This past week saw 218 homes sold in Fairfax County.
The least expensive condo, single-family home or townhouse sale over the past seven days was $180,000 while the most expensive was $4,999,900.
Over the past month, meanwhile, a total of 326 townhouses were sold. Let’s take a look at some of the most and least expensive townhouses sold over the past month.
Most expensive townhouses sold
- 7265 Mclean Commons Lane — $1,110,000 (3 Beds | 3.5 Baths | 2,281 SQ FT)
- 2001 Chadds Ford Drive — $1,100,000 (3 Beds | 3.5 Baths | 2,308 SQ FT)
- 2791 Marywood Oaks Lane — $1,100,000 (4 Beds | 3.5 Baths | 3,440 SQ FT)
Least expensive townhouses sold
Today (Thursday) marks a decade of community service, youth leadership, political activism and civic engagement in Virginia by the Hamkae Center.
Over the last 10 years, the local nonprofit has dedicated itself to achieving “social, racial, and economic justice” through Asian American mobilization and advocacy at both the state and local levels, per its website.
“We want to not only help meet the immediate needs of Asian Americans living in Virginia, but we also want to make lasting change,” Hamkae Center Director Sookyung Oh said. “…What we really want is for Asian Americans to be actively engaged in society, in this democracy. If we can create those on-ramps for folks to be able to do that and be a political home, then that’s what we’re striving for. ”
Though it works around the state, Hamkae Center is based in Fairfax County with offices in Annandale and Centreville. Its mission has expanded alongside the local Asian American community, which has grown from 17.6% of the county’s population in 2010 to over 20% — one-fifth of the population.
“Over the years, Hamkae Center has really become much more pan-Asian,” she said. “So if you look at our staff and board, we have folks who are Korean heritage like me…but also Filipino, Indian, Pakistani, Chinese, Vietnamese, Taiwanese. It’s really expanded so that we were becoming more of an Asian American group.”
A Virginia affiliate of the National Korean American Service & Education Consortium, the group was founded in 2012 as NAKASEC Virginia with the goal of organizing with undocumented Korean Americans, according to Oh.
It was among the organizations that advocated for undocumented immigrants who attended high school in the state to be eligible for in-state tuition rates and state financial aid for college.
“It’s our work with undocumented Asian Americans that we were able to push those changes through the state General Assembly in 2020 and in 2021,” Oh said.
Oh also expressed pride in Hamkae Center’s education-related activism, including its role in leading a “statewide, multi-racial, multi-faith” movement against proposed revisions to Virginia’s history education standards.
On a more hyperlocal level, the Hamkae Center functions as a community resource, offering assistance with citizenship and public health benefit applications. According to Oh, it recently launched an Asian American Small Business Counseling program to help Korean Americans in Northern Virginia navigate complex corporate procedures and language barriers as they kickstart their own businesses.
“To date, I think we’ve supported about four entrepreneurs in starting new businesses, and that’s pretty cool,” Oh said.
To reflect its evolving focus, the group rebranded in 2021 to “Hamkae,” the Korean word for “together.” Oh says the new name aims to “honor [their] Korean American roots” while making it clearer that the organization works with all Asian Americans, not just Korean Americans. Read More
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The Faith Baptist Church that has occupied 301 Center Street South in Vienna for about seven decades will officially be torn down.
Faced with increasing maintenance costs, the Vienna Town Council voted unanimously on Monday (June 5) to demolish the entire two-story building, which was originally built in the 1950s, according to Fairfax County records.
The town purchased the 3-acre property in 2020 in part to have a temporary base for the Vienna Police Department during the construction of its new headquarters. Chartered in 1952, the church had opted to close its doors and sell to support the creation of a new network of “connection groups” in Northern Virginia, per its website.
Some council members previously suggested keeping the church’s gym, but that would cost between $2.9 million and $3.3 million, Director of Parks and Recreation Leslie Herman reported in a May 24 memo.
After seeing those new numbers, which exceeded the $1 million that an earlier study estimated would be needed to convert the building into a usable recreational facility, the decision to send the church to “house heaven” became a “no-brainer,” Councilmember Chuck Anderson said.
“I think get the damn building down, because it’s just costing us too much money right now,” Councilmember Howard Springsteen said. “It gives us a clean slate there, and every time we turn around, another price jumps up.”
A total demolition will cost $250,000, according to town staff. The town hasn’t determined yet when the demolition will take place or how long it will take.
“There are still a lot of details that need to be worked out, including the bidding process for a contractor to do the demolition, permitting for demolition, etc., plans for how to use the property once the building comes down,” Vienna Public Information Director Karen Thayer said by email.
