It’s a beautiful spring day in Old Town Alexandria. You and your friends are thirsty, so you stop off for a pint at a waterfront beer garden. You grab a churro from a Mexican restaurant’s takeout window, maybe even play a game of cornhole at an outdoor mussel bar. You might end the evening with a nightcap at the new rooftop bar at the new boutique hotel.
A few years ago, these amenities and activities would have been unheard of along King Street’s idyllic, brick-lined corridor. It was as if the founding fathers themselves had decreed that no party shall ever happen on a rooftop, no nosh ever sold through a streetfront window.
But fears that Alexandria will be left behind as competition intensifies with flashier destinations such as National Harbor and The Wharf are spurring change. It’s caused Alexandria officials to begin approving the kinds of applications that would typically be dead on arrival — and doing so over the objections of a vocal, but decreasing, group of critics who say such businesses will ruin the character of Old Town.
The changes aren’t limited to its historic district. With Amazon.com Inc. moving into Arlington, and Virginia Tech bringing the related $1 billion innovation campus to Potomac Yard, Alexandria officials must brace for the arrival of even more young workers in the coming years. That means more impetus to create a dynamic restaurant and retail scene in the city.
Why the change? The status quo is no longer sustainable. Aggregate restaurant revenue across Alexandria was down 3.2 percent in fiscal 2018 — and this was before the city raised the dining tax, which some argue will sink restaurants’ bottom lines even further. Retail sales were down 1.9 percent during the same period, according to the city’s combined annual financial report.
