Crystal City, Arlington, Virginia | |
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Coordinates: 38°51′5.05″N77°3′2.48″W / 38.8514028°N 77.0506889°W | |
Country | United States |
State | Virginia |
County | Arlington |
Population (2010) | |
• Total | 22,543 |
Time zone | UTC−5 (EST) |
• Summer (DST) | UTC−4 (EDT) |
ZIP Code | 22202 |
Area codes | 703, 571 |
Crystal City is an urban neighborhood in the southeastern corner of Arlington County, Virginia, approximately 5 miles south of Downtown Washington, D.C. Due to its extensive integration of office buildings and residential high-rise buildings using underground corridors, travel between stores, offices, and residences, it is possible to travel much of the neighborhood without going above ground, making at least part of Crystal City an underground city.
Crystal City includes several aerospace manufacturing and defense industry companies, public sector consulting firms, government contractors, the U.S. Department of Labor, the U.S. Marshals Service, satellite offices for the Pentagon, and various nonprofit organizations, including the International Foundation for Electoral Systems and the national headquarters for PBS.
Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, the busiest airport in the Washington metropolitan area and 23rd-busiest airport in the nation with 11,553,850 passengers as of 2022, is located in Crystal City.
Crystal City is centered along a stretch of U.S. Route 1, also known as Richmond Highway, just south of the Pentagon, east of Pentagon City, and within walking distance of Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, the busiest of the three major airports in the Washington metropolitan area. Characterized as one of several urban villages by Arlington County, Crystal City is almost exclusively populated by high-rise apartment buildings, corporate offices, hotels, and numerous shops and restaurants. There is also an extensive network of underground shopping areas and connecting corridors beneath Crystal City.
Crystal City has a station on the Washington Metro's Blue and Yellow Lines, and another on the Virginia Railway Express commuter train system.
Crystal City's layout was considered avant-garde at the time of construction in 1963 with superblocks bounded by arterial and circulating roads and pedestrian traffic and the businesses serving it relocated from the streets to pedestrian tunnels. Crystal City has since been redesigned to give it a more traditional, urban feel, with restaurants at street level, and with traffic patterns changed to make major streets like Crystal Drive function as city street, rather than as circulating roads. [1]
Before Crystal City's development by the Charles E. Smith Company, the area was underutilized with light industrial activity and motels next to National Airport before the age of more consistent business travel. A drive-in theater existed at the intersection of Jefferson Davis Highway and 20th Street South between 1947 and 1963 is visible on aerial photos from this period. Tracks from the Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad were moved closer to National Airport to provide additional room for development.
Though it is not a planned community, Crystal City unfolded in much that fashion after construction began on the first few condominiums and office buildings in 1963. The name "Crystal City" came from the first building, which was called Crystal House and had an elaborate crystal chandelier in the lobby. Every subsequent building initially took on the Crystal name, including Crystal Gateway and Crystal Towers, and others. Crystal City is largely integrated in layout with extensive landscaping with most of its high-rise buildings featuring speckled granite exteriors.
Crystal City's Crystal Underground shopping mall opened in September 1976. Billed as a "turn-of-the-century shopping village," it featured antique leaded glass shop windows and cobblestone "streets". [2] Emphasis was on locally owned and operated businesses and personalized service. The largest retail outlets were a 12,000-square-foot (1,100 m2) Jelleff's women's store, Larimers gourmet grocery and delicatessen, and a Drug Fair. The mall also featured an Antique Alley with small antique and craft stores. At its opening in 1976, there were 40 stores and anticipated expansion of 150,000 square feet (14,000 m2) with 70 more shops, including the Crystal Palace food court. [3]
Beginning in June 2004, the Crystal City area underwent a number of changes. Many buildings' addresses were changed on this date, several major roads were turned into two-way streets, and many of the markings for the traditional building names, including Crystal Gateway 1, were removed. As a result, local residents often refer to building names that are difficult for visitors to find. [4]
In 2010, Arlington County developed the Crystal City Sector Plan, which presented the community's vision to transform Crystal City into a more inviting, lively, and walkable community with more ground-floor retail, better quality office space, and more housing options. [5] This 40-year plan, which won the American Planning Association’s 2013 National Planning Achievement Award for Innovation in Economic Planning and Development, was credited with pioneering the use economic analysis for planning purposes and closely studying the economic impact of demolishing and replacing major commercial buildings.
