Things are about to get a little cozier for Alexandria soccer players.
The Alexandria Soccer Association is providing the city with eight bench shelters (four sets of two), valued at $58,520, to be installed at the soccer fields at Ben Brenman Park (4800 Brenman Park Drive) and Limerick Field (1800 Limerick Street). On Tuesday (June 10), the City Council will consider accepting the KWIK Goal bench shelters and authorizing City Manager Jim Parajon to finalize the donation.
The preliminary development site plan for the renovation of Alexandria’s City Hall, Market Square Plaza, and underground parking garage is heading to the Planning Commission.
The city wants to increase the gross floor area at City Hall from an existing 122,171 square feet to 153,332 square feet (a 26% expansion), while maintaining the size of Market Square plaza at 2,975 square feet and the 234-space parking garage at 91,562 square feet.
It was a fast week in Alexandria! Welcome to ALXnow’s Friday recap of top stories.
This week started as the city cleaned up from last Friday’s damaging storm that knocked over trees, closed roads and disrupted power for thousands. Our top story was on the report of a suspected car thief who ended up in the hospital with serious injuries after a high-speed chase ended in a crash early Monday morning.
The developer of a seven-story, 180-unit apartment building across the street from the Braddock Road Metro station is asking the city for an extension of its development special use permit.
West Street Acquisitions says a number of important steps have been made on the one-acre project at 727 N. West Street, which was denied by the City Council in March 2021 and then approved two months later. After some delays, including a legal battle with a neighbor citing city regulations prohibiting the Council from reviewing a denied application for a year, work on the four-year-old project has been slow, and the development special use permit is about to expire.
Episcopal High School’s plan to install 47 light poles between 40 and 100 feet in height got unanimous backing by the City Council on Saturday (May 17).
The private high school at 1200 N. Quaker Lane will serve as a training site for a team participating in the 2026 FIFA World Cup, and the school is planning on adding 10 lights to three northern fields for that purpose on the property — the track field, the practice field, and the Hummel Bowl. Neighbors with the Seminary Hill Association, however, told City Council they were under the misapprehension that the scope of the project was limited to just those 10 lights, instead of what was presented to Council — a largely undefined plan allowing the school to erect dozens of light poles of varying heights on its other outdoor athletic fields and courts over the next decade.
Facing a $3.25 million budget shortfall, Alexandria City Public Schools is planning on saving a good chunk of it by not giving staff a 1% market rate adjustment.
According to a budget memo, the school board will review the following at a work session tonight (May 15). In the memo, ACPS staff laid out the following budget adjustments before the Board approves the final FY 2026 Combined Funds (Operating, Grants & Special Projects, and School Nutrition Services) Budget:
After coasting through the Planning Commission, plans to modernize George Mason Elementary School are heading to City Council for this Saturday (May 17).
Alexandria City Public Schools is hoping to cut the ribbon on the new two-story building in the summer of 2027. The project will keep the original 1939 building, although ACPS plans to demolish a majority of the existing school and replace it with a two-story structure for a capacity of 670 students and 80 teachers and staff.
The Alexandria City Council is set to make final approvals this week on a plan to transform a former motel property on N. Washington Street into a mixed-use multifamily apartment building and townhouse.
Maryland-based PT Blooms is asking the city to approve plans to redevelop the property at 802 and 808 N. Washington Street into The Whitley—Phase 2, a 48-unit building with one- to three-bedroom condos. That’s the former Old Towne Motel property, which has been closed for years.
Episcopal High School is about to get a lot brighter.
The private high school at 1200 N. Quaker Lane has been approved to serve as a training site for a team participating in the 2026 FIFA World Cup, and now the school wants to install field lighting with 47 light poles between 40-to-100-feet-tall.
A 60-year-old apartment complex in the West End is about to get a little bigger.
On Tuesday, the Planning Commission will review a special use permit to add 19 apartments to The Alante Apartments, a 296-unit complex next door to the Seminary Towers Apartments and Francis C. Hammond Middle School, and is bounded by N. Van Dorn Street and Seminary Road.