The property’s long-term future also remains up in the air.
The council decided to postpone a decision on whether to spend an additional $23,500 on a business planning and operational costs study recommended by consultants Kimmel Bogrette Architecture and Kimley Horn.
Hired in November, the consultants found clear support in the community for turning the site — now called the Annex — into a recreational facility, especially one with a swimming pool or fitness center, based on an online survey and public workshop.
The proposed study would give the town more concrete numbers for the costs and benefits of different recreational uses, Herman said. Read More
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Arrowbrook Centre, an anchoring mixed-use neighborhood near the Innovation Center Metro station, is moving one step forward to completion.
Several pieces of the 54-acre development, which is bounded by the Dulles Airport Access Road to the north and Centreville Road to the east, were approved by the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors at a Tuesday (June 6) meeting.
Specifically, the proposal swaps a 435-unit residential building called Aura from the eastern corner of the property with an office building directly east to it. Aura will be constructed by Trinsic Residential Group.
The swap pushes a hotel planned at the site further east, leaving space for two office buildings at the corner of the site.
To maintain the terms of the charitable trust that governs the development, the developer is planning a partnership with the Virginia Tech Foundation and Virginia Cooperative Extension, a venture that focuses heavily on sustainable agriculture, culinary arts and urban farming programs.
So far, the development includes Ovation at Arrowbrook, a 274-unit development for lease to tenants earning between 30 and 60% of the area median income (AMI).
Fairfax County Board of Supervisors Chairman Jeff McKay called Arrowbrook a “huge asset” for the county.
Dranesville District Supervisor John Foust applauded the applicant for installing Arrowbrook Park and the affordable housing component of the project.
“I think you’ve really created something special out there and you keep making it better,” Foust said.
Roughly 75% of 36,000 square feet of retail space is already leased to tenants like grocer Hello2India, Ornery Beer Company Public House and Paris Baguette. Chef Peter Chang has also leased 3,500 square feet at the development for a Mama Chang restaurant.
Overall, roughly 32% of the property is dedicated as open space.
The application is one of several in the county that was affected by the Virginia Supreme Court’s ruling that temporarily voided Fairfax County’s newly modernized zoning ordinance. The board re-adopted the zoning code on May 9.
Annandale diners could soon see more outdoor seating at Izakaya Khan in Seoul Plaza (4231 Markham Street).
To make room for year-round outdoor dining at the Japanese restaurant, the center will lose off-street parking spaces, dropping its total from 210 to 200 spots. In addition to removing nine regular parking spaces, Seoul Plaza will also remove one accessible parking space to make possible a new trash dumpster layout.
The parking reduction was unanimously approved by the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday (June 6).
The new outdoor seating area will be 494 square feet and seat up to 32 people, according to materials provided for the board meeting.
Under the Fairfax County Zoning Ordinance, the board has the authority to reduce required off-street parking by up to 20% “subject to conditions it deems appropriate” if the applicant demonstrates that the parking reduction contributes to the goals of a commercial revitalization district.
Seoul Plaza is in the Annandale Commercial Revitalization District. Technically, the zoning ordinance required Seoul Plaza to have 250 parking spots, taking into account its gross square footage and the types of tenants in the shopping center. The 20% reduction will bring the required number of spaces to 200.
“Outdoor dining allows the restaurant to better cater to their customers and makes them more (competitive) with other restaurants that have outdoor dining,” county staff said in the meeting materials. “This shopping center already has a number of vacant tenant spaces so the continued viability of its existing tenants is imperative to the shopping center‘s continued economic viability.”
Although the BOS unanimously approved the request, Mason District Supervisor Penny Gross said it will be necessary to follow up “to see if it’s working the way we want it to work.”
In addition to Izakaya Khan, Seoul Plaza features restaurants including Seoul Soondae Restaurant and Release the Craycken.
More broadly, the county is developing new, permanent policies for outdoor dining following pandemic provisions that made it easier for restaurants and other eligible establishments to offer seating outside.
Photo via Google Maps
An Arlington-based ice cream shop that brings together flavors from around the world is planting its flag in the Mosaic District to further an ambitious expansion plan.
Mimi’s Handmade will take up residence in the Merrifield neighborhood at 2985 District Avenue, Suite 160, replacing 520 Ice Cream and Tea after the cafe closed late last year.
Currently expected to open around mid-August to early September, the new store will closely resemble the original Mimi’s, which opened in Pentagon City in December 2021, owner Rollin Amore says.
