News

Shovels are almost ready to dig into Virginia Tech’s Northern Virginia Center in Idylwood.

HITT Contracting will begin construction in January on its new headquarters at the 7.41-acre academic campus, with an official groundbreaking ceremony on Jan. 23, Jaclyn Randolph, the construction firm’s senior communications manager, says.


Around Town

The new year promises to bring at least one sure bet: First Watch cafes will continue to spring up across Fairfax County.

After opening its largest restaurant yet in Fair Lakes this summer, the national chain is expanding to three more locations in the county, all of them expected in the first half of 2025.


Around Town

The clock is ticking on Whole Foods Market’s time in Idylwood.

The grocery store has rolled out signs at its Idylwood Plaza location (7511 Leesburg Pike) announcing that it will relocate “soon” to Falls Church City, where it will anchor the new Broad and Washington development at 103 E. Broad Street.


News

Poplar Heights is officially getting a new water storage tank with a capacity of 1.25 million gallons, despite continued objections from many residents of the single-family Idylwood neighborhood.

The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously on Tuesday (Oct. 22) — with Hunter Mill District Supervisor Walter Alcorn absent — to approve Fairfax Water’s request for a special exception allowing the facility to replace an existing standpipe tank at 7407 Tower Street that can hold 700,000 gallons of water.


Around Town

A new occupant for Astro Doughnuts and Fried Chicken’s longtime spot in Idylwood Plaza has already been identified.

Quickway Hibachi, the fast-casual Japanese chain, will open a roughly 1,188-square-foot restaurant at 7511 Leesburg Pike, according to a site plan for the shopping center. Astro Doughnuts vacated the space in July after nearly nine years in business.


News

Fairfax Water still intends to build a bigger water tank in Poplar Heights, but the new facility might be less visible than the Idylwood neighborhood’s residents feared.

After being challenged at a lengthy public hearing in July, the water authority revised its lighting, landscaping and construction plans enough to win the Fairfax County Planning Commission’s support for the project last Wednesday (Sept. 11).


News

A Falls Church man pleaded guilty yesterday (Tuesday) in connection to a fatal shooting and stabbing incident at an Idylwood apartment complex last year.

Vladimir Garcia Montes faces up to 40 years in prison for a charge of felony homicide, a form of second-degree murder involving an accidental killing while committing another felony, according to state law. He entered the plea to the shooting death of one of the victims, the Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Attorney’s office said.


News

A construction vehicle driver died after crashing on I-66 in Idylwood this morning (Friday).

Virginia State Police troopers were dispatched to I-66 West at at the Capital Beltway (I-495) around 7:51 a.m. for the single-vehicle crash, which was initially described by police as a two-vehicle crash with “at least one injury.”


News

Fairfax Water’s plan to update and expand the water tank that serves much of Idylwood and Pimmit Hills has run into strong opposition from many residents of the single-family neighborhood that surrounds the site.

Resident after resident testified at a Fairfax County Planning Commission public hearing last Wednesday (July 24) that replacing the existing 700,000-gallon Poplar Heights tank with the 1.25-million-gallon tank proposed by the water authority will irrevocably damage their community and quality of life.


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