Local government offices are closing early today (Friday) to give staff a head start on Christmas weekend.
With Christmas Eve falling on Sunday (Dec. 24) this year, Fairfax County, Fairfax City and the towns of Vienna and Herndon are all instead observing the occasion with a half-day today. All local government offices will shut down at noon, though schedules vary for some other public facilities and services.
Government offices will close all day on Monday (Dec. 25) for Christmas. The county courts, which are closing at noon today, will pause operations through Tuesday, Dec. 26, as will Fairfax County Public Schools, whose students have been on winter break since Dec. 18.
Here are other notable closures and schedule changes coming for the holidays:
Trash and recycling
Fairfax County won’t provide trash and recycling collection services on Christmas Day, bumping all customers back by a day throughout the week. The I-66 Transfer Station and I-95 Landfill Complex’s recycling and disposal centers will be closed Sunday and Monday.
The Town of Vienna and Fairfax City will both collect waste and recycling for both Monday and Tuesday customers on Dec. 26. Vienna won’t pick up brush and yard waste that day.
The Town of Herndon will make trash pick-ups as usual, but Monday recycling will be collected on Tuesday instead.
Transportation
Metro is running modified service on both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, with trains and buses following Sunday schedules. Rail stations will be open from 7 a.m. to midnight.
Fairfax Connector will operate on a Sunday service schedule on Christmas Day, and its customer service center will be closed. In Fairfax City, the CUE bus system will follow its regular schedules except on Dec. 25, when the service will be closed.
Like it did for Thanksgiving, the Virginia Department of Transportation is suspending most highway work zones and lane closures on major roads, starting at noon today and continuing until noon on Tuesday, Dec. 26. Rush-hour tolls for the I-66 Express Lanes inside the Capital Beltway will be lifted on Christmas Day.
Community centers
The McLean Community Center will be closed on both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.
The Reston Community Center will close its Lake Anne facility on both days, but Hunters Woods (2310 Colts Neck Road) will open from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Sunday, Dec. 24. The Terry L. Smith Aquatics Center will be open from 9 a.m. to noon on Sunday before closing for Christmas Day.
The Herndon Community Center is open today from 7 a.m. to noon and Saturday from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. It will close on Dec. 24-25. The Bready Park Tennis Center and Herndon Centennial Golf Course will also be closed on Christmas.
The Vienna Community Center will be closed on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. It’s also observing holiday hours of 8 a.m. to noon today and 7 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. from Dec. 26-29.
Libraries, Parks and Recreation
Fairfax County Public Library will close all branches at noon today, followed by closures on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Libraries will open tomorrow (Saturday) according to their regular hours.
All Fairfax County Park Authority facilities are open today except for the carousel at Clemyjontri Park in McLean and Sully Historic Site in Chantilly. For Christmas Eve, park visitor centers and other amenities will be closed, but all rec centers will open from 8 a.m. to noon, except for the George Washington Rec Center in Mount Vernon, which is opening at 9 a.m.
The park authority will close all facilities for Christmas Day.
In Fairfax City, both the Fairfax Museum and Visitor Center and Historic Blenheim are closed through Dec. 25.
A new art initiative is bringing light to Old Town Fairfax, just as winter and the darkest days of the year arrive.
Illuminate Fairfax officially launched last Friday (Dec. 15), but the last and biggest artwork was installed just yesterday (Wednesday), according to Fairfax City Economic Development (FCED).
The economic development office developed the project in conjunction with Fairfax Spotlight on the Arts, the city’s Office of Historic Resources and Department of Parks and Recreation and the Virginia Tourism Agency.
“Our goal is to establish compelling spaces where people can enjoy quality time with their families, indulge in shopping and dining, and socialize with friends,” FCED Director and CEO Christopher Bruno said. “The concept of Illuminate emerged from the vision that Fairfax City can evolve into a beautiful and enjoyable destination — a vibrant community for living, working, and visiting. We want to literally shine a light on that potential.”
The four displays have been placed around the city’s historic downtown to encourage people to walk around and visit key destinations, including Old Town Plaza (3950 University Drive, Suite 211), Old Town Square (3936 Blenheim Blvd), the Ratcliffe-Allison-Pozer House (10386 Main Street) and the recently opened Commonwealth Brewing Company (10426 Main Street).