Crystal City currently has over 22,000 residents, while around 60,000 come to work there every weekday. [6]
Crystal City is home to the headquarters of the U.S. Marshals Service and several Department of Defense offices. It also has offices of the General Services Administration and satellite offices for the Pentagon, many of which were built or occupied during the Pentagon Renovation Program. [7] Pentagon offices in Crystal City include the headquarters of the Warrior Transition Command and the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction.
US Airways once maintained its headquarters in the Crystal Park Four building in Crystal City. [8] After US Airways merged with America West Airlines in 2005, the combined company closed the Virginia headquarters and moved the management to Tempe, Arizona, in Greater Phoenix. [9]
Several companies, associations, and organizations are headquartered in Crystal City, including Boeing, [10] Bloomberg Industry Group, the American Diabetes Association, [11] PBS, the American Public Power Association, [12] and the Consumer Technology Association, [13] and others.
On November 13, 2018, Amazon.com announced that Crystal City would be the location of one of two campuses for its Amazon HQ2; the other campus will be located in Long Island City in Queens, New York City. Both campuses are expected to employ approximately 25,000 workers. [14] [15] [16] [17]
In Amazon's announcement with Northern Virginia bidders, it announced that its HQ2 neighborhood location would be jointly marketed as "National Landing", which encompasses Crystal City and part of Pentagon City and Potomac Yard. [18] In February 2019, Amazon decided to cancel its plans for the Queens location for HQ2 and instead focus exclusively on the Crystal City location, and construction for it is ongoing.
Arlington County, or simply Arlington, is a county in the U.S. state of Virginia. The county is located in Northern Virginia on the southwestern bank of the Potomac River directly across from Washington, D.C., the national capital.
Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport is a public airport located in Crystal City, in Arlington County, Virginia, United States, 5 miles (8.0 km) from Washington, D.C. It is the closest airport to Washington, D.C., the nation's capital, the 23rd-busiest airport in the nation, and the busiest airport in both the Washington metropolitan area and the Washington–Baltimore combined statistical area.
Fashion Centre at Pentagon City, originally the Pentagon City Mall, is an enclosed shopping mall in the Pentagon City neighborhood of Arlington, Virginia, near Interstate 395 and Hayes Street. Its Metro level is directly connected to the Pentagon City station on the Blue and Yellow Lines of the Washington Metro. The mall features Macy's and Nordstrom, and also houses the Ritz-Carlton Pentagon City hotel.
Crystal City station is an underground Washington Metro station in the Crystal City neighborhood of Arlington County, Virginia. The station opened on July 1, 1977, and serves the Blue Line and Yellow Line services, with a Metroway bus rapid transit stop on the surface.
Rosslyn station is the westernmost station on the shared segment of the Blue, Orange, and Silver lines of the Washington Metro. It is located in the Rosslyn neighborhood of Arlington County, Virginia. Rosslyn is the first station in Virginia heading westward from Washington, D.C. on the Orange and Silver Lines and southward on the Blue Line. It is one of four interchange points on the Metrorail system west of the Potomac River and located in a growing business district.
Farragut West station is a Washington Metro station in Downtown Washington, D.C., United States. The side-platformed station was opened on July 1, 1977, and is operated by the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA). Providing service for the Blue, Orange and Silver Lines, the station is located just west of Farragut Square with two entrances on I Street at 17th and 18th Streets NW.
Pentagon City is an unincorporated neighborhood located in the southeast portion of Arlington County, Virginia. It is located near The Pentagon and Arlington National Cemetery.
Virginia State Route 110 (SR 110) is a primary state highway in Arlington, Virginia. Known as the Richmond Highway, the state highway runs 2.41 miles (3.88 km) from U.S. Route 1 (US 1) and Interstate 395 (I-395) in Crystal City north to I-66 in the Rosslyn neighborhood. SR 110 is a four- to six-lane freeway that parallels the Potomac River, providing a connection between several of Arlington's urban villages and major landmarks, including the Pentagon, which is the headquarters of the United States Department of Defense, and the grounds of Arlington National Cemetery. The highway also provides access to SR 27, an east–west freeway between the Pentagon and the cemetery, and the George Washington Parkway that parallels the Potomac River. SR 110 is a part of the National Highway System for its entire length.
