(Updated 4:40 p.m.) The large office building in Carlyle containing the Motley Fool headquarters is heading to a foreclosure auction.
The 164,407-square-foot office building has a stately appearance at the northern entrance to the Carlyle neighborhood — with the iconic lion statues out front and a distinctive circular turret design — but the building has been the victim of market upheaval since the pandemic devastated office real estate.
In 2023, building tenant Motley Fool significantly downsized its space in the building.
The Washington Business Journal reported that the building’s owner, The Shidler Group, defaulted on its mortgage of the building.
A news release said the building will be sold at a foreclosure auction on Thursday, May 16, with RealMarkets handling the sale.
“The successful bidder will own the five-story building on approximately 1.6 acres subject to a ground lease,” the release said. “The building is approximately 44 percent occupied by two full floor tenants. It features five floors, a marble lobby, entry security and 296 private underground parking spaces. The fourth and fifth floors, as well as some smaller spaces on the ground floor, are available.”
According to the release, it will sell to the highest bidder over a $500,000 minimum bid. The building sold for $57.75 million back in February 2019.
Image via Google Maps
It was another busy week in Alexandria.
This week’s top stories focused on development projects all over the city, from Old Town North to Carlyle and in the West End. News of the mixed-use projects comes as affordable housing advocates are protesting against being priced out and are asking for greater assistance from the city.
Politics-wise, City Council Member Alyia Gaskins celebrated two recent victories in her Democratic primary race for mayor. Gaskins is leading with fundraising, having raised $149,107 with $69,425 on-hand, according to quarterly campaign finance reports released Monday. Her opponent Vice Mayor Amy Jackson has raised $59,984 and has $22,682 on-hand, while former real estate developer Steven Peterson has raised $44,700 with $14,019 on-hand.
Gaskins also handily won the recent Alexandria Democratic Committee’s Straw Poll by 81%, followed by 16% for Jackson and 3% for Peterson. The primary is on June 18.
On Tuesday, we reported on a new movement to return Alexandria’s City Council to ward/district representation. While the nine-member Alexandria School Board is divided into three districts, the seven members of City Council are at-large, representing the entire city. The Communities for Accountable City Council is a self-described non-partisan group of city residents “exasperated with the intransigent Alexandria City Council that is unaccountable to communities and neighborhoods because of Alexandria’s At-Large election system.”
In our poll this week we asked whether City Council should return to a ward system. Out of the more than 500 votes, 57% voted yes and 43% voted no.
The most-read stories this week were:
- Notes: Old Town North building sold for $15.4 million to be turned into mixed-use apartment building (8413 views)
- Alexandria considering big plans for properties next to Eisenhower Avenue Metro station (4987 views)
- Alexandria City Council approves new ‘neighborhood’ at former Vulcan Materials site (4603 views)
- CVS set to close in Taylor Run neighborhood on Duke Street (3611 views)
- Affordable housing advocates rally outside Alexandria City Hall (3559 views)
- No arrest after fistfight leads to gunfire in Lincolnia (3351 views)
- Notes: Fundraiser for motorcyclist killed on Duke Street raises thousands (2390 views)
- Local organization forms to push Alexandria back to district/ward elections (2303 views)
- Mystic BBQ & Grill opens on Lee Street in Old Town (2235 views)
Have a safe weekend!
New parks, 400-foot-tall commercial and residential buildings and more.
The Hoffman family and its associates have a comprehensive idea for the future of the 79-acre site next door to the Eisenhower Avenue Metro station in Alexandria’s Carlyle neighborhood.
The collection of vacant properties are located in and around the Hoffman Town Center, home to the National Science Foundation, a popular movie theater, a Wegmans grocery store, as well as a number of large apartment buildings.
Hoffman, its affiliates and Arlington-based Paradigm Companies will present their coordinated development district (CDD) conceptualization design plan to the Planning Commission at City Hall (301 King Street) on June 4.
Hoffman and Paradigm are proposing the eventual development of multiple apartment buildings up to 400-feet tall, commercial buildings up to 300-feet tall, as well as space for a new school, a new city park, walking trails, a dog park, and tennis and basketball courts.
The 20-page document is a framework for future development, where property boundaries for individual blocks are outlined, and so are building heights, streetscape designs and expected uses, such as open space areas.
As far as a timeline, the developers said in their application that phased development “can occur at any order and is subject to change,” and that uses for the underdeveloped blocks could include vehicle parking, material storage, city agency training, a farmer’s market, festival space, a beer garden and “other similar uses approved by the city.”
Paradigm owns the 24-story Parc Meridian at Eisenhower Station apartment building (750 Port Street), the dual-tower Carlyle Place apartment building (2251 Eisenhower Avenue) and well as the unfinished 26-story Meridian 2250 apartment building project (2250 Dock Lane). Hoffman owns seven blocks within the property.