Two of the artworks — titled “Joi De Vie” and “Pin Toy Meditation Wall” — come from Fairfax County-based metal artist and sculptor JP Muller, whose work also appeared at Tysons Corner Center in the spring.
Also featured are North Carolina new media artist Robin Vuchnich’s “Swell No. 1,” which combines a light projection and audio recordings to evoke “the forces of nature,” and David Kaufman’s “Fireflies and Heartbeats,” which uses about 1,000 small LED lights to simulate fireflies.
Based in Bethesda, Maryland, Kaufman founded the graphic design app Polygonia Design. Full artist statements and descriptions of the artwork can be found on the Illuminate Fairfax webpage.
The installations will remain in place through much of the winter, with the project ending on Feb. 10.
(Updated at 11:45 a.m.) Pickleball devotees will soon have new places to play in the Fairfax area.
The Fairfax City Council voted last night (Tuesday) to grant a special use permit to Down the Line Sports Center, which will build an indoor pickleball facility to replace the vacated CVS in Courthouse Plaza (10390 Willard Way).
The 10,000-square-foot former pharmacy will be transformed into a dedicated pickleball facility with three full-sized courts and two half-sized courts, according to the application submitted by Down the Line owner Jenni Bae.
Though an opening date hasn’t been set yet, Down the Line is already preparing to extend its reach with a second, larger facility in Annandale that’s also anticipated to launch next year.
“This is an exciting new chapter for Down the Line Sports Center, and we are thrilled to bring our first location to the heart of Old Town,” Bae said. “Our vision is to create a space where patrons of all ages can come together, play, and connect. We’re grateful for the support of the City Council, Fairfax City Economic Development, and the Façade and Interior Improvement Grant program for making this dream a reality.”
Provided by Fairfax City Economic Development (FCED), the grant program reimburses 50% or up to $20,000 of the costs for businesses to get established or expand in the city.
A tennis player who got into pickleball during the COVID-19 pandemic, Bae told FFXnow that the original plan was to open an indoor pickleball facility in Annandale. But then, she connected with the FCED and saw an opportunity to open a smaller center more quickly.
“We recognized it as basically a beneficial opportunity for both Fairfax City and our business,” she said.
Because the Fairfax City facility will be relatively small, Down the Line hopes to offer social events to the community in lieu of pickleball tournaments and leagues, which require at least six courts, according to the application.
The company said it’s open to partnering with the Old Town Fairfax Business Association and the Central Fairfax Chamber of Commerce on future events, while also participating in festivals and other outdoor city events.
In a press release, the FCED lauded the facility as “a significant leap towards invigorating Old Town Fairfax and fostering a sense of community.” Fairfax City has six pickleball courts at Green Acres Center (4401 Sideburn Road), including one that’s indoors, and four at Van Dyck Park (3720 Blenheim Blvd), but this is the city’s first dedicated, indoor pickleball complex.
Fairfax City Mayor Catherine Read credited local pickleball players at Green Acres Center and former city council member Janice Miller with advocating for more playing options in the city to support the growing — and sometimes polarizing — sport.
“We have delivered a solution that works no matter the weather,” Read said. “That value is made greater by the fact many residents can walk there or take the free CUE bus.”
According to Bae, Down the Line hopes to open the Fairfax facility this winter, followed in the second half of 2024 by the Annandale facility.
Located at 4311 Ravensworth Road, the 50,000-square-foot Annandale center will feature 18 permanent indoor courts, seven golf simulators and a sports bar. The company envisions it as a future destination for both amateur and professional players in the D.C. region and beyond.
“Our goal is to bring in huge events that we’ve never been able to have in this area before because no one has ever been able to provide the indoor space that we can provide,” Bae said. “…We will become a destination center where people will fly in from other states to play in our tournaments…They’re going to bring more business to the restaurants, to the hotels and to everything in the Annandale area because of our center.”
Rendering via Down the Line Sports Center
A new music venue and pub is holding a fundraiser, starting tomorrow (Friday), to support its upcoming launch in Fairfax City.
