Crown Castle Fiber wants to expand its fiber optic cable plans for Potomac Yard.
While Crown Castle Fiber hasn’t been in the headlines as much as rival Ting, it has been positioning itself to take the lead in providing new fiber optic cable for the Virginia Tech campus in Potomac Yard.
A prior agreement back in 2022 let Crown Castle Fiber lay some groundwork in Potomac Yard and the West End. An updated agreement in 2023 allowed Crown Castle to install 400 feet of fiber at 1737 King Street.
Now, Crown Castle wants to add an additional 600-foot conduit and fiber optic cable at 3625 Potomac Avenue for the new Virginia Tech campus. Crown Castle is also filing to build infrastructure there and along Commonwealth Avenue near Lynhaven.
The additional fiber route is scheduled for review at the Saturday, April 13 meeting of the City Council.
What a busy week in Alexandria.
This week’s top story was all about money, with a $1 million Powerball ticket getting sold in the Alexandria area of Fairfax County.
On Monday we reported that an Alexandria resident was charged after a loaded gun was allegedly found in his carry-on bag at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA). The incident marked the third time last month that a firearm was confiscated from luggage at the airport.
Also Monday, Mayor Justin Wilson said in his monthly newsletter that the March 27 death of the Potomac Yard arena deal would likely mean a period of stagnation for that area of the city. Landowner JBG Smith, however, softened its stance after initially releasing a scathing opinion on the situation, and told the Washington Business Journal on Wednesday that it now envisions Potomac Yard as a tech corridor anchored by the Virginia Tech Innovation Campus.
In a Thursday poll, ALXnow asked whether Alexandria is better off without the Potomac Yard arena. The poll got more than 1,300 responses, with 65% voting “Yes,” 26% voting “No” and nearly 10% voting “I don’t know.”
Got a good spot to see the eclipse on Monday? Our second-most-read story this week showcases an eclipse viewing party being hosted by the city in Old Town.
The most-read stories this week were:
- Powerball ticket worth $1 million sold in Mount Vernon (7387 views)
- City of Alexandria hosting eclipse viewing party in Old Town (7375 views)
- Notes: Pizza and cocktail bar opening this week in Old Town (5997 views)
- Sign ordinance update tackling longstanding sign complaints from Alexandria businesses (5400 views)
- In wake of Potomac Yard arena implosion, Alexandria mayor says area will stay the same for ‘quite some time’ (5398 views)
- Alexandria gets federal grant for Duke Street transitway (4171 views)
- No arrest after woman stabbed in neck in Alexandria’s West End (3522 views)
- CIM Group sells apartment complex next to old Landmark Mall property for $225 million (3149 views)
Have a safe weekend!
Happy Thursday, Alexandria!
⛈️ Today’s weather: Expect isolated showers between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m., followed by scattered showers and thunderstorms that could produce small hail. The day should be partly sunny with a high temperature near 57. Tonight, there’s a 30% chance of isolated showers between 8 and 11 p.m., with a low temperature of 39.
🚨 You need to know
What’s going to happen with the 12-acre property at Potomac Yard since the arena and entertainment district plans evaporated?
In an exclusive interview with the Washington Business Journal, Matt Kelly, the CEO for landowner JBG Smith, said that he doesn’t know exactly what will go into the space now, but that the arena deal highlighted the “attractiveness” of the property, which is next door to the Potomac Yard Metro station.
Kelly’s statements follow a scathing condemnation from the company immediately after the deal officially died.
Kelly said that JBG Smith’s 2020 plans to build six office buildings with ground floor retail on the arena will likely be scrapped due to a dwindling office market. He also said that Virginia Tech’s Innovation Campus and Amazon’s HQ2 in Crystal City will open opportunities for “tech uses” in the space.
The statement contradicts a more dire message from Mayor Justin Wilson, who recently wrote in his April newsletter that the arena failure will likely result in a period of stagnation for the property.
Alexandria is getting $3.5 million in federal funds to pay for public safety, transit, affordable housing and flooding infrastructure projects, Northern Virginia Congressman Don Beyer (D-8th) announced today.
“Even in the minority amid a divided and chaotic Congress, I am laser focused on helping my constituents and benefitting Northern Virginia,” Beyer said in a statement.
