By Michael J. Toscano
Special to The Washington Post
Thursday, May 8, 2008

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.

Ironically, the redevelopment has resulted in the condemnation of the Clark Street Playhouse, a ramshackle warehouse space in an industrial area next to Crystal City that was used by the Washington Shakespeare Company and other small theater groups. Those groups already are eyeing Arena's temporary theater space and thinking ahead two years, when Arena is expected to return to Southwest Washington.

The Arena Stage relocation project cost less than $2 million, including the costs to developer Vornado/Charles E. Smith realty, which provides the space rent-free to Arena. The theater company paid about $1 million to upgrade the space, though it is still constrained somewhat by a lack of backstage, understage and overhead "fly" space. Arena Stage pays rent on its offices and set-building and prop shops.

"Essentially, it's already paid back what has been invested," Fox said.

That assessment is shared by Arena Stage officials, who had looked at about 50 possible sites before seeing the Crystal City location, according to Stephen Richard, Arena's executive director.

"We had anticipated some audience fall-off by moving to Crystal City, but there has been none," he said. "In fact, Arena's patron database has increased . . . by more than 5,100 new households."

The plan had been for Arena to leave the upgraded theater space intact so that one or more Arlington theater companies might be able to move in. But Richard and Fox said Arena might want to maintain a presence in Crystal City when the current arrangement ends, perhaps using the space as a satellite theater or in a cooperative effort with other theater companies.

Whatever happens next, restaurateur Barrett said a healthy trend has already been established.

"When Arena Stage leaves, there's going to be a lot of people who will have come to see Crystal City," he said. "And they'll say, 'Hey, if we're thinking about going out for dinner one night, let's go to Crystal City.' "