It’s been a busy week in Alexandria, starting off with Halloween on Monday and continuing through to major changes for Potomac Yard and the former Landmark Mall site.
The city had not one, but two big Halloween celebrations: a parade in Del Ray on Sunday and trick-or-treating along Lee Street in Old Town on Monday.
The “West End” project is a lumbering titan, one of the most enormous of the development projects in progress. While projects of that scale can move slowly — this one first reared its head in late 2020 — the Landmark Mall redevelopment is building momentum as it moves toward Planning Commission review next month.
Four blocks of the sprawling development, Blocks E, G, I and K, are scheduled for review at the Planning Commission on Tuesday, Dec. 6. The blocks consist of a mix of multifamily residential, ground floor commercial space, and medical offices.
The Beyer Land Rover dealership at 2712 Duke Street could soon be replaced with a new 94-unit affordable housing development (item 9).
The project, Witter Place, is being put together by Community Housing Partners (CHP). The Virginia-based non-profit has worked in affordable housing development since 1975, but this is CHP’s first project in Alexandria.
Ten years after adopting a plan with suggestions for turning the Waterfront into a cultural hub, the City of Alexandria is poised to move forward with one of them: making the streets closest to the river pedestrian-only.
Ahead of a potential vote to close the unit block of King Street and part of The Strand to traffic, a new report suggests that these street closures are supported by the 2012 Waterfront Small Area Plan and are broadly popular among locals. The unit block of King Street, the block closest to the Waterfront, is a one-way street connected to the two-way street called The Strand that runs parallel to the Potomac River.
The Alexandria Planning Commission partially approved plans that will allow for a car dealership to keep operating on Mount Vernon Avenue in Del Ray.
Alexandria Hyundai has operated on two acres of land between the 1600 and 1800 blocks of Mount Vernon Avenue for more than 20 years. Owner Kevin Reilly says that his dealership needs to conform to industry changes by converting to electric vehicles in order to stay in business, and filed three special use permit (SUP) requests with the city.
A former National Tire and Battery (NTB) in the West End could be transformed into a used car dealership if the repair shop next door can get approval.
Koons of Alexandria has filed an application for a special use permit to establish a used car dealership at the former NTB building at 5800 Edsall Road, just off S. Van Dorn Street.
A Planning Commission endorsement of Vola’s Dockside Grill’s (101 N. Union) expansion plans came with two notes: the city should loosen up on its Torpedo Factory-adjacent noise restrictions and there’s a regrettable dearth of vegetarian options in Old Town.
The Planning Commission voted 6-0 with one recusal in favor of Vola’s plans to permanently convert the former Riverside Taco area into more outdoor seating.
Joseph Hensley Park (4200 Eisenhower Avenue) is slated to get some major upgrades to the athletic fields benefitting not only park users, but neighboring car windows.
The park is set to get a ring of 30-foot netting and fencing around the park alongside a renovation of the park. Those plans are headed to the Planning Commission for review on Tuesday, Sept. 6.
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.
Alexandria Hyundai’s plans to modernize its Del Ray dealership (1707 Mt Vernon Avenue) — long considered in conflict with city leaders’ vision for the neighborhood — are headed to the Planning Commission later this year.
Alexandria Hyundai, LLC is requesting an amendment to their Special Use Permit to add a 1,730 square foot addition to the building and a new 770 square foot canopy for covered drop-off and pick-up.
After several community meetings and discussions, the Department of Recreation, Parks & Cultural Activities (RPCA) is moving forward with permit requests for new lights on five athletic fields.
The suite of special use permits is scheduled for review at the Thursday, Oct. 6, Planning Commission meeting.
