The mixed-use site plan they drafted was approved by the Arlington County Board in 2001 after noisy opposition. Nearby residents, including those in the sprawling Fairlington subdivision up the hill, were worried that the sleepy small-town character they loved most about Shirlington would be destroyed by the development.
"There were big economic issues to consider though, too," Irwin said. "It would've gone downhill if we hadn't pushed forward with this." The new projects are scheduled to open in the first quarter of 2006.
Federal Realty, which bought Shirlington in 1995, is the fourth owner of the land since 1982, county officials said. None of the previous owners was able to make the site perform. But county officials say now they are optimistic that they have found the right formula.
Arlington County and Signature Theatre, which is now housed on nearby Four Mile Run between two auto body shops, will share the $5.5 million cost of building the performing arts company's new home. It will include two theaters, one with 125 seats and the other with 300.
Nationally recognized Signature Theatre was recently wooed by Montgomery County but decided to stay in Arlington for its new home in Shirlington.
The theater will sit atop the new Shirlington Branch public library, a 15,000-square-foot facility. The theater and library building will face a new European-style plaza.
Shirlington already has two arts venues -- the eight-screen Cineplex Odeon, which screens art house films as well as first-run movies, and the Classika Theatre, a smaller theater company on Shirlington's main drag.
"Some basic pieces were already in place for an arts entertainment center," Irwin said. "We thought we could build on that."
For the rental housing component of the project, Bozzuto Group of Greenbelt is building a $55 million luxury apartment complex called the Delancy. The Delancy will have 241 rental units in three buildings, from studios to three-bedrooms.
One building will be a three-story structure with nine loft units.
"There are going to be some very interesting apartments there," said Tom Baum, president of Bozzuto Development Co, "two-story loft units with wood floors and an industrial feel."
Another building will be a 12-story high-rise with an ultra-modern lobby with a suspended circular staircase. Apartments on the upper floors will have views of Washington, company officials said.
Baum said that apartments in the complex will rent for about $1,500 to $3,000 a month.
All three buildings will have ground-floor stores, with a total of about 50,000 square feet of new retail space. A Harris Teeter grocery store has signed an agreement to occupy the ground floor of the high-rise, Federal Realty officials said. They said the remaining retail had not yet been rented.