Earp’s Ordinary, located at 10420 Main Street, has been under construction since 2020, but encountered delays caused by the pandemic.
Now, owner Michael DeMarco says construction has been completed, but the venue still needs “funds for working capital to help with operating expenses like inventory.”
Previously, DeMarco told FFXnow he envisions the pub drawing national and regional talent. He also said the venue won’t focus on a specific music genre.
“There will be 25 musicians playing throughout the weekend — Friday evening, Saturday afternoon, Saturday evening, and Sunday afternoon,” Demarco said. “The goal is $50,000.”
Demolition for the venue began in 2020. To get through the pandemic, DeMarco and managing partner Josh Alexander hosted outdoor shows in front of the space. The site has previously been home to restaurants, a judicial center space and a duckpin bowling alley.
General admission tickets for the “Save Our Stage” fundraiser are available online for $25, though the Friday show has sold out. There are also $65 all-access weekend passes and exclusive VIP memberships available for purchase.
The event will feature a buffet and live music by a diverse set of artists, including Holly Montgomery, Rick Landers, Jillian Matundan, Paul Wolfe, Heather Lloyd, Susan Rowe, Michelle Swan, Brent Funkhouser, Kirk Hurd, Sunny at Midnight and Know1Else.
The bar operates on a credit/cash basis.
Earp’s Ordinary is also accepting online donations through the ticket page and via Venmo at @earpsordinary for those who can’t attend in-person.
Showtimes:
- Friday, Dec. 8 — Doors: 4 pm | Start Time: 5 pm
- Saturday, Dec. 9 — Doors: 12 pm | Start Time: 1 pm – 5 pm
- Saturday, Dec. 9 — Start Time: 5 pm – 11 pm
- Sunday, Dec. 10 — Doors: 12 pm | Start Time: 1 pm
A 93,100-square-foot office building in Fairfax City may soon have a new future on its horizon.
The Fairfax City Council is meeting tonight (Tuesday) to discuss a preliminary proposal to redevelop the office building on 1201 Fairfax Blvd into a six-story residential building with roughly 300 apartment units and about 20,000 square feet of ground-floor commercial retail.
Two levels of underground parking and amenities on the first floor, including a central courtyard, are also planned, according to the preliminary proposal.
Each unit would be “efficiently designed” with space-saving beds that drop down from the ceiling and dining tables that can be folded away for storage, according to the Nov. 17 pre-application.
“The smart home technology includes features such as the ability to control appliances ranging from the washing machine to the dishwasher to the vacuum with a smartphone, dry cleaning system built into closets, the ability to see inside of the refrigerator without opening the refrigerator door and mirrors that display the date, time and temperature,” Odin, Feldman & Pittleman attorney Sara Mariska wrote in a letter to the city’s community planning and development director on the developer’s behalf.
The nearly 3-acre parcel is located in a primarily commercial corridor. Preliminarily, staff noted that residential uses aren’t recommended in commercial corridors.
The city’s planning commission also noted that the “proposed use might not be the best use at the site,” questioned the “need for a well occupied office building to be repurposed,” and raised concerns about the proposed height and distance from single-family homes, according to meeting materials.
Transwestern Investment Group sold off the building in August. At that time, the company reported that the property was 96% occupied.
Fairfax City’s experiment with “elevated” port-a-potties may be coming at too high a cost to consider continuing it long-term.
During a meeting on Tuesday (Nov. 14), the Fairfax City Parks and Recreation Department provided the Fairfax City Council with a progress report on the high-tech, portable Throne restrooms that have been available around the city for the past seven months.
The department initiated the pilot this spring in response to calls for increased access to restrooms in the Fairfax Circle area, Old Town Square, and Van Dyck Park.
Parks and Recreation Director Stacey Sommerfield said they were looking for a vendor to provide a secure, accessible, clean facility that didn’t require any additional staff hours. The department chose local startup Throne Labs, which launched in 2020 and provides “an elevated experience” with solar-powered, touchless outdoor bathrooms.
“They feature running water, flushing toilets, climate control, they were ADA-accessible, provided changing stations, have secure access, and were cleaned every 50 uses,” Sommerfield said.