“You’ve got to have consistency across the board, consistency in the quality of your ice cream, consistency in your offerings,” Amore told FFXnow. “I mean, I want to appeal to a broad base. I want to appeal across the age span from 8 months old to 80 years old.”
Mimi’s is a family affair, dedicated to Amore’s daughters — Mimi and Alexandra — and inspired by gelato, custard and sweets recipes passed down by his Italian and German grandmothers, according to the website.
Venturing into ice cream after retiring from a nearly 40-year career as a banker, Amore has developed a diverse assortment of over 40 flavors, from classic options like French vanilla and chocolate to bolder scoops like sweet corn or wasabi peas — one of several to incorporate ingredients he encountered while traveling in Asia.
Mimi’s has 32 flavors on display at any given time, all made in-house with “real” ingredients, not flavoring, Amore says. About 70 to 80% of them are fixtures, while others rotate based on the season or their creator’s inclinations.
“If I get inspired, I’ll try a new flavor,” Amore said. “As an example, a couple of weeks ago, I started making a red guava sherbet…It’s more summer. I’ve been making fresh watermelon and fresh cantaloupe, and I just pureed a few fruit and then add a little sugar and make a sorbet out of them.”
Calling the Mosaic District “a good spot to be in,” Amore says he has always envisioned Mimi’s as “a small chain of stores.” The business is also coming to Chevy Chase in two weeks and Rockville in three months.
Looking into 2024, leases have been signed for locations in Annandale and West Falls Church, though Amore couldn’t share the exact addresses yet. A Sterling shop is also a possibility, along with a commissary kitchen where all of the ice cream production will ultimately be consolidated.
Despite the aggressiveness of the planned expansion, he expressed confidence that Mimi’s can maintain the quality that has earned it near-universal acclaim on Yelp and a nod from Northern Virginia Magazine as one of the region’s best restaurants.
“Ice cream stores, the whole dynamic is changing,” Amore said. “We went from two years ago the Baskin Robbins, the Ben and Jerry’s to now a new generation of more artisan ice creams. There’s a bit of shift in the industry, and I think I’m on the edge of that in terms of my flavor strategy, my preparations and so forth.”
There’s less than a week left until Barnes & Noble will officially open its doors in The Spectrum at Reston Town Center.
Filling a space vacated by Office Depot in 2021, the nearly 28,000-square-foot bookstore at 11816 Spectrum Center will include a B&N Cafe, along with books, toys, games and gifts.
The grand opening next Wednesday (June 14) will feature a ribbon-cutting by author Tania James, who will also sign copies of her new historical fiction novel “Loot,” the company announced yesterday (Wednesday).
“We are delighted to open in Reston such a beautiful and impressive new bookstore,” Barnes & Noble CEO James Daunt said. “In an especially happy turn of events, we return to the same shopping center we had anchored over a decade ago. Nowhere is the success of brick-and-mortar bookstores better demonstrated than the opening of this very large new Barnes & Noble in Reston. Our booksellers…have created an exceptional bookstore for their community.”
James lives in D.C. and works as an associate professor of English for George Mason University, according to her official bio. Officially released on Tuesday (June 13), “Loot” is described by its publisher as “an exuberant heist adventure that traces the bloody legacy of colonialism” from India to England.
The opening is a comeback in Reston for Barnes & Noble, which previously had a location in the center several years ago. It will be the company’s first new store in Fairfax County since 2019, according to the press release.
The store will join a local literary scene that includes the nearby independent store, Scrawl Books, in Reston Town Center and Reston’s Used Book Shop at Lake Anne Plaza.
Store manager Elisabeth Swift said she is excited to bring the bookstore to Reston, which she describes a “town of readers.”
“Opening a new Barnes & Noble is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity I’ve looked forward to — creating an extraordinary team of dedicated booksellers, building a store together and embracing the community has been a fantastic experience for all involved,” she said. “We can’t wait to welcome readers into our stunning new bookstore.”
Photo via Barnes & Noble/Instagram
(Updated at 10:30 a.m.) It’s another day of poor air quality for Fairfax County and the rest of the D.C. area.
As wildfires continue to burn in Canada, the resulting smoke has clouded the East Coast in a sometimes orange-tinted haze of particulate matter. As of 9 a.m., Fairfax was at 313 on the Air Quality Index (AQI) — a Code Maroon for hazardous air that’s even more severe than yesterday’s Code Red.
Today’s AQI appears to be the highest for the D.C. region since records began in 1999, according to Ryan Stauffer, a NASA scientist who studies air pollution.
