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Arlington Peers Into the Void
Arlington would lose 20,000 jobs and be left with 4 million square feet of vacant office space, including at Ballston Plaza, above, if the Defense Department's realignment and relocation plans are approved.
(By Larry Morris -- The Washington Post)
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"We've just accomplished making Crystal City a more comfortable pedestrian environment," said James Van Zee, director of regional planning services for the Northern Virginia Regional Commission. "We could be turning around the next day and closing it off if we want to keep business here."
Restaurateur Rob Wilder, whose company recently opened Oyamel and Jaleo restaurants in Crystal City as part of the area's revitalization effort, said the news of relocations was not unexpected.
While defense employees are a healthy part of his customer base, there has been an expectation that Crystal City's tenant base would shift away from the government, he said.
"It seems like it's a matter of time before the whole nature of Crystal City becomes an extension of downtown D.C. rather than the Pentagon," Wilder said. "We're a tenant of the future."
While Gov. Mark R. Warner (D) is positive about the economic picture statewide, he has said he will fight the relocation of employees from Northern Virginia.
But Moran, who also represents Alexandria, Falls Church and parts of Fairfax -- including Fort Belvoir -- said he isn't so sure he should go to the mat for Arlington, reasoning that in the long run, the Defense Department's decision will "bode well" for the county. He said that he does not anticipate an economic downturn and that he is looking forward to new economic horizons for Arlington as a community less dependent on the government for its strength.
Hours after Friday's announcement, employees who work in Crystal City were still sizing up the news. For those who live near Fort Belvoir or Quantico, for example, the changes would mean, among other things, shorter commutes.
Jack Kantak and Bill Joransen, both former members of the military now employed by Vanguard Research, a Defense Department contractor, stood outside the Crystal City complex taking a coffee and smoke break.
Both said the Pentagon proposal made good sense -- both financially and from a security standpoint. Neither felt a particular sense of urgency.
"It's going to be three to five years before anything will really happen," Kantak said. "And then, there's going to be a lot of empty office space in Crystal City.
"This isn't the first time there's been one of these shuffles," he said. "This place is convenient and easy, but one pile of cement is just like another pile of cement."
As to where he may be in five years, he said, "heaven only knows."