Beyer secured a total of $13 million federal funding in the 2024 Consolidated Appropriations Act, which the House of Representatives approved on Wednesday, to pay for 15 projects in Alexandria, Arlington and Fairfax County. The Senate is expected to approve the legislation next week, Beyer’s office said.
The Alexandria projects are:
$1 million for on-route electric transit bus opportunity chargers. The funding would be used to fund the construction and implementation of up to two on-route opportunity fast chargers within the City of Alexandria, which would support charging requirements of a full 100% Zero Emissions Battery Electric transit bus fleet. The chargers would be constructed in strategic locations throughout the City and the DASH bus network to help ensure that the future fleet of 100+ Zero Emissions transit buses can meet the demand of DASH’s 24/7 service, serving the community of Alexandria
$963,000 for the Virginia Tech “Smart Mobility Lab.” The funding would be used to establish Smart Mobility Lab (SML) operations and invest in initial research and technology development where gaps exist to attract and leverage industry engagement. The SML will be sustained in future years through publicly and privately sponsored research from industry and government partners. Some smart mobility technologies that may be deployed in the SML include: a data exchange system for integrating data from various systems deployed in the SML while providing security and appropriate access for research and development opportunities; smart intersection solutions that identify conflicts and improve vulnerable road users’ safety; adaptive lighting on roadways that adjust with changing weather conditions and traffic; implementation of customizable features (like real-time red light patterns changes) to accommodate traffic flow; and the analysis and creation of mobility hubs to connect multiple modes of transportation and make commuting easier.
$670,000 for a pilot program for crime and violence prevention. This supports funding enhanced technology, including In-Car Cameras, Fixed License Plate Readers (LPRs), and Surveillance Trailers, in the City of Alexandria. This funding will assist Alexandria’s law enforcement agency in its ongoing efforts to reduce incidents of violent crime and gun violence in the Alexandria community. The Alexandria Police Department will use these funds to invest in cutting-edge technology and equipment that will significantly enhance its ability to deter, respond, investigate, and successfully prosecute violent crimes.
$850,000 for the restoration of affordable housing at the 1022 Pendleton Street Boarding House. The project will allow the City of Alexandria to work with property owners to preserve unique, affordable housing in our community while renovating a building with historic, cultural and architectural significance. The boarding house currently includes 8 housing units with deeply affordable rents, as well as shared living space and room for the restoration of retail/commercial space original to the property.
Virginia Tech’s Potomac Yard campus has hit a snag and won’t open until spring 2025.
Project delays have become a local tradition around Potomac Yard. The school said the new Virginia Tech Innovation Campus will open in 2025 rather than later this year, as was planned when the project broke ground in 2021.
A release from Virginia Tech said graduate students who had been planning to attend the school this fall will instead continue attending classes at Virginia Tech’s facility in Falls Church. The deadline for fall 2024 admission is March 1.
“Our vision remains unchanged. We are building a community perfectly positioned to connect talented students with Northern Virginia’s growing tech ecosystem,” Lance Collins, vice president and executive director of the Innovation Campus, said in the release.
The school said, like the RiverRenew project, the Innovation Campus’s delays were caused by supply chain issues.
According to the release:
Virginia Tech broke ground on the Innovation Campus in September 2021 with plans to open this August. While the building’s opening has been delayed to the spring 2025 semester, enrollment and programming in the region continues to prosper. Innovation Campus students have attended classes in Falls Church since fall 2020.
Virginia Tech and Alexandria’s Office of the Arts are collaborating on “Innovation and Creativity,” a year-long series of projects at the Torpedo Factory’s Target Gallery.
One of those projects, Sound Horizons, opened Aug. 5 and runs through to Jan. 28. Visitors sit in the tesseract, an array of high-density loudspeakers, and experience an immersive environment of sounds curated for Alexandria by Virginia Tech’s Institute for Creativity, Arts, and Technology (ICAT).
