Data center plans just outside Alexandria city limits has raised concerns among residents and officials.
Starwood Capital Group filed the permit application and building plans to Fairfax County for the 34-acre Plaza 500 site at 6299 Edsall Road in Lincolnia. The application is for Plaza 500 South, the first of two data center buildings it is seeking.
Seven years after being given a date by the city to clear out of Alexandria’s West End, Virginia Paving Company is asking for a five-year extension.
Asphalt production operations have been at the 11-acre site at 5601 Courtney Avenue since 1960. The proposal would extend the mandated sunset date for asphalt plant operations from January 1, 2027, to January 1, 2032, according to planning documents.
The Hotel Heron in Old Town wants to add live DJ entertainment at its rooftop restaurant, according to a plan going before the Planning Commission next week.
The 134-room boutique hotel at 699 Prince Street, near the intersection with S. Washington Street, opened in 2024 and is owned by the Aparium Hotel Group. The hotel’s rooftop restaurant, Good Fortune, opened soon after, and now the hotel owners are asking the city to approve DJ and live music Thursday to Sunday nights.
Alexandria has released its draft Housing 2040 Plan, which will set new housing goals for the next 15 years, ahead of June public hearings.
The Housing 2040 Plan is slated to replace the city’s current Housing Master Plan, which was first approved in 2013. That plan had a goal of producing and preserving 2,000 affordable housing units by 2025, and the city exceeded that goal when counting units under construction.
Plans to redevelop the shuttered Potomac River Generating Station in Old Town North are heading to the Alexandria Planning Commission and City Council next month.
The Planning Commission will get the first crack at the massive proposal to convert the 18-acre site at 1300 N. Royal Street into a mixed-use development at its meeting on Tuesday, June 2, followed by a City Council public hearing June 13. City Council will also be presented with a $135 million financing deal for the project June 9 (Tuesday), which property owner HRP Group says will catalyze more than $2 billion in private investment into the site. City Council will hold a public hearing for the financing agreement on Saturday, June 13.
The Alexandria Planning Commission has deferred a plan to implement citywide beekeeping policies, finding that city staff needed to conduct more outreach and research.
On May 5, city staff told the Planning Commission that its community outreach was limited to a consultation with a member of the Northern Virginia Beekeepers Association. There are no existing provisions regulating beekeeping in Alexandria. The city’s plan would have allowed two hives on lots smaller than 5,000 square feet, with an additional hive for every additional 2,500 square feet of property, and 5-to-10-foot setbacks for those hives.
HRP Group wants to keep the pump house at the former coal-fired Potomac River Generating Station property in Old Town North, representatives said during meeting last night (Monday).
The developer rolled out the plan for Blocks B and C of the sprawling project in an hour-and-a-half-long Zoom meeting. The development is spread across six blocks, and entails the full deconstruction of the former power plant, replacing it with more than 10 acres of public open space, as well as mixed-use apartment and retail buildings.
A new proposal to regulate beekeeping in Alexandria is creating some buzz as it heads to the Planning Commission tonight (May 5).
The Planning Commission is slated to consider new rules that would limit the number of hives allowed on properties, create 5-to-10-foot setbacks for those hives, and allow beekeeping equipment as accessory structures.
A proposal to completely replace the Old Town Pool and bathhouse and make landscape improvements is heading to the Alexandria Planning Commission.
On Tuesday, May 5, the Planning Commission will weigh in on the proposal by the city’s Department of Recreation, Parks & Cultural Activities to completely renovate the pool facility, to fully renovate the pool facility, which has not had a major update since it opened in 1975. The meeting follows a unanimous recommendation from the city’s Parks and Recreation Commission, which endorsed the project in a letter to City Council.
The McDonald’s at 505 S. Van Dorn Street in the Landmark/Van Dorn corridor closed this week to build a second drive-thru lane.
The second drive-thru lane was approved unanimously by the Planning Commission and City Council last year and will replace an existing loading area, which will be moved to the front of the building, according to a presentation from McDonald’s.
Housing nonprofit Community Lodgings, Inc. (CLI) is asking for an extension to redevelop an existing 28-unit affordable apartment building in the Arlandria neighborhood with more housing.
CLI is planning to construct a six-story, 91-unit affordable apartment building at 3908 Elbert Avenue, more-than tripling the amount of units the property currently has. The nonprofit, which received approval for the project in February 2023, previously said in its application that it wouldn’t have been able to break ground before the expiration of its development special use permit, which passed yesterday (Wednesday).