In May, one unit was placed in Old Town Square and in Van Dyck Park. Another unit was placed on Fairfax Blvd in the area of the former Hy-Way Motel (9640 Fairfax Blvd) in June. From their launch to Nov. 1, the Thrones have been used 11,356 times overall, according to Sommerfield.
“The Van Dyck unit is our highest-use unit, which is not surprising to us because Van Dyck Park is very well-used,” she said.
Usage of the Old Town Square unit fluctuated based on events and weather. The Fairfax Blvd location has been the slowest to catch on, Sommerfield said, adding that it may be moved in the future to garner more attention.
“Right now the only location that we have access to is the Hy-Way Motel, but we think we might be able to reposition the unit on the site in order to make it more attractive,” she told the city council. “Right now, it is very close to the road.”
In August, the department launched a voluntary survey requesting feedback through QR codes posted outside the units. The survey garnered 67 responses, which Sommerfield described as positive.
“We do have a 38% return rate for users of the Thrones, so we have a lot of people that return and use them again,” she added.
The units are priced according to a three-tiered system based on the average number of uses per day. The more they are used, the more they cost. Additionally, the artwork that wraps around the Thrones costs $5,500 each.
“As of November 1, 2023, $74,392 has been spent on wrapping and monthly fees. $175,608 remains for the continuation of the program through the remainder of the fiscal year,” City Manager Robert Stalzer wrote in a summary for the council.
Looking forward to 2024, Sommerfield said there will be a $50 increase to the monthly fee for units that are used less than 50 times per day — the low to mid tier.
“So, the status of the pilot program is that the parks department really views this as an interim option until we can build brick-and-mortar bathrooms,” Sommerfield said.
Concerned about the cost, Counilmember Jeffrey Greenfield suggested the parks department explore buying bathrooms.
“The cost continues to concern me, especially when Thrones is doing deals with other jurisdictions, doing pilots at no cost, and we’re paying a lot,” he said.
Greenfield acknowledged that some areas in the city will struggle to get infrastructure in place for permanent bathrooms, but said the option of purchasing bathrooms should be considered before deciding to continue with Throne.
The city council approved $250,000 for the pilot in April. That funding will cover the three restroom units through July 2024.
Fences have gone up around three commercial buildings at the corner of Main Street and West Street in Old Town Fairfax, signaling their impending demise in favor of a planned mixed-use development known as City Centre West.
Developer Ox Hill Companies anticipates demolishing the vacant Wells Fargo bank, a restaurant last occupied by OudResto & Hall and the office building with its headquarters (10501, 10515 and 10523 Main Street) by the end of this year, Managing Principal Christopher Smith recently told FFXnow.
The restaurant, which was partially burned down by a fire in 2020, will be knocked down first, followed by the bank and then the offices. Ox Hill and Infinite Technologies Orthotics and Prosthetics, the low-rise office building’s other tenant, will temporarily relocate to 4031 University Drive, a five-story office building that the developer acquired last month.
Construction on City Centre West — a six-story condominium complex with office and retail space — is on track to break ground between April and July of 2024, according to Ox Hill.
“It has been a very, very, very tough economy to work in for the last couple of years, and [I’m looking forward to] the fact that we’ve made really good headway and are getting things done and moving toward actually breaking ground and starting the construction process of these buildings,” Smith said.
Approved by the Fairfax City Council in July, City Centre West will have about 79 condos, over 18,000 square feet of general and medical office space and 7,731 square feet of restaurant or retail space, which will be joined at the Main and West street corner by a publicly accessible, 0.31-acre urban park.
Features of the plaza will include cafe seating, benches, an event lawn, a pergola, paved paths and bicycle racks, according to the development plan.
Currently in design, the condos will consist of one, two and three-bedroom units and a penthouse. Residents will have access to a gym, a rooftop pool, a private dining room and an underground parking garage with dedicated spaces, electric vehicle chargers and a security gate.
The real estate brokerage Douglas Elliman announced on Nov. 2 that it will handle sales and marketing for the residential portion of the development, which has been branded Ten501 at City Centre West. Pre-sales will launch this winter, with prices starting at $1 million.