Sound Horizons includes four sound installations:
- “Dear Younger Me,” a project about healing the inner Black girl, which features a series of Black women reading letters to their younger selves
- “Sonification of Cybersecurity Data,” a music installation that turns cybersecurity data into musical harmony of sounds
- “Liminal Spaces,” a fixed-media composition inspired by life’s in-between moments
- “Musical Connection,” a sound installation shedding light on the uncharted neural territories that music traverses when people living with Alzheimer’s disease engage in music-making
“Collaborating with one of the nation’s top innovative universities provides an opportunity to put Alexandria on the cutting edge, proving how art and creativity are a thread that runs deeply through all forms of innovation, be it scientific, cultural, engineering, health, or technological,” Brett John Johnson, the Torpedo Factory’s curator of artistic advancement, said in a statement.
A free grand opening for the latest installation, Synaptic Soiree, will be held from 7 to 9 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 16.
According to Virginia Tech:
The performances push the limits of sound and performance; they will explore scored data composed of music exploring infectious diseases, neuroscience, including Atrium, meditation, PTSD, and more, as well as the juxtaposition of new technology and the human body.
A facilitated discussion will follow at the end of the show, so you can listen to the researchers and ask questions about their work.
The series of exhibitions, performances and events will wrap next September, which is just is time for the opening of Virginia Tech’s Innovation Campus in Alexandria.
“Virginia Tech, with its Innovation Campus, is pushing the frontier of technology,” said Ben Knapp, executive director of ICAT. “Together with the Office of the Arts, we will be showcasing innovation in all of its forms.”
Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) announced yesterday that Virginia Tech students at the new Potomac Yard-adjacent campus will get unlimited metro trips at a significant discount.
WMATA said Virginia Tech is being added to the transit network’s “U-Pass Program.” The program is included in the cost of attendance at schools for around $1 per day.
According to the release:
Virginia Tech joins a growing list of colleges and universities enrolled in the program that provides full-time students unlimited trips on Metrorail and Metrobus during the academic year at a significant discount.
The program will give students convenient, affordable transit options and coincides with Virginia Tech’s expansion in the region with the future Innovation Campus expected to open in 2024 next to Metro’s new Potomac Yard Station.
Full time students at the Innovation Campus, Northern Virginia Center, Virginia Tech Research Center, and Washington-Alexandria Architecture Center— will receive a specially designed U-Pass with the Virginia Tech logo. The pass will be valid during the fall and spring semesters during the 2023-24 academic year.
Metro’s U-Pass is compatible with Apple Wallets too, for folks that want to avoid carrying a Metro card.
The Innovation Campus at Virginia Tech is scheduled to open next year.
After more than a year of delays, the Potomac Yard Metro Station will open on Friday, May 19, Mayor Justin Wilson announced today.
Wilson made the announcement alongside Randy Clarke, general manager and CEO of the Washington Metropolitan Transit Authority. He said that the city has been pushing to make the station a reality for more than a generation.
“On Friday, May 19, this station is going to open up to serve the public,” Wilson said. “That is an incredible accomplishment and one that is only possible because of this incredible team of city staff, of WMATA staff, of the contractor, all of our state partners, our federal partners who have made this happen.”
The $370 million project has seen its share of delays. It was initially scheduled to open in April 2022, but Clarke didn’t want to discuss the delay.
“I came to announce that today we’re opening on May 19,” Clarke said.
Clarke said that the station was first envisioned in 1983, when the Huntington station first opened.
“We’re happy to be partners with the city to accelerate economic development, bring more housing, bring more opportunity to deal with sustainability and equity, all the things that the city of Metro share as goals for both the city and the region,” Clarke said.
Wilson said that the project hits a number of policy areas for the city.
“This is our biggest economic development initiative,” Wilson said. “This is our biggest transportation initiative. This is our biggest Climate Initiative. This is our biggest infrastructure initiative. This is a huge initiative for the city and it hits so many different policy areas for us as a community, and that’s why we’re really excited.”
The station is located next door to Virginia Tech’s Innovation Campus, which is slated to open the first of three academic buildings in 2024. The Potomac Yard Shopping Center is also under massive development.
City Manager Jim Parajon said that the station is a critical factor for Alexandria’s continued economic growth.
“I think this work is signature to our economic development growth,” he said. “You already see it with Virginia Tech’s Innovation campus and some of the office development occurring right around the station… Economic growth helps pay for the services that our community needs and wants. It’s an amazing station and I’m looking forward to May 19.”
City Council Member Sarah Bagley said that the station is a dream realized for many residents.