The site has contaminated soil. According to Hoffman and Paradigm:
To the best of our knowledge contaminated soil may be on site… Based on environmental investigations, Block 2 contains arsenic and has high total chromium levels. Block 3 contains arsenic, petroleum hydrocarbons and chlorinated solvents. Additional investigations will be completed with each DSUP (development special use permit) when a block moves forward with redevelopment.
Holland Lane isn’t one of the longest or most-used streets in Alexandria, but it’s a major connection between the Old Town and Carlyle neighborhoods that may be getting a slight overhaul soon.
The City of Alexandria is currently gathering community feedback on plans that include, among other things, a bike lane on Holland Lane.
The street, which runs from Eisenhower Avenue up to the Whole Foods on Duke Street, is four lanes for most of its length and five at the Duke Street intersection.
The street is in a highly dense area where a City presentation said up to 29% of drivers speed past the 25 mph limit by 5 mph or more. The City said there have been 13 crashes on Holland Lane since 2018 and six of those involved people walking, all of which resulted in injury.
There are four options presented for the project, but other than the no-build option, all of them involve installing bike lanes on one or both sides of the street.
Detailed design for the project is scheduled for summer-fall this year with implementation sometime next year.
No arrests have been made as Alexandria police continue to investigate the shooting of two men in the Carlyle neighborhood last month.
The incident occurred in the parking lot of a gated apartment complex in the 2600 block of Foundry Way at around 7:30 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 16. A witness told police that they heard seven gunshots, looked out a window and saw a newer model white Mercedes Benz four-door sedan with tinted windows speed out the front gate, according to a recently released search warrant affidavit.
Upon arrival, police found the victim lying on the ground with a gunshot wound to the upper right thigh, according to the search warrant affidavit. They also found six shell casings in the parking lot.
The victim told police that he got into an argument while asking with a man with a face tattoo for directions, according to the search warrant affidavit.
“(The victim) and the subject exchanged words in an aggressive tone, at which point the subject pulled out a gun,” police said in the search warrant affidavit. “When (the victim) observed the gun, he started to run. He then heard a gunshot and felt (a) bullet strike his upper leg from behind.”
A possible suspect vehicle with three people was pulled over by police less than a half-mile away in the 2900 block of Eisenhower Avenue. Soon after pulling over the vehicle, a man walked over from the parking lot and told police that he’d been shot in the arm, but offered no details on how it happened. The officer helped the man make a tourniquet.
“While (an investigating officer) was speaking to the driver outside of the vehicle, a male emerged from further east in the parking lot,” police said in the search warrant affidavit. “The male was quickly walking towards the traffic stop, approached the officers and stated that he was shot.”
Police investigated the area from which the second victim walked and found a white Mercedes Benz parked nearby. Inside they saw blood stains on the front seats and saw a tan and green handgun “under the rear of the front passenger seat in plain view,” and the vehicle was seized, according to the search warrant affidavit.
The incident remains under investigation, according to the Alexandria Police Department.
APD officers are investigating an aggravated assault shooting in the 2600 block of Foundry Way. Two adult males sustained gunshot wounds, both were transported. No suspects at this time. Anyone with information should call 703-746-4444. pic.twitter.com/8e54JK8wrw
— Alexandria Police (@AlexandriaVAPD) February 17, 2024
A new yoga franchise just had a ribbon cutting in Alexandria’s Carlyle neighborhood.
Mayor Justin Wilson and City Council Member John Taylor Chapman attended the event for YogaSix at 2465 Mandeville Lane over the weekend. The franchise offers six types of yoga classes, and a location is being developed for Potomac Yard.
YogaSix is part of Xponential Fitness and was founded in 2017.
“We believe that everyone deserves the mind-body experience of yoga,” YogaSix said on its website. “By connecting you to a practice that is energizing, empowering, and fun. We deliver life-enhancing benefits through our six core classes: Y6 101, Y6 Restore, Y6 Slow Flow, Y6 Hot, Y6 Power, and Y6 Sculpt & Flow.”
A description of the six core classes is below.
- Slow Flow: This yoga class flows at a slowed-down pace so there’s time to explore individual postures and transitions in a warm practice room. Newer students find this class builds confidence and familiarity, while more experienced students refine the fundamentals of alignment and dive into a deeper practice. You will gently engage, open, and strengthen the body by tapping into accessible yoga poses, fluid movement, and breath.
- Restore: Whether you’re training for a half-marathon, pushing weights, or stuck behind a desk all day, Y6 Restore yoga classes are for you. These yoga classes emphasize floor postures to stretch, open and release the major muscle groups of the entire body in lightly warm full sensory room. Students who take this yoga class regularly report better recovery, mobility, fewer injuries, improved sleep, as well as reduced aches and pains.
