Reston Citizen

Map provided by the Reston Citizens Association illustrating the wide support for the “Town of Reston,” by mapping the location of petition signers.

The Reston Citizens Association (who where behind the ResTown petition) is working to make sure legislation in the Virginia Assembly gets approved that grants permission for Reston to become a town. Currently a town can not incorporate if it lies within a county under the urban-executive form of government.

One of the important steps toward Reston becoming a town is having organizations like the Reston Community Center, Reston Association, and the Reston Town Center Association sign on. If any one of these organizations refused to join it would severely limit the “Town of Reston” from providing services. If they did provide the services they’d have to double charge constituents for services that were already offered, which would certainly be unpopular.

The association is asking people to send letters to local newspapers, state representatives, and people in various community organizations. On December 3rd RCC and RA will be meeting to determine if they would potentially dissolve themselves to become part of a future town.

If you’d like to publish an opinion on Reston as a town then contact us.

The early 2008 completion of the South of Market project will bring several new dining options to the town center.

Boston Properties, which owns several buildings at the Town Center has confirmed they have signed three leases, and a fourth is almost completed. The Reston Times say the tenants are Mon Ami Gabi, Passion Food LLC and Great American Restaurants.

The newer western end of the Town Center has seen several new restaurants move in including Il Fornaio and IceBerry, a California yogurt “parlor.” There is also a rumored White Chocolate Grill which would occupy the space abandoned by Ruby Tuesday. The new restaurants have been selected to minimize cannibalization of the already crowed restaurant market.

The new menus will include a customizable burger restaurant, a seafood restaurant, and a French steakhouse.
The Reston Town Center has had a nearly continual retail occupancy of 100%, and according to John Asadoorian, manager of retail leasing, “Interest in the space was high.” The South of Market project, a brick and glass office building with ground level retail will open it’s doors sometime in early 2008. As the Town Center faces build-out this will probably be one of the last office projects.

The Northern Virginia Technology Council will be hosting Rudolph Giuliani on the morning of Friday, September 21st. NVTC has hosted a series of presidential candidates making presentations. The event is geared to technology company executives but is open to the general public.

The program is a breakfast to be held at the Hyatt Regency at the Reston Town Center. Registration and networking is 7:00-7:45am, with the program at 8:00-9:15am. Cost for non-members is $105. You can visit the NVTC website for more information.

This delicious looking meal was prepared at Busara, a Thai restaurant at the Town Center. I know from person experiences, restaurants are terrible places to photograph. But somehow he got the lighting and everything worked, to the point I could see this in a food magazine.

Weather for Thursday, September 13th: Increasing clouds, with a high near 78. Calm wind becoming south between 6 and 9 mph.

Photo by: chrismilne

Kettler, a prominent developer in the DC area has completed the interior construction of it’s Midtown North lofts. The development is part the three condominium towers at the Reston Town Center. The condos offer up to 2500 square feet of space. Prices range from $400,000 to $1.6 million.

“In combining the solitude and spaciousness of a private home with the sophistication of an elegant hotel, we are eager to offer our residents a special kind of living. The Midtown North is an intimate, high-end community that focuses on giving each of our homeowners a distinct space they can call their own,” said Jamie Gorski, Chief Marketing Officer of Kettler.

This is the final phase of the current residential development. This brings the total amount of units at the complex to 952 units.

One of the things about Reston I love is it’s abundance of nature. This is part of my photography series called Urban Nature. I tried to grab shots for this series in Manhattan but that didn’t work out too well.

Weather for Monday, September 10th: A chance of showers and thunderstorms, mainly after 8am. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 83. Calm wind becoming west between 4 and 7 mph. Chance of precipitation is 30%.

Photo by: Joshua Davis (articnomad)

The Reston Community Center will close temporarily in summer 2008 for HVAC renovations. Classes and other activities will be relocated to other facilities, including the Lake Anne center.

The HVAC system is over thirty years old, and RCC chariman Bill Bouie said, “we are replacing a 30-year old system, which was original to the Hunters Woods building. The system started to require more and more repair and without question
outlived its efficiency.” The board decided the timings to overlap with the annual closures of both the pool and community theater.

RCCs executive director, Bonnie Freeman has said the move will also see expansion in the Reston Town Center area, and North Reston. This has been an area the Center has wanted to expand in for a while, according to her. The center will close in June 2008, and reopen in October.

Animation gallery ArtInsights in the Reston Town Center will be hosting a new exhibit on Disney animated art from the 1950s. The display opens on Tuesday September 3rd, and is open until October 2nd. Items on display include Alice in Wonderland, Peter Pan, Lady and Tramp, and more.

ArtInsights is run by Michael Barry and Leslie Combemale who both have extensive experience in art. Collectors can buy art, or the casual viewer can see pieces from Disney, Warner Brothers, and other studios. They specialize in pre 1960s animation art. ArtInsights is located at 11921 Freedom Drive.

Friday

Wolftrap Filene Center at 7:30pm: Travis Tritt performs with two new albums. Tickets $40 or $22. [more]

Saturday

Lake Fairfax at 12-6pm: 7th Annual Northern Virginia Family and Civic Picnic, with 43 local government officials. Presented by the All Dulles Area Muslim Society. Tickets are $2/person. [more]

Reston Town Center Pavilion at 7:30-10pm: Dance the Night Away The Mustangs (60s soul, Motown, swing, disco).

Sunday

Reston Town Center Pavilion and W&OD Trail at 6am: Bike riders can select from three routes of approximately 30, 63 and 100 miles. Presented by Reston Bike Club. [more]

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Il Fornaio opens it’s first East Coast restaurant at the Reston Town Center Monday. Il Fornaio started as a cooking school in Lombardia, Italy, and later expanded to America.

Il Fornaio serves primarily Northern Italian cuisine, and has a list of 60+ wines. Several of the wines are unique to it’s Reston, Virginia location, as they believe in selling a few local wines. Il Fornaio’s chef, Claudio Zorloni and managing partner, David Carteni both come from Italy and have extensive experience.

Average menu prices are $16, lunch, and $30 dinner. The restaurant seats about 240 people, and is open from 11am to 11pm Monday-Thursday, and open until midnight on Friday and Saturday. Sunday hours are 10am to 11pm. It’s opening day is August 27th, and is located in the Midtown residential building.