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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 Codes | 22202 |
Area codes | 703, 571 |
Crystal City is an urban neighborhood in the southeastern corner of Arlington County, Virginia, 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 offices of numerous aerospace manufacturing and defense industry companies, public sector consulting firms, government contractors, the United States Department of Labor, the United States Marshals Service, satellite offices for the Pentagon, various NGOs and nonprofits (including IFES), and the headquarters for PBS. It is also the location of Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport.
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 to the west of Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport. Characterized as one of many 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]
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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 & 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." 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. [2]
On June 26, 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. [3]
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. [4] 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. [5]
Crystal City is home to the United States Marshals Service and numerous Department of Defense offices. It also has offices of numerous defense contractors, the General Services Administration, and satellite offices for the Pentagon, many of which were built or occupied during the Pentagon Renovation Program. [6] 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. [7] 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. [8]
Crystal City currently is home to headquarters for several companies, including Boeing, [9] Lidl, Lyft, Bloomberg BNA, and others. It also is home to several associations and technology companies, including the Muscular Dystrophy Association, National Waste & Recycling Association, American Diabetes Association, [10] American Public Power Association, PBS, [11] and Consumer Technology Association [12] and others. The area also includes offices of numerous aerospace manufacturing and defense industry companies, public sector consulting firms, and government contractors.
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. [13] [14] [15] [16] In Amazon's announcement with Northern Virginia bidders, it announced that its HQ2 neighborhood location would be jointly marketed as "National Landing", which encompasses not only Crystal City but part of Pentagon City and Potomac Yard. [17] 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.
Fashion Centre at Pentagon City, also known as Pentagon City Mall, is a 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.
Rosslyn is a heavily urbanized unincorporated area in Northern Virginia located in the northeastern corner of Arlington County, Virginia, north of Arlington National Cemetery and directly across the Potomac River from Georgetown and Foggy Bottom in Washington, D.C.
Crystal City station is an underground Washington Metro station in the Crystal City neighborhood of Arlington, Virginia, United States. 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, Virginia, United States. Rosslyn is the first station in Virginia heading westward from the District 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.
Ballston is a neighborhood in Arlington County, Virginia. Ballston is located at the western end of the Rosslyn-Ballston corridor. It is a major transportation hub and boasts one of the nation's highest concentrations of scientific research institutes and research and development agencies including the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency-DARPA, the Office of Naval Research, the Advanced Research Institute of Virginia Tech, the Air Force Office of Scientific Research, and associated engineering, management, and public sector consulting firms. Ballston also contains a section known as Virginia Square and sometimes the area is collectively known as Ballston-Virginia Square.
Capitol South station is a Washington Metro station in the Capitol Hill neighborhood of Washington, D.C., United States. The island-platformed station was opened on July 1, 1977, and is operated by the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA). The station currently provides service for the Blue, Orange, and Silver Lines.
Pentagon City is an unincorporated neighborhood located in the southeast portion of Arlington County, Virginia, near the Pentagon and Arlington National Cemetery.
New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC) is a public-benefit corporation that serves as the official economic development organization for New York City. NYCEDC gives its mission as strengthening business confidence in New York City, diversifying the city's economic sectors, and delivering sustainable infrastructure.
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. 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.
Washington-Hoover Airport was an airport serving the city of Washington, D.C., in the United States from 1933 to 1941. It was created by the merger of Hoover Field and Washington Airport on August 2, 1933. It was in Arlington, Virginia, near the intersection of the Highway Bridge and the Mount Vernon Memorial Highway. Washington-Hoover Airport, like its predecessors, suffered from safety problems, short runways, and little room to grow. It closed for public use in June 1941, and the United States Department of War purchased the site in September, closing it for good. Washington National Airport, which opened in June 1941, was built as its replacement. The Pentagon now occupies the site.
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.
Arlington Ridge is a neighborhood in Arlington County, Virginia, United States. It is bordered on the north by The Pentagon, on the west by the Army Navy Country Club, and on the south the City of Alexandria. The main thoroughfare is the eponymous Arlington Ridge Road, a mansion-lined boulevard that, due to its high elevation, offers picturesque views of Washington, D.C., and the surrounding areas.
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 Crystal City, Arlington, Virginia and is 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 neighborhood was branded and announced as "National Landing" in 2018 as a part of local economic development plans to bring Amazon HQ2 to the area. The announcement also included plans to build a graduate-school satellite university campus of Virginia Tech in the area. The "National Landing" name derives, in part, from the area's proximity to Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport.
The Columbia Pike–National Landing Line, designated as Route 16M, is a daily bus route operated by the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority between the neighborhood of 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.