Courthouse Community:
Trial, Error and Quirky Appeal
By Heather Salerno
Washington Post Staff Writer
October 21, 1995
"We always say we're 10 minutes from everywhere," said Donielle Manor, speaking about the convenience of living in the Courthouse ar\ea of Arlington County.
"The proximity of the Metro is very important, and the proximity to the city," said Manor, 25, a program manager for the International Energy Agency. "We're close to Georgetown, and not far from Tysons" Corner.
The accessibility to the rest of the Washington area offered by the Courthouse neighborhood's location appears to be its biggest draw for residents. When Kathy Knott and her husband, Bruce, moved to the community three years ago from Albuquerque, a convenient commute to the District was essential.
"My husband works in L'Enfant Plaza so we didn't want a double commute of getting on the Metro, then the bus, and this led us to the area," said Knott, a real estate agent for Long & Foster Realtors, who lives in the Charleston condominiums on Clarendon Boulevard.
Since the opening of the Court House Metro station in 1979, the quarter-mile surrounding the station in all directions has been developed into millions of square feet of private office space and high-rise residential buildings. Depending on one's perspective, this is either a dream come true or an urban nightmare.
"Delis, the post office and banks are all within walking distance, but there's not that awful cramped city feeling," said Knott, who paid $160,000 for her two-bedroom, two-bath condominium. "And I don't feel confined, I don't feel like I'm living in an asphalt jungle."
Other residents, however, think the growth of the Courthouse area has hurt its sense of community.
"The people tend to be all right. When you have a high density of professional people, there's not much interaction," said Moe Fayad, 39, who also lives at the Charleston.
Cynthia Connolly, 31, said: "I like Arlington in general, but the Courthouse is not for me." Connolly lives in nearby Lyon Park, but bicycles every Saturday morning to the Courthouse outdoor farmer's market to buy fresh produce. "The new buildings make {the Courthouse} cold and unfriendly," she said.
Most major development in the Courthouse area is concentrated around the civic square, where most of the county government offices and the courthouse are located, though its official borders extend much further. Spiraling outward from this central plaza, the Courthouse neighborhood becomes increasingly residential, composed mainly of low-rise apartments and single-family town houses that sell for $169,000 to $325,000.
Manor lives at Colonial Village, a garden-style apartment complex built in 1935. The buildings are listed on the federal and state historic registers as part of the first apartment complex in the country funded by the Federal Housing Administration. Manor and her roommate pay $866 a month for their two-bedroom unit.
"We liked the place because of its low cost and it's kind of charming. It's older, and has a lot more character than those high-rises," Manor said.
The Courthouse area is bounded loosely by Lee Highway and 10th Street to the north and south, and North Rhodes Street and North Danville Street to the east and west. Like several of its neighboring towns in the Rosslyn-Ballston corridor, Courthouse has been criticized for its disparate atmospheres. By day, the community thrives with the activity of more than 12,000 workers; its residents number half that once the clock hits 5 p.m. After dark, the area has been called a ghost town.
But there are residents who believe Courthouse has been more successful than nearby areas such as Rosslyn at integrating a daytime work environment with nighttime entertainment spots.
On a pleasant Saturday evening, crowds can be found casually milling about the Courthouse plaza, enjoying the view of the square's fountain as they wait to gain entrance to its popular movie theaters, video arcade or various eateries. The outlying Courthouse area also is well-known for its smaller, ethnic restaurants.
"{Courthouse} has a lot of great small restaurants as well as larger yuppie' restaurants. You can walk to do a lot of terrific things, without having that busy, city feeling," said Knott.
Pho 75 is one of these Courthouse jewels that entice nonresidents to the area. This Vietnamese restaurant, which serves tasty and inexpensive meals, has been listed repeatedly by food critics as Washington's best dining bargain. And the local Bardo Rodeo brewery at 2000 Wilson Blvd. has earned its own quirky reputation across the metro area. Monstrous vats of beer, a 23-table billiards room and dishes with intriguing names such as "She was so fine I'd eat the corn out of her daddy's garden" (translation: blue corn nachos) bring in thousands of bar-hoppers each week.
Others had an opposite reaction when asked about the Courthouse nightlife.
"It depends on what you want, but it doesn't have the variety of say, Old Town Alexandria. Old Town is my favorite place to go," said Fayad, who moved to Courthouse from Alexandria two years ago.
"You can't do things and still stay in your neighborhood," Manor said. "For example, in Dupont Circle you can get coffee, go to a cool bookstore, get a drink and go food shopping and never have to leave the ar\ea. There are a lot of people who live here that would be interested in having those things, but they're not here."
Arlington officials are aware of residents' complaints about the Courthouse area and are working on improvements. In November 1993, an addendum to the original sector plan for the Rosslyn-Ballston corridor was passed. After consulting urban designers and holding several community forums, the new concept addresses such previously ignored elements as pedestrian walkways, parking facilities and improving the link between the Courthouse core and surrounding residential sections.
A much-needed supermarket, Bread and Circus, will open in January between Wilson and Clarendon boulevards.
Long-term goals include further retail development, a performing arts center and the creation of a central meeting place, which many residents believe is vital to the area's growth.
"You don't run into people you know from the neighborhood at all," Manor said. "We've dated guys in apartment complexes near here and we always worry we'll run into them. But we never do."
Gabriela Acurio, master planning program coordinator for the Arlington planning department, acknowledged the need for a focal point in the neighborhood.
"The whole concept is centered around a civic plaza that helps pull together the community. . . . This is something that's in progress. We would like to see things happening quickly, but the county is not going to build these things tomorrow," she said.
Although progress is moving in baby steps, Courthouse residents are beginning to ponder the possibilities.
"With so many young people, I think it could really be a trendy, fun place if someone managed it right," predicted Manor. "There is so much potential for this area."
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