Arlington is poised to purchase 2 storage facilities utilized by a dog-boarding center in order to broaden Jennie Dean Park.
On Saturday, the Arlington County Board is set to authorize an arrangement to purchase the residential or commercial properties housing The Board Hound, at 3520 and 3522 S. Four Mile Run Drive in the Green Valley area, for $2 million.
The choice leaves New District Brewery to lick its injuries.
Co-owner Mike Katrivanos informed ARLnow the brewery quote on the property as a “last shot” to remaining open after its neighboring 2709 S. Oakland Street place closes at the end of this month, due to a lease walking and lease argument. An indoor dog park and bar is set to take the brewery’s location.
Arlington County says it has actually been considering the Board Hound property because it embraced a master strategy for Green Valley and Shirlington, called Four Mile Run Valley, in 2018. The strategy “identified for inclusion in the full buildout of Jennie Dean Park,” per a county report.
So when a property representative for The Board Hound, which ran in the location for some ten years, asked the county if it was interested, the county caught the chance.
“The current owner has… has decided to close this location to consolidate its business at the main location in Alexandria on South Peyton Street,” the county says.
Arlington County says purchasing these residential or commercial properties assists to satisfy the objectives of the 2019 Public Spaces Master Plan.
The strategy requires the addition of a minimum of 30 acres of brand-new public space over the next ten years “to help address the challenge of meeting public spaces needs for a growing community.”
For park users, it might have a side advantage of minimizing dog barking, which some have actually discovered to be a problem.
One Planning Commissioner at the start of this year referenced his experience at Jennie Dean Park in a discussion about how Arlington County must utilize zoning to control annoyances, such as dog barking, instead of whole businesses.
“I thought of Jennie Dean Park as I enjoyed it the other day with my children and the incessant barking that was continual and constant, and thought, those poor general neighbors across the street are enduring the constant barking of dogs but it’s next to an industrial zone,” said Stephen Hughes.
Industry belongs to the location’s identity, as evidenced by numerous vehicle body stores, storage facilities and Inner Ear Studios, which vacated the area in 2015 after the county purchased the building it called home for years.
Industrial usage is likewise main to preparing files imagining Green Valley as an “arts and industry district.”
Exactly what that will appear like, nevertheless, depends upon who is asked. The Green Valley Civic Association has formerly said it takes a wider view of arts and market than the county.
“From furniture-making to metal-working, from technological innovation to maker-spaces, from recording studios to culinary arts, in Green Valley we view the arts broadly,” civic association Vice-Chair Robin Stombler formerly said.
As those usages emerge, the county continues its work to broaden Jennie Dean Park.
In 2018, the County bought the storage facility property situated at 3514 S. Four Mile Run Drive and later on destroyed the building. WETA utilizes the property for parking.
On January 13, 2021, the County bought 3620 27th St. S., which WETA is renting for as much as 5 years, or till January 2026. The public radio station will have the ability to vacate the building as soon as brand-new studios open at its refurbished head office in Shirlington.
The county says it “could later vacate a significant portion of South 27th Street between the warehouse properties and the WETA property for incorporation into Jennie Dean Park.”
