Theater's Temporary Home Gives Area Boost

Washington's Arena Stage has taken up residence in Crystal City only temporarily, as its home undergoes a multi-year renovation and expansion. But the relocation is already boosting restaurants in the Arlington neighborhood, and officials hope to make live theater a permanent part of their plans for the area's regeneration.

"I look back fondly to the very first night that Arena opened" on Dec. 28, said Jim Barrett, general manager of McCormick & Schmick's Seafood Restaurant on Crystal Drive. "I was working that night, and I had 170 guests come into the restaurant that night, and 85 of those guests were going to Arena."

That turnout on the opening night of "Ella," a musical biography of jazz singer Ella Fitzgerald, was a sign of things to come, said Angie Fox, president and chief executive of the Crystal City Business Improvement District, a public-private partnership of restaurants, stores, hotels, small businesses and Arlington County. Fox said business at about three dozen nearby eateries has climbed by 10 percent as Arena's season has continued.

About half of theatergoers typically eat out that night, Fox said. "So restaurants love it because they get a three-seating mentality: You get the pre-theater crowd, the regular crowd that comes around eight and during theater time, and the post-theater crowd that wants to go out and do something."

That trend has helped offset a general downturn in restaurant revenue as the economy has soured.

"Without Arena Stage, we'd really be hurting now," said Barrett, whose restaurant offers a discount for diners who have theater tickets.

Crystal City was facing a potential crisis last year when Fox approached Molly Smith, Arena Stage's artistic director, with the idea of moving into the former movie-theater-turned-conference-hall at South Bell and 20th streets. Decades of trying to turn the concrete campus of office buildings, hotels, shops and underground corridors into a visitor-friendly destination, particularly at night, had met with modest success.

Making the task even tougher were looming military base realignment and closure changes that are expected to result in the departure of 17,000 federal agency and military-related personnel by 2011. Facing that challenge, the public-private partnership was created to transform Crystal City into a vibrant entertainment district.

With a background in theater and business, including four years as chairman of Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company's board, Fox thought the venue could serve as Arena's temporary home. With renters departing in droves, finding additional space for Arena's administrative and artistic teams would be easy.

Fox thought that hosting a nationally recognized theater company could serve as a catalyst in "re-imagining" Crystal City, calling attention to several projects already underway, including an outdoor film festival of James Bond movies, the U.S. Air Force Cycling Classic race this month, and "Crystal Flight," a collection of airplane sculptures that highlights the neighborhood's proximity to Reagan National Airport.

Crystal City "has important attributes," Fox said. "It has location and access to transportation, but it's missing things to do. It's missing the creative component. People think of it as a concrete canyon. There's been a lot done by several developers to change Crystal City, to bring in great restaurants."

The changes include substantial redesigning to augment the concept of an urban village, with restaurants at sidewalk level. The confusing network of circulating roads is being altered to perform as conventional city streets. Buildings are being razed, and new ones constructed.