Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Agree it's a data point. Ballston is run-down, has had gang activity, and doesn't have the draw that Tysons or Clarendon or potentially even Mosaic does. The Board is looking at the success of other similar mixed use ventures in the area. Location is key and it could be a goldmine and highly sought after locale in Arlington if it could be rejunevated.

Gang activity? You're out of your mind. This isn't Le Droit Park.

Not out of my mind. Am a local who has engaged with police on the matter over the years. Let's say I have first hand knowledge that they have concerns re: gang activity in the area. Not going to out myself by explaining that any further, so you'll have to trust me or not on this. No, it's not MS-13 but they have had issues.

Ballston is not rundown, but there is still a lot of affordable housing in Buckingham, even among all the new million dollar townhouses. And a housing nonprofit purchased all of Ballston Park from Paradigm and will convert all the buildings to 100% affordable for families. But most all of the other surrounding neighborhoods are very bwealthy. Gang issues today are nothing like the huge gang problems the area faced in the 90s, when the mall was actually still quite healthy.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Agree it's a data point. Ballston is run-down, has had gang activity, and doesn't have the draw that Tysons or Clarendon or potentially even Mosaic does. The Board is looking at the success of other similar mixed use ventures in the area. Location is key and it could be a goldmine and highly sought after locale in Arlington if it could be rejunevated.

Gang activity? You're out of your mind. This isn't Le Droit Park.

Not out of my mind. Am a local who has engaged with police on the matter over the years. Let's say I have first hand knowledge that they have concerns re: gang activity in the area. Not going to out myself by explaining that any further, so you'll have to trust me or not on this. No, it's not MS-13 but they have had issues.

So if you tell us, you'd have to kill us? Got it. Wink wink.

None of this is public record that can be shared? Shady.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Too many poors nearby in ballston areas

Not after affordable housing is a reality. Now there are poor working people in Ballston in market rate rentals. The County is going to transform that housing into affordable housing so that the County police, sheriff's deputies, teachers and firefighters will be able to live where they work. Just ask the politicians. All is good

http://wtop.com/arlington/2015/05/multiple-people-injured-in-arlington-co-shooting/

Anonymous wrote:Too many poors nearby in ballston areas

Not after affordable housing is a reality. Now there are poor working people in Ballston in market rate rentals. The County is going to transform that housing into affordable housing so that the County police, sheriff's deputies, teachers and firefighters will be able to live where they work. Just ask the politicians. All is good

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Agree it's a data point. Ballston is run-down, has had gang activity, and doesn't have the draw that Tysons or Clarendon or potentially even Mosaic does. The Board is looking at the success of other similar mixed use ventures in the area. Location is key and it could be a goldmine and highly sought after locale in Arlington if it could be rejunevated.

Gang activity? You're out of your mind. This isn't Le Droit Park.

Not out of my mind. Am a local who has engaged with police on the matter over the years. Let's say I have first hand knowledge that they have concerns re: gang activity in the area. Not going to out myself by explaining that any further, so you'll have to trust me or not on this. No, it's not MS-13 but they have had issues.

Anonymous wrote:Agree it's a data point. Ballston is run-down, has had gang activity, and doesn't have the draw that Tysons or Clarendon or potentially even Mosaic does. The Board is looking at the success of other similar mixed use ventures in the area. Location is key and it could be a goldmine and highly sought after locale in Arlington if it could be rejunevated.

Gang activity? You're out of your mind. This isn't Le Droit Park.

Too many poors nearby in ballston areas

Agree it's a data point. Ballston is run-down, has had gang activity, and doesn't have the draw that Tysons or Clarendon or potentially even Mosaic does. The Board is looking at the success of other similar mixed use ventures in the area. Location is key and it could be a goldmine and highly sought after locale in Arlington if it could be rejunevated.

Wait, they're not turning the Ballston mall into open air shops, are they? I'd rather if they kept it closed but made it nicer. Maybe I'm old, but I don't really see the advantage of getting rained and snowed on.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ballston sucks for sure, but it has one thing going for it - location. It's not stuck out in the middle of nowhere between industrial parks. Throw in a few decent shops and restaurants there and it will do well.

+1. I'm surprised it has taken this long for the upgrade but it sounds like they will be doing it right. The mall as it is now is comical. I feel kind of gross just walking in there, it is gritty!

I'm the pp who moved back after years away. I had really expected the mall to have been transformed into Tyson's II or something instead of finding that it had only gotten worse. That Macy's has smelled like mold for 20+ year and the rest of the stores...yikes. Really bad.

Mosaic is nice enough, but it definitely feels like a trying too hard to be trendy island in the middle of low end light industrial. I know it's changing, but that is a major traffic area with 495 and Lee and Gallows, so I'm not sure how that's surmountable. Hopefully, the same planning geniuses who decided to run the silver line down the center of route 7 will be involved. Because that really made it feel cozy and community-like.

Anonymous wrote:Ballston sucks for sure, but it has one thing going for it - location. It's not stuck out in the middle of nowhere between industrial parks. Throw in a few decent shops and restaurants there and it will do well.

+1. I'm surprised it has taken this long for the upgrade but it sounds like they will be doing it right. The mall as it is now is comical. I feel kind of gross just walking in there, it is gritty!

Anonymous wrote:Ballston sucks for sure, but it has one thing going for it - location. It's not stuck out in the middle of nowhere between industrial parks. Throw in a few decent shops and restaurants there and it will do well.

+1 I'd moved back to the area after being away for 10 years and it is pretty mind-boggling that a location that good is so full of suck. Id expected it to have turned into a less expensive version of canary wharf -- expensive but sterile. Instead, it's expensive and oddly gritty.

I don't like Arlington, but no one can possibly be envious of Mosaic. Mosaic is about one block of stuff in the middle of Merrifield.

I see millennials pushing their strollers through industrial parks and across 3-lane highways, to get to this contrived oasis. Somehow they think this is cool. In reality, they look like recent immigrants who can't afford cars, and need to walk along major highways. I think the developers are laughing all the way to the bank.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Seems Arlington would like to catch up with the Mosaic District.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/virginia-politics/arlington-county-weighs-tax-increment-financing-for-ballston-mall/2015/11/17/0473fa22-8d51-11e5-ae1f-af46b7df8483_story.html

Hahaha. Right....

Tell it to the Arlington officials who are bemoaning in the article how poor Ballston does compared to Mosaic.

They were offering a comparison point, I would hardly say they were bemoaning. Finding a solution for Ballston has been a discussion since long before Mosaic opened, Mosaic is simply a data point in the argument that a massive renovation of the Ballson mall into an open-air multi-use space would improve the area.

The Mosaic District is awful. There are better versions of everything there in DC. If forced to live out there, I would be glad it's nearby, but I'm thankful that's not the case.