“This project will create a versatile mixed-use space for the community to experience for years to come,” Howard Lorber, Douglas Elliman’s executive chairman, said in a press release. “Our expertise in new development projects, coupled with our recent expansion into the region, makes this a truly exceptional opportunity for us.”
Under Fairfax City’s relatively new Affordable Dwelling Units (ADU) program, the development is required to designate 6% of its units as affordable to households earning 70% of the area median income or less, but in its application, Ox Hill requested the option to instead provide those five units in a separate, all-ADU development that it’s “actively pursuing” in Old Town.
The developer says it’s “working closely with the city” to address the ADU requirement.
“Our concern is placing an undue burden on the occupant, but we do look to provide these ADUs in the Old Town area,” Smith said. “We have identified an ideal location that works in conjunction with another of our development projects. This will be made public at the appropriate time.” Read More
Fairfax City is starting to refine its plans to add bicycle facilities on University Drive.
The project will “implement bicycle facilities on University Drive between Layton Hall Drive and South Street, with shared lane markings through the center of Old Town and bicycle lanes to the north,” according to the city’s website.
It will serve as a link to other multimodal projects currently underway in the area, such as the partially built George Snyder Trail, Chloe Ritter, the city’s multimodal transportation planner, told the Fairfax City Council at a meeting on Oct. 24.
“It connects to the bike lanes that are already existing on University Drive, south of Old Town. It connects to The Flats — the apartments that recently opened,” Ritter explained. “It really brings together a lot of the multimodal projects that we’ve been working on in connecting everything together.”
In addition to the bicycle facilities, the city hired consulting firm Kimley-Horn to evaluate possible changes to the University Drive and Layton Hall Drive intersection.
“The measures of evaluation that we looked at were bicycle and pedestrian safety, vehicle safety traffic operations, transit operations, property impacts implementation, and cost,” Megan Waring, a transportation engineer for the consultant, said at the council meeting.
She said ultimately, the firm recommends a two-way stop and a removal of the northbound, right-turn lane at the intersection, which will be condensed. Waring said that change allows for a pedestrian island that will improve safety.
“It allows us to have bike lanes as we’re coming up and down University, as we have kind of that steep incline or decline, depending on which way you’re traveling,” she said.
Tightening the intersection would also enable it to accommodate an added crosswalk, giving it a total of four. The crosswalks will also be closer to the intersection.
“So, we’re moving the people, the bikes, and the cars all to a location that’s more centralized, so that all users are able to see each other and make safe passage through the intersection itself,” Waring said.
The recommendations also call for adding a median refuge island, a protected space in the center of the street that facilitates bicycle and pedestrian crossings.
Waring said, together, the recommendations would reduce bicycle and vehicle conflicts, improve pedestrian crossings and maintain transit and vehicle operations. Read More
Fairfax City is browsing for makers of art, crafts and other products who want to expand beyond an online shop or farmers’ market stall but aren’t quite ready to commit to a full storefront.
Those are the budding entrepreneurs that the Fairfax City Economic Development team (FCED) hopes to attract to Wander In, an upcoming retail incubator store that the city is developing with the Old Town Fairfax Business Association (OTFBA).
Announced in September, the store is expected to launch this coming winter in Old Town Plaza, replacing Sylvan Learning’s tutoring center at 3950 University Drive, Suite 211.
“Establishing Wander In as a business incubator in our historic downtown plaza is an important step in building Fairfax City’s small business retail,” Mayor Catherine Read said in the press release. “It’s a path for our local artisans from online sales and festival participation to a brick and mortar presence. Located in close proximity to a free parking garage and three very busy restaurants with outdoor dining, this multi-vendor retail offers residents and visitors a reason to wander in.”
The FCED and OTFBA concocted the idea for Wander In after the city received a grant that it wanted to use to help small businesses grow, according to Tess Rollins, the business association’s executive director.
Initially, the economic development office suggested opening a temporary pop-up store, but the local business owners on OTFBA’s board of directors were wary of supporting a new business that could compete for customers and the association’s attention.