The highest alert on the official AQI, Maroon is a health warning of emergency conditions that can affect everyone, according to AirNow, which monitors official air quality based on data reported by federal, state and local agencies.
Air Quality Alert for Thursday, June 8 🚨
Due to the wildfires in Canada, an air quality alert has been issued for today, Thursday, June 8. The air quality is unhealthy for everyone in Fairfax County and the region.
Stay informed: https://t.co/0SheATD3Zg pic.twitter.com/iHffXGXIWh
— Fairfax County Government 🇺🇸 (@fairfaxcounty) June 8, 2023
Record-breaking bad air quality in DC area yesterday dating back to 1999. Today probably will end up worse. https://t.co/YG1C95A31U
— Capital Weather Gang (@capitalweather) June 8, 2023
Everyone is advised to limit their exposure to the air pollution by staying inside or limiting the level of exertion required for outdoor activities, Fairfax County says.
Fairfax County Public Schools has canceled all outdoor activities on school grounds for the day, including recess, P.E., sports and after-school programs. The Fairfax County Park Authority has also canceled all outdoor classes, activities and amusements.
“Wildfire smoke is a mix of gases and fine particles from burning trees and plants, buildings, and other material,” the county said in an emergency blog post. “Wildfire smoke can make anyone sick, but people with asthma, Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), or heart disease are more likely to experience health effects of smoke. Pregnant women, babies and children are also at risk.”
In a twist, the masks that proliferated during the COVID-19 pandemic have made a comeback as the most effective way to filter particles from air pollution. In New York, which had the world’s worst air quality yesterday, N95 masks are being handed out for free today.
The worst of the pollution is expected to start clearing tomorrow (Friday), when a Code Orange AQI is forecast, but until then, it’s probably best to stay indoors if possible and mask up.
Image via VDOT
Air Quality Issues Continue Today — “Due to the wildfires in Canada, a Code Red Air Quality alert has been issued for Thursday, June 8, which means air quality is unhealthy for everyone in Fairfax County and the region…Take steps to limit your exposure,” such as by spending more time indoors “where particle pollution levels are usually lower.” [Fairfax Alerts]
Survivor of Fatal Blake Lane Crash Still Recovering — “Flowers, candles, crosses, rosaries and handwritten signs mark the spot where three students walking home from Oakton High School were struck by a speeding car driven by a fellow student on June 7, 2022…One year after the fatal crash and the victims’ families are still waiting for answers.” [Patch]
Vice President Recently Visited Local High School — “The John R. Lewis High School community, Fairfax County Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Michelle C. Reid, Ed.D., and the Lewis High School band welcomed U.S. Education Secretary Miguel Cardona and U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris to their school [last] Friday to advocate for safer schools.” [FCPS]
New Recreational Trail Will Connect Gum Springs to Creek — “For nearly 40 years, residents of Gum Springs, the oldest African American community in Fairfax County, have been waiting to gain trail access to the waterfront along Little Hunting Creek…Last October, Mount Vernon District Supervisor Dan Storck was able to secure support from his BoS colleagues to fund $600,000 in trail connections.” [On the MoVe]
VDOT Launches Study of Old Ox Road Near Herndon Area — “The Virginia Department of Transportation is seeking feedback on…potential safety, operational and accessibility improvements for about three miles of Old Ox Road (Route 606) between the Dulles Greenway (Route 267) and Rock Hill Road. Within the study limits, Old Ox Road averages about 33,000 vehicles a day.” An online survey is available through June 19. [VDOT]
Virginia Leaves Initiative to Combat Carbon Emissions — “A Virginia regulatory board on Wednesday voted to withdraw the state from the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, or RGGI, fulfilling a directive from Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin but triggering the threat of legal action from environmental groups who say the board overstepped its authority.” [The Washington Post]
Madison HS Boys’ Lacrosse Team Returns to State Finals — “With a 12-8 victory over the host Robinson Rams on June 6 in a semifinal match of the Virginia High School League Class 6 state tournament, the defending champion Warhawks (19-2) will play for the 2023 state title on June 10. Madison is in the state final for the third time in five seasons” [Gazette Leader]
Park Authority Seeking New Hires — “The Fairfax County Park Authority is seeking to fill several seasonal and part-time positions at a variety of park locations surrounded by trees, sunlight, water, history, animals and fun! With so many opportunities to choose from, applicants can literally choose their own adventure!” [FCPA]
It’s Thursday — Widespread haze. Areas of smoke. Sunny, with a high near 79. North wind around 8 mph. At night: Widespread haze. Partly cloudy, with a low around 57. Northwest wind around 7 mph. [Weather.gov]
