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.
Alexandria’s expanded outdoor dining — a laissez-faire approach to sidewalk regulation brought about by Covid — is coming to an end in September.
The City announced this morning (Monday) that the Temporary COVID Business Relief Measures, which permitted the expanded outdoor dining operations along King Street, will expire on Friday, Sept. 30. Starting in October, restaurants will be required to go through a city program for permission to expand their restaurant to the city sidewalks.
In case you missed it, the Truth Conductor was recently in Old Town.
Sitting in his conductor’s uniform behind a donation bucket, Don Folden sat on a recent workday in the 100 block of King Street collecting donations under a sign reading, “STOP HATING EACH OTHER BECAUSE YOU DISAGREE.”
Alexandria Police are investigating the theft of credit cards and other items belonging to employees at a number of shops in Old Town.
Red Barn Mercantile (1117 King Street), the AR Workshop Alexandria (1212 King Street) and Ms. Moxie’s Moon Shop (102 N. Fayette Street) were hit with theft over the weekend.
The former Hank’s Oyster Bar location at 1024 King Street could become a new location for Thompson Italian, an Italian restaurant in Falls Church.
According to a new special use permit filing by “King Street Italian, LLC”, the Italian restaurant could be taking over the spot vacated by Hank’s in March when the restaurant moved to Old Town North.
Bauer’s Optical at 4680 King Street is permanently closed.
The shop was broken into in January — one of many eyewear sellers that have been broken into this year across the region. About $17,000 in glasses was stolen from the store, which is located in the Shoppes at Summit Centre, a shopping center in the northwest corner of Alexandria.
