About Arlington's Ballston

Arlington County announced a new development project on the corner of North Glebe & Wilson Blvd. Also known as old the Bob Peck site, the new project will include:

• 400,000 square feet of office space,
• 36,000 square feet of retail space,
• 90 units of affordable housing,
• 28 town homes.

I drove around there today and realized that it’s very big space– almost 5 acres. That’s pricey real estate across from the metro $26 Million to be exact when the Peck family sold it to JBG in 2006. That’s a little more than $5M/acre!
There were also two old homes boarded up on Wakefield and another small apartment building that appear to be part of the project as is the Staples, according to the press release.
These new buildings will compliment the Ballston Mall and the other new building that emerge in recent years. One-by-one Arlington has lost it’s old landmarks. The latest, Bob Peck, was a car dealership with its 1950s retro entrance, has been around even longer. The Washington Post had a nostalgic send off when the dealership closed in 2006.
It was a time when Arlington was almost a small town– part of the post WWII boom. If you ever get a chance to watch an Arlington Historical Society show on cable access- you will hear some of those residents talk about growing up in Arlington. It sounded like a real Leave It To Beaver neighborhood.
Today its a whole another Arlington. As I roam Arlington showing property I can see the many layers of Arlington. There are the farm houses that have been here since the early 1900s, the Sears Bungalows from the 1920s-30s, the colonial developments from post-WWII boom, 70s decay, 80s revitalization up until the high-tech buildings of today.
I guess when the Bob Peck Dealership went up in the 1950s, there was someone that said- gee, with all this development I’m going to have to ride my horses all the way out in Bailey’s Crossroads.

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