Rollins and the FCED then pitched the board on the concept of an incubator that would not only provide retail space for up-and-coming businesses, but also educational events and resources to give them the skills needed to be viable long-term — and potentially open a permanent brick-and-mortar location in the city.
“They were more receptive of basically helping…small businesses grow because each one of them has their own establishment, whether it’s a restaurant or a retail store,” Rollins said. “So, they felt that was more in line with the mission and the core values of Old Town Fairfax Business Association.”
Applications for prospective Wander In vendors are now being accepted. Vendors must stay in the space for at least three months, be OTFBA members, obtain a city business license after the first 30 days, and pay a $200 fee each month, along with 10% of sales.
Rollins says one of the initiative’s goals is to promote businesses in Fairfax City, but it’s also open to businesses and entrepreneurs based outside city limits.
“We do want to promote other businesses who may be looking for a place in Fairfax City to see if our community is a good place for them to have an additional location,” she told FFXnow.
At the moment, there’s no limit on how many vendors will be accepted, since the capacity will depend on how much room each business needs. While most will likely sell jewelry, paintings or other artisan goods, Rollins says prepackaged food vendors could be considered.
FCED and OTFBA worked with Old Town Plaza manager Kimco Realty to secure the suite, which is in the same building as the recently opened Commonwealth Brewing Co. With the pub Earp’s Ordinary also on the way, the shopping center’s revitalization is central to the city’s Old Town Fairfax Small Area Plan, which was adopted in 2020 and seeks to make the historic downtown more active and pedestrian-friendly.
To encourage collaboration between businesses and with the larger community, Wander In will work with George Mason University’s Small Business Development Center to assist and provide training to the vendors. It will also host events both inside the store, where customers can meet and learn from the vendors, and outside.
Rollins suggests shopping days or scavenger hunts that involve other Old Town retailers as possibilities.
“I love the idea of the mix of having retail shopping with a creative experience, whether it’s ‘Meet the Maker’ or whether it’s one of their classes,” Rollins said. “I think that having the combination of the two is going to bring something different to Old Town.”
A Fairfax pet store that came under investigation for mistreating animals has been replaced by a facility for treating sprained ankles and other medical needs of human patients.
Inova Health System has opened an urgent care center at 9404-A Main Street in Fairfax City’s Pickett Shopping Center, the recently rebranded nonprofit health care provider announced yesterday (Monday).
Located next to Chuck E. Cheese, the facility occupies a suite last filled in 2019 by Petland, which shuttered after investigators found 14 dead rabbits in a freezer. This is Inova’s 11th urgent care center operated by GoHealth, an on-demand health care company that it teamed up with last year.
The center provides medical care for non-life-threatning conditions to patients 6 months and older.
“Having quick and easy access to high-quality care is essential for our community’s health,” Inova-GoHealth Urgent Care Medical Director Meredith Porter said. “We are committed to expanding our urgent care network and are excited to open our Pickett center, bringing high-quality care to where our patients live, work and play.”
Here’s more on the Pickett center from Inova:
The new center offers patients aged six months and older a wide array of services for non-life-threatening conditions, including flu, fever, earaches, insect bites, sprains, simple fractures, eye injuries and cuts requiring stitches. The center also provides X-ray services, labs and COVID-19 testing…
Patients can walk into any Inova-GoHealth center for care or save time by pre-registering online before going to their neighborhood center. The new Pickett center is open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., Monday through Friday, and from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Saturday and Sunday. Inova-GoHealth centers are open 365 days a year, including holidays.
Inova-GoHealth centers deliver quality on-demand care by Inova providers at convenient locations throughout Northern Virginia. When a patient requires further care, Inova-GoHealth is a direct connection to Inova’s robust network of care, which regularly earns national recognition for excellence in quality and safety, research and innovation.
Since partnering with GoHealth, Inova has been rapidly rebranding its existing urgent care centers, including locations in Reston, Tysons, Vienna, West Springfield and Centreville. The health care organization also opened a new center on Sept. 18 in Lorton Marketplace.
More centers are expected to open later this year in Seven Corners, Fair Oaks and Herndon, Inova says. The Herndon location will be in the Village Center at Dulles (2445 Centreville Road), per Fairfax County permits.