“I think it means that we can do things we put our minds to, and that long expensive things are worth it,” Bagley said. “From an inclusivity perspective it’s wonderful. We’re going to have all these exciting buildings here. There’s healthcare here, there’s education here, and people will be able to access that.”
Council Member Alyia Gaskins said that the station will bring a lot of commerce to the City.
“When i think about this station I think about everything that’s going on around it, from Virginia Tech to the National Societies for the Blind to the Potomac Yard community,” Gaskins said. “This is an opportunity for us to bring people here, to have them experience our city and to stop and linger in some of these great developments that are happening.”
Council Member Canek Aguirre said that the art at the station will also bring visitors. Much of the art for the station has not yet been chosen and WMATA has to go through a request for proposal process.
“I’m super excited,” Aguirre said. “This is gonna be a destination site, and people are going to come just to be able to take pictures of the station and especially the artwork.”
Vice Mayor Amy Jackson said that the station is an exciting development.
“Tourism and retail in general will see lots of business,” she said. “Folks will come down and be able to get off here and go to the restaurants, see our Virginia Tech campus and more. It’s very exciting.”
Sudshare app-based laundry service launches in Alexandria — “Sudshare has launched in Alexandria to connect people who hate washing clothes (or don’t have time to do it) with people who are willing to do it for you.” [Alexandria Living Magazine]
Alexandria gets another new mural — “The newest Alexandria mural was unveiled on Veterans Day, Thursday, Nov. 11, at Douglas MacArthur Elementary School.” [Zebra]
Virginia Tech closes Alexandria student housing — “On Nov. 1, university leadership decided against the continued operation of The Gallery, student housing located in Alexandria, Virginia…” [Collegiate Times]
Lasting effects of segregation in NoVA detailed in new report — “A new report tells the history of exclusion and segregation in Northern Virginia and how the Black community has paid a terrible price.” [Patch]
With the groundbreaking of the first of Virginia Tech’s Innovation Campus buildings, Alexandria took a step into a new future on Tuesday.
Governor Ralph Northam joined top brass from Virginia Tech, Boeing, master architect JBG Smith and hundreds of visitors at the groundbreaking for a state-of-the-art 300,000 square-foot building. He said that, when completed, the academic buildings will be places “where academia, government and industry connect working to solve problems through technology.”
Virginia Tech plans on opening the first of three academic buildings in 2024, and the school anticipates teaching computer science research and development programs to 750 master’s degree students when the project is completed in ten years.
Mayor Justin Wilson thanked City Manager Mark Jinks and his staff, as well as the Alexandria Economic Development Partnership, which was integral in bringing Amazon’s HQ2 project to the region.
“We are so excited that so much of the plans that we have shaped for really a quarter of a century are coming to fruition on this site,” Wilson said. “But, ultimately, it’s not about the buildings. The buildings will be amazing, and we’re really excited about that. It’s the people that will be in the buildings and the people who will leave those buildings, and we are so excited to see the embodiment of this vision come to reality in the buildings here in the city of Alexandria.”
Tara Laughlin is studying for her Master’s degree in computer science at the Innovation Campus, and is one of seven Boeing graduate scholars. Boeing also gave the campus a $50 million gift.
“I want to make a difference in the field that I work in, but I honestly just didn’t know where to start,” Laughlin said. “The Innovation Campus answered everything that I’d wanted.”
Matt Kelly, the CEO of JBG Smith, the master developer of the Virginia Tech Innovation Campus, said that the future looks bright for Potomac Yard.
“When we began courting Amazon alongside the Commonwealth to make Northern Virginia home to HQ2, one of the main points of attraction that they had to the D.C. region was our strong base of tech talent,” he said. “Virginia Tech’s Innovation Campus brings that right next door, and delivers on a future of diversifying our economy and broadening that talent base for many decades to come.”
So thrilled to join with @GovernorVA and @VTSandsman and a group of dynamic leaders to break ground on the @virginia_tech Innovation Campus in Alexandria! pic.twitter.com/l5qS283JOc
— Justin Wilson (@justindotnet) September 14, 2021
We were very happy and excited to be with @VTmetroDC this afternoon for the Innovation Campus groundbreaking! #AlexandriaVa #NationalLanding pic.twitter.com/UyMuZqlfZI
— Alexandria Chamber (@TheChamberALX) September 14, 2021
