A new permit filed with the City of Alexandria indicates that some changes could be underway for the Campagna Center at 418 South Washington Street.
The building, constructed in 1888, was once part of the Alexandria City Public Schools system as a school and later as administrative offices. It was converted into office space in 1981 and was purchased by local child education nonprofit Campagna Center in 1993.
Longtime Alexandrians may remember when Farrah Olivia at 700 S. Washington Street featured outdoor dining under a canopy. Well Farrah Olivia is gone for good, but the outdoor canopy that was once a feature of the Old Town restaurant could be making a comeback.
In 2013, after Farrah Olivia closed, the building’s owner got a permit to destroy the canopy. Seven years later, they’re back and hoping to put it up again to provide a covered seating for customers at the Balducci’s grocery store.
There were years of debate and lobbying, Alexandria finally has state authorization to move the Appomattox statue in the middle of the S. Washington Street and Prince Street.
The statue has defenders who say that the statue should not be moved at all. The placement in the center of the street represents the spot where Alexandrians gathered to leave the Union-occupied Alexandria and join the Confederacy. The statue also, pointedly, faces away from Washington D.C. and to the south. While many of the statues being removed across the south glamorize the southern cause, defenders of the statue note that the pose was more solemn.
Once again, the Confederacy has been handed a defeat in Richmond that sends ripples up to Alexandria.
Alexandria has debated and put plans in place for the Appomattox statue at the intersection of Prince and S. Washington Streets for years, but state law stood in the way of actually making any progress toward removing it.
A new deli is in the works for a building on S. Washington Street that was once Union officers’ quarters during the Civil War.
The site is planned to be turned into Delicious Deli Inc., a full-service, 1,600 square foot restaurant. The restaurant will be a neighbor to Ally & Indy Pet Boutique, which shares the ground floor of the double-house.
A few months after telling a pair of local companies to pump the brakes on plans to renovate three Washington Street gas stations, the Board of Architectural Review has approved changes to the facades.
The stations in question are the Shell station at 801 N. Washington Street and a pair of Exxon stations at 703 N. Washington Street and 501 S. Washington Street. There are assorted changes with the stations themselves, but the biggest changes for anyone driving down Washington Street will be the price signs that currently are manually set will be replaced by LED signs that can update as prices change.