- Hot: This YogaSix signature set sequence, Y6 Hot combines yoga postures synched with your breath, a fun and challenging balancing series, and dynamic core work designed to add energizing fire to your life in a heated practice room. This yoga sequence will leave you feeling perfectly balanced inside and out, from bottom to top.
- Power: Y6 Power classes are strength-building, full-body blasts designed to build focus, endurance, and flexibility in a heated practice room. These Vinyasa yoga classes move at a steady pace to keep your practice fluid, creative and energizing. This workout will take your body and mind through a challenging yoga journey. Y6 Power yoga classes facilitate breakthroughs in your body and mind, so count on leaving with a sense of energy and empowerment.
- Sculpt & Flow: Strengthen Yourself. Y6 Sculpt & Flow classes are the perfect blend of yoga and weight training in a heated practice room. A dynamic warm-up will get your heart-rate up and muscles warm, before you dive into an intense, cross training workout that uses dumbbells, bands and body weight exercises to challenge muscular strength, endurance, and cardiovascular thresholds. Then cool down with some juicy yoga stretches to leave you in a puddle on the mat. Y6 Sculpt & Flow is the best of both worlds —a total body workout plus a killer yoga vibe. Expect a fun playlist and loud, high energy music throughout.
- TRX: Y6 TRX is offered only at select locations incorporating our 6 core classes utilizing a full TRX wall mount system. Strengthen Yourself by experiencing a yoga practice allowing you to engage muscles that weren’t previously activated in a typical yoga practice. This is a great class to do if you’re used to TRX and you want to try out yoga. It’s also a great class if you’ve been doing yoga for a while and want to ramp up what you’ve been able to do on your mat. Y6 TRX is a little bit of everything, increasing range of motion, noticing asymmetries in your body that you can then work on. Let’s Hang Out!
The deteriorating parking garage at the Albert V. Bryan United States Courthouse is about to get an $11.5 million upgrade.
The U.S. General Services Administration announced Monday that the courthouse parking garage, located at 401 Courthouse Square in the city’s Carlyle neighborhood, is one of 150 project around the country that will be repaired using “low-embodied carbon materials” via the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022. The courthouse repair will be made with carbon concrete.
“The judiciary depends on safe and easy access to the Albert V. Bryan Courthouse,” acting Mid-Atlantic Region Regional Administrator Joanna Rosato said. “These repairs will provide a safe and sustainable investment in the future of the Courthouse.”
According to GSA:
The Inflation Reduction Act includes $3.4 billion for GSA to influence market research and development of low-embodied carbon materials, and to build more sustainable and cost-efficient high-performance facilities. GSA’s Inflation Reduction Act projects will implement new technologies and accelerate GSA’s efforts in achieving a net-zero emissions federal building portfolio by 2045.
Through these investments, GSA estimates that it could reduce carbon emissions by 2.3 million metric tons in greenhouse gas emissions. That is the equivalent of taking about 500,000 gasoline-powered passenger vehicles off the road for one year.
GSA offered no timeline for the projects.
Improvements to the pedestrian experience at Duke Street and Dulany Street aren’t just surface level: the entrances to the nearby Duke Street Tunnel are also getting a minor makeover.
The Carlyle Council said construction is ongoing today (Tuesday) on new gates for the tunnel.
The tunnel is still open, but pedestrians are asked to use caution due to construction and cyclists are asked to dismount their bicycles before entering the tunnel.
The Duke Street Tunnel allows easy pedestrian access from the King Street Metro station to the Carlyle neighborhood, though some commentators on previous stories said they either didn’t know the tunnel existed or lamented that it has fairly limited hours.
The city is also eyeing changes to Duke Street above the tunnel to make the intersection more pedestrian-friendly. The city is considering removing one of the left turn lanes at the intersection with Dulany Street — right in front of the entrance to the Carlyle neighborhood — and replacing it with a pedestrian island.
https://twitter.com/carlylecouncil/status/1719357312756822062
Image via Google Maps
Like trains pulling into a station, regional transportation leaders converged in Alexandria today to cut the ribbon at the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority’s new technology hub, the Metro Integrated Command and Communications Center (MICC).
The new 14-story MICC, located at 2401 Mill Road in the city’s Carlyle neighborhood, will hold up to 1,400 Metro staffers, and is home to the system’s data center, cybersecurity operations, bus and rail video teams, communications, and administrative support.
Metro General Manager and CEO Randy Clarke said the new facility is a game-changer.
“The MICC is a world-class control center that brings our rail, bus, security, and maintenance operations together in one place for the first time and our customer communications teams,” Clarke said. “Instead of managing service from separate control centers, we can coordinate together in real-time, working as a unified team to provide customers with clear, consistent messaging.”