Potomac Yard is a neighborhood in Northern Virginia that straddles southeastern Arlington County and northeastern Alexandria, Virginia, located principally in the area between U.S. Route 1 and the Washington Metro Blue Line /Yellow Line tracks, or the George Washington Memorial Parkway, depending on the definition used. The area was home to what was once one of the busiest rail yards on the Eastern Seaboard of the United States. The "Potomac Yard" name is also used to refer to several developments in the area, especially the Potomac Yard Center power center and a Washington Metro station.
The economy of the Commonwealth of Virginia is well balanced with diverse sources of income. From the Hampton Roads area to Richmond and down to Lee County in the southwest includes military installations, cattle, tobacco and peanut farming in Southside Virginia. Tomatoes recently surpassed soy as the most profitable crop in Virginia. Tobacco, peanuts and hay are also important agricultural products from the commonwealth. Wineries and vineyards in the Northern Neck and along the Blue Ridge Mountains also have become increasingly popular. Northern Virginia hosts software, communications, consulting, defense contracting, diplomats, and considerable components of the professional government sector. As of the 2000 census, Virginia had the highest number of counties and independent cities (15) in the top 100 wealthiest jurisdictions in the United States based upon median income, in addition, Virginia tied with Colorado as having the most counties (10) in the top 100 based on per capita income. Loudoun and Fairfax counties in Northern Virginia have the highest and second highest median household income, respectively, of all counties in the United States as of 2017.
Westpost at National Landing is an upscale outdoor shopping and residential center in the Pentagon City neighborhood of Arlington, Virginia, with storefronts facing South Joyce Street. It is adjacent to the Fashion Centre at Pentagon City. It opened in 1999 as Pentagon Row. In December 2020, it changed its name to "Westpost at National Landing" to better align with the neighborhood as it evolved following the announcement of Amazon's HQ2.
The Pentagon is the headquarters building of the United States Department of Defense, in Arlington County, Virginia, across the Potomac River from Washington, D.C. The building was constructed on an accelerated schedule during World War II. As a symbol of the U.S. military, the phrase The Pentagon is often used as a metonym for the Department of Defense and its leadership.
Metroway is a bus rapid transit (BRT) line operated by the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) as part of their Metrobus system. It consists of a single line operating in Arlington and Alexandria, Virginia. It opened on August 24, 2014. It was the first bus rapid transit line to open in Virginia and in the Washington metropolitan area.
Amazon HQ2 is Amazon's corporate headquarters in National Landing in Crystal City, Virginia and an expansion of the company's headquarters in Seattle, Washington. Phase I, which has capacity for 14,000 employees, opened in June 2023. Construction on Phase II is delayed and there is no timeline for development.
Amazon is an American multinational technology company which focuses on e-commerce, cloud computing, and digital streaming. It has been referred to as "one of the most influential economic and cultural forces in the world", and is one of the world's most valuable brands.
National Landing is an area in Northern Virginia encompassing parts of the Crystal City and Pentagon City neighborhoods of Arlington County and the Potomac Yard neighborhood in the city of Alexandria. It is the location of the Amazon HQ2 headquarters.
The Columbia Pike–National Landing Line, designated as Route 16M, is a daily bus route operated by the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority between Skyline City and Crystal City station of the Yellow and Blue lines of the Washington Metro. This line is part of the Pike Ride service, which runs through Columbia Pike. This line provides service through the neighborhoods of Fairfax County and Arlington County to Crystal City. Unlike the Columbia Pike Line, the Columbia Pike–National Landing Line does not serve Columbia Pike past the Arlington County line.
The economy of the Washington metropolitan area includes the economy of Washington, D.C., and its suburbs, including parts of Maryland, all of Northern Virginia, and Jefferson County, West Virginia. In 2022, the DC metro area had the country's fifth-highest gross metropolitan product, at $541 billion. The region's economy is highly diverse and includes the principal industries of the US federal government, tourism, information technology, research, hospitality, news media, and bioscience.