Democrats in Virginia have built up a hefty fundraising advantage for their effort to reclaim the governor’s mansion in a race seen as a bellwether for the party in power in Washington heading into the 2026 midterms.
Democrat Abigail Spanberger, a former CIA case officer turned congresswoman, has a more than 2-to-1 fundraising advantage over her GOP opponent in November, Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears, who has struggled to draw support from her fellow Republicans. Both were unopposed for their party’s nominations and were able to focus on the fall general election without having to overcome a challenge in this week’s primaries. The matchup means Virginia is all but certain to elect the state’s first female governor.
Good morning, Alexandria! Today is Friday, June 20, the 171st day of 2025. There are 194 days left in the year. Summer begins today.
☀️ Today’s weather: Sunny, with a high near 87 degrees. West wind 6 to 8 mph. Mostly cloudy tonight, then gradually becoming clear, with a low around 68 degrees. Calm wind.
More than 2,300 Dominion Energy customers in Alexandria will wake up on Friday (June 20) without power.
The outage comes following a severe thunderstorm that hit the area just after 4 p.m. on Thursday, bringing heavy rain and high winds to the area. 8,894 of Dominion Energy’s 70,325 customers in Alexandria were without power around 5:30 p.m. on Thursday.
More than 8,800 Dominion Energy customers in Alexandria are experiencing a power outage Thursday (June 19).
The outage comes following a severe thunderstorm that hit the area just after 4 p.m. on Thursday, bringing heavy rain and high winds to the area.