Mayor Justin Wilson said important regional work will be done in the building.
“Metro is a key partner throughout the region, and we are proud they will call Alexandria home,” said Wilson. “The hundreds of employees who will be here will find the Eisenhower Corridor is a great area where they can work, live, and play.”
The MICC is Metro’s final piece of its Office Consolidation Plan, replacing the aging Jackson Graham Building in Washington, D.C.
Metro Board Chair Paul Smedberg, a former Alexandria City Council member, said the move will save Metro millions over the next two decades.
“Metro’s new Alexandria office with the MICC is the last major step in a broader office consolidation strategy that will save the transit authority $120 million over the next 20 years,” Smedberg said. “The Board recognized the importance of implementing this strategy, the goals of which were not only to create a long-term revenue stream, but also to improve employee safety, productivity, and satisfaction.”
Future cost-savings will be crucial, as the region has to help bail the transit system out of a $750 million budget deficit by next summer.
The Eisenhower Avenue-Mill Road project had one of the most bizarre approvals in recent city history — a project nobody on the City Council wanted but was too expensive to cancel.
Changes implemented earlier this year on Eisenhower Avenue were notably out of date, widening a roadway and creating a T-intersection at a time when the city is usually doing the opposite, but the City would have to pay back grant money already spent on the project if it were canceled.
A little over five months since the project was completed, Transportation Division Chief Chris Ziemann said the city has been trying to make the best of a project that no longer conforms to current transportation design.
One major problem is the project has been in the works for nearly 20 years.
“This project stems from the 2003 Eisenhower East Small Area Plan,” Ziemann said. “They were expecting development to happen faster than it did. They were expecting more traffic and a need to handle that a lot better, along with predicting a lot of office space to go in there.”
But while the opening of the Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) in 2005, and later the National Science Foundation in 2017, spurred some redevelopment in the region, it wasn’t quite as much and wasn’t quite as quick as planners expected. Today, after the Covid pandemic, the USPTO is downsizing its Carlyle office space.
Ziemann said the traffic study was done in 2009 and the design concept was approved in 2013, but the next year, the City came out with its Complete Streets Guidelines. Vision Zero came out in 2017.
“So, obviously, the design takes safety and multimodal access into account, but it’s not designed with Vision Zero in mind,” Ziemann said.
Ziemann said the project was plagued with numerous unexpected challenges.
“This project took a long time because there were a lot of unexpected things that popped up, like utilities and working with property owners on right of way took longer than expected,” Ziemann said. “This was approved by the City Council ten years ago.”
While the city has been implementing road diets on other streets and changing roadways to prioritize transit, in many ways the Eisenhower Avenue and Mill Road intersection changes take an old-school approach of road widening to accommodate more traffic.
The project added a second left-turn lane from westbound Eisenhower Avenue onto Mill Road and a new lane onto Mill Road.
The roundabout at Eisenhower Avenue and Holland Lane was converted to a T intersection… even as the city reports say T intersections are more dangerous and, among the improvements to fix dangerous intersections, are conversions to roundabouts.
Ziemann said there’s some added context to Eisenhower Avenue and Mill Road that make the streets a little different from areas like Duke Street or Seminary Road.
“The roads where we are repurposing lanes and stuff like that, they’re not connected to interstates and not around 15-20 story buildings,” Ziemann said. “That’s a bit of the changing context.”
Still, Ziemann recognized that the project as-is isn’t necessarily how the city would approach the intersection if it was starting the project today.
“This project took a super long time, and it kind of reflects that too,” Ziemann said. “If we were starting from scratch, it might look different.”
Residents near the intersection shared images of crashes occurring in the newly redesigned intersection.
Should shock no one that the newly widened Eisenhower-Mill intersection is now less safe for all road users. The speeders are loving the big inviting drag strip the city created for them & drivers are more chaotic than ever. Thanks @AlexandriaVATES @AlexandriaVAGov pic.twitter.com/Mt6ZR7i4Qq
— Rebecca Tiffany (@rebeccajtiffany) October 3, 2023
Ziemann said the city uses annual crash data to monitor the impact of a project, and said that data won’t be in until sometime next spring.
“When we track it, generally we look at trends,” Ziemann said. “If there are a lot of crashes at one time or if there are certain things happening continuously, but — basically, since it was just finished in May — it’s too early to gather crash data.”
Regarding the crashes, Ziemann said any time there’s a change to a roadway, there’s a period afterward where drivers get adjusted to the changes.
Once that crash data comes in, Ziemann said the city will adjust plans as needed, but said those frustrated by the new design should temper their hopes the city might tear up the roadway and start from scratch again.
“As we monitor the safety and crash history in that area, we’ll definitely look to see if more improvements are needed and we’ll go from there,” Ziemann said.
