A Busy Week for OTNA: Online Forum on the Arts & Cultural District & Volunteer Event with Friends of the Mount Vernon Trail

OTNA Online Forum: Moving the Arts & Cultural District from Concept to Reality

On Thursday, November 13th, the Old Town North Alliance hosted an online forum to discuss the Arts & Cultural District. Ryan Whitaker (OTNA President and TideLock co-developer), moderated a panel discussion that featured: Suzanne Bethel (The Art League), Jeff Farner (City of Alexandria Department of Planning & Zoning), Austen Holderness (Carr Properties), and Dena Stoner (Board Member of The National Council for the Traditional Arts and The Shippensburg University Foundation).

The panel featured updates on the various projects/properties in Old Town North that are relevant to the Arts & Cultural District:

The Art League

The Art League’s two new locations, the Studios at Muse and the Slaters Annex, are both up and running with a wide variety of class offerings. Muse features a pop-up gallery, painting and watercolor, silkscreen, printmaking, a dark room, and stained glass/mosaics. The Slaters Annex features ceramics, sculpture, painting, jewelry, kids classes, and equipment-based classes.

The Art League will be holding an Open House/Holiday Market at both locations on Friday, December 5th from 5pm - 8pm with a free shuttle running between the locations. For more information, visit:

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/holiday-market-at-the-art-league-tickets-1774096242619

500 Montgomery St.

500 Montgomery St. is now home to the first Arts Tenant (as opposed to an Arts Anchor) in Old Town North - a partnership between 532 Yoga and NCO Creative, an art consultancy that curates exhibitions of international artists. 532 Yoga/NCO Creative plan to activate the space with weekly activities.

This week 532 Yoga/NCO Creative announced Tuesday Gallery Nights, every Tuesday from 6:30pm - 9:30pm. Stop by to explore the art and meet curator Natalie O’Connor.

TideLock

This project, which includes 65 condos (The Residences), 169 rental units (Current), a 5,000 sq. ft. Arts Anchor space and 2,000 sq. ft. of retail space (likely a café), will be delivered in April 2026 by co-developers Community Three and Whitaker Investment Corp. The Arts Anchor is still TBD, but there is a pending proposal before Planning & Zoning for an Italian car museum and TideLock developers are simultaneously pursuing a second option.

MetroStage

MetroStage is actively engaged with Winstanley Architects and Quattro Construction on plans for the interior buildout of the theater at Venue and is targeting fall 2026 for completion with plans to host the Alexandria Film Festival in November 2026.

If you would like to make a donation to help MetroStage reach its capital goal for the project, visit:

https://www.metrostage.org/

425 Montgomery St.

Carr Properties expects to deliver this project, which includes 237 rental units, at the end of 2026. In Q1 or Q2 of 2027, retail and the Arts Anchor, CityDance, should open. Plans for the CityDance space are still in process, but it is likely that there will be 4-5 studios within the space offering classes in a variety of dance styles including ballet, contemporary, jazz, hip hop, and African. CityDance does a great job of partnering with local theater groups, choreographers, and other performing arts groups so there will be an opportunity for other performing arts groups to use the space. Planned retail for 425 Montgomery St. includes For Five Coffee, a coffee shop with robust breakfast and lunch offerings, and Grazie Nonna, an Italian restaurant with a bar scene.

Montgomery Center

This redevelopment by Carr America will include 327 rental units, 25,000 sq. ft. of ground floor retail space, and a 13,000 sq. ft. Arts Anchor space. An Arts Anchor has been selected, but the identity of the Arts Anchor has not yet been made public. Carr America is finalizing the capitalization of the project and anticipates beginning construction in late Q1 or early Q2 of 2026.

Panel Discussion

Suzanne Bethel started off the panel discussion with a detailed explanation of how the Art League was able to establish two new locations (Muse and the Slaters Annex) with the help of AEDP, the Industrial Development Authority (IDA) and Carr America. The Art League’s story showcased the way in which the circumstances for each arts organization can be very unique and different. Flexibility was key in the Art League’s ability to ultimately open its doors in Old Town North.

