With the City of Alexandria returning to regulating on-street retail and restaurant uses, including adding a price tag for the benefit, the City Council is also scheduled to review a few changes to make the process a little less onerous.
At a meeting scheduled for Tuesday, Oct. 11, the Council is set to take a look at some changes to reduce redundancies and streamline the process for businesses hoping to make use of sidewalk and street space.
The City of Alexandria said a survey collecting feedback on the new expanded King Street pedestrian zone showed overwhelmingly positive.
After the 100 block of King Street was permanently converted into a pedestrian zone last year, the program was extended via pilot into the unit block of King Street — the one closest to the waterfront — and an adjacent stretch of road called The Strand.
The Mansly, a redevelopment of the Walgreens and a bank at 615-621 King Street, got its approval from the City Council — but not without some heavy side-eyeing and one “nay” vote after the Council criticized the underwhelming affordable housing contribution.
Technically, affordable housing didn’t and legally couldn’t have anything to do with the Council vote. The city has a trade set up, securing affordable housing units or contributions in exchange for extra density, but the staff report said the development wasn’t requesting density or height above what’s already recommended in the Old Town Small Area Plan and applicant The Silverman Group hit the bare minimum requirements for affordable housing contribution.
A new development replacing a former Walgreens and a Burke & Herbert Bank is headed to City Council review with a strong endorsement from city staff.
The new development, called The Mansly, will change relatively little of the King Street-facing exterior. The most notable change being the white painted brick restored to Old Town’s iconic redder hue.
A pilot project to convert the unit block of King Street — the part closest to the waterfront — into a pedestrian-only zone has been extended for another two months.
The pilot started over Memorial Day weekend and was scheduled to shut down after Labor Day, but Alexandria Transportation and Environmental Services announced on Twitter that the pilot was being extended to Nov. 20.
As the city approaches the end of a pilot program that saw the waterfront block of King Street converted into a pedestrian zone, the City of Alexandria is looking for public feedback on the pilot.
The conversion of the unit block of King Street (the start of the street east of Union Street) and the Strand started on Memorial Day weekend and is scheduled to run through Labor Day weekend early next month.
A pair of city policy changes — the new parklet program and a return to stricter regulations on outdoor dining — are coming together at a Planning Commission meeting next month in an effort to make the two pieces fit together.
City staff said in a memo that the upcoming changes represent the start of an effort to make the process of securing outdoor dining at one of the King Street parklets less complicated and slightly less restrictive.
You’ve got a week to order those last burgers, steaks and chicken wings, because after eight years in business in the heart of Old Town, Mackie’s Bar and Grill is closing its doors for the last time next Tuesday (August 30).
The neighborhood bar and steakhouse was unable to negotiate a new lease, owner Sang Lee told ALXnow.
Bagel lovers have a new spot two blocks from the King Street Metro station to get their fix. Chewish Deli softly opened its second brick-and-mortar at 1640 King Street in Old Town on Monday (August 8), offering a traditional Jewish deli cuisine of hand-rolled water bagels, hot pastrami sandwiches, and more.
Owner Gregg Linzey says he will hold a grand opening at some point, although he didn’t have a grand opening party for his first location at 807 Pendleton Street in the Braddock area in October 2020 — in the middle of the pandemic. The company was founded as a food truck seven months before that, and Linzey was forced to find a new space after the truck got into a crash and was taken out of commission.
(Updated 8/17) The Woodbine Rehabilitation and Healthcare facility (2729 King Street) near Ivy Hill Cemetery is seeking permission from the city to build a new three-story addition to the healthcare complex, though the overall number of beds will stay the same.
Woodbine is a nursing home just off King Street in the Rosemont neighborhood. Woodbine Property 1, LLC has filed a request for a Development Special Use Permit to construct a new building that fronts King Street.
The days may be numbered for a pair of buildings in the heart of Old Town as developers move forward with plans for demolition and redevelopment.
Developer The Silverman Group is headed to the Planning Commission next month to rezone 615 and 621 King Street, with the ultimate aim of tear down portions of the buildings and replacing them with a new, 24-unit residential building with ground-floor retail.