One of the topics of discussion was the recent addition of the Old Town North Arts & Cultural District to the City’s Long Range Workplan for 2026-27. Ryan Whitaker asked Jeff Farner what he expected to come out of this effort, noting that there is a growing impatience among OTNA Members and the OTN community who want to see a focus on implementation rather than planning. Farner explained that this effort was intended to answer the question of whether the legislation used to create the Arts & Cultural District (offering bonus density to developers in exchange for providing unfinished spaces for Arts & Cultural Anchors) was working and to explore what is working and what’s not. Farner acknowledged that one lesson learned thus far was that delivering unfinished spaces created a barrier for arts tenants who are typically not in position to cover the costs of finishing the spaces.

Dena Stoner, who has conducted extensive research on successful arts districts in other cities, laid out a list of common success factors that these districts seem to share:

An art/music school
An involved citizen group
Density of programming in an area of the City
Policies that support creatives
Affordable spaces
Walkability and accessible by public transportation
Broad definition of “arts”
Dedicated funding
City office that is a “one-stop shop”

Whitaker observed that Old Town North is starting to exhibit quite a few of these success factors - being home to The Art League, having three involved citizen groups (OTNA, NOTICE, and OTNCP), and making progress on walkability with the effort to widen sidewalks in various areas of Old Town North. With regard to the need for a City office that is a one-stop shop, Whitaker shared that OTNA has been advocating for a project manager for the Arts & Cultural District over the last year. Last month, OTNA began working with Katherine Carraway in the City’s Department of Planning and Zoning in an effort to work across the various City departments to implement some of the initiatives set forth in the Old Town North Small Area Plan.

Austen Holderness suggested that the City should make an effort to encourage businesses that work well together with the arts like retail and restaurants. Holderness explained that this combination of arts and retails/restaurants will create a dynamic environment. With the planned opening of For Five Coffee and Grazie Nonna, Carr Properties is laying a foundation to support the arts uses. Bethel shared that this was consistent with her experience where she observed synergies between art students and small businesses when the Art League was located in the Montgomery Center, which was then home to a concentration of small businesses. Farner agreed that the opportunity to capture people before and after using arts spaces would benefit the district as a whole. The success of the arts in Old Town North is directly related to the success of the retail businesses.

At the end of the day, Whitaker concluded, everyone wants to see the Arts & Cultural District thrive. Tonight’s presentation demonstrated that there should be a relatively quick succession of Arts Anchor openings over the next 18 months or so and the panel discussion offered a great opportunity to focus on some of the factors that can help facilitate the success of the Arts & Cultural District.

If you would like to support OTNA’s continuing efforts to make progress on the Arts & Cultural District, please consider becoming a Member. Please email director@otnalliance.org for more information.

If you would like to watch a recording of the online forum, you can visit the link below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6EUk0JXzPBs

OTNA Volunteer Event with Friends of the Mount Vernon Trail - Mega Trash Bash

Judd Isbell and Cameron Taylor of Friends of the Mount Vernon Trail pose for a picture with OTNA President Ryan Whitaker (and his daughters Caroline and Charlotte) and OTNA Executive Director Sarah Almy (and her son Graham) (image courtesy of Friends of the Mount Vernon Trail)

On Saturday, November 15th Old Town North Alliance Members joined forces with OTNA Member Friends of the Mount Vernon Trail and several other local organizations for a Mega Trash Bash to clean up the area along the Mount Vernon Trail. The OTNA/Friends of the Mount Vernon Trail portion of the event focused on the area around Marina Towers. Over the course of only two hours at the Marina Towers location, 128 volunteers collected 2,456 lbs of trash. Across the entire event, 283 volunteers participated and 4,219 lbs of trash were collected.

Thank you to all of the OTNA Members and other community members who came out to help!

You can watch a timelapse video of the Old Town North effort the link below:

https://youtu.be/kbUZDO2zwNs

*The trash pile collected by the volunteers working near Marina Towers - 2,456lbs of trash!*
*(image courtesy of Old Town North Alliance)*

Linda VitelloNovember 21, 2025