Last year at this time I was freaking out. My lease was up with State Department Susan, and it was either time to re-up for another year (she was big on the ballet of government moves) or move out.

Being a man who prefers the path of least resistance, I decided to make an offer to buy the place. I had two years of ideas to modernize the kitchen and bathroom that I actually thought might be fun. And paying a premium, I stayed where I was.

I have enjoyed the location, the amenities and the people since 2001. I even wrote a book about it- posted somewhere as “Tales From Big Pink” that talks about real estate in this strange triangular county, when FDR’s New Dealers came to town to erect little brick box houses to accommodate the start of the Deep State. It was a wild period against the backdrop of the Depression misery.

So, there I was. I contracted with Leo, the former Building Engineer, to get the work done. Then I wound up in bucolic Culpeper. Life is funny. But just because I am down here doesn’t mean I am not interested in what is happening up north in Arlington. I have skin in the game.

I arrived in 1986 to work at the Navy Annex on the ridge back when the County was still on its ass. Whitey’s was still serving the signature broasted chicken and Pabst Blue Ribbon. After retiring from the Navy, I had the chance to work for more than a decade with companies based in the Ballston neighborhood. That meant a daily triangle between Big Pink, the office and the Willow bar, or later the Front Page. Then, things clearly began to change.

The Feds began to move out- Fish and Wildlife disappeared. Commercial rents had to go up, which is what killed the bars. The World’s Worst Mall by the Metro was under complete renovation. The fun bars were all closing. And in spite of it all, I couldn’t leave Big Pink. Real estate here is a crap-shoot. I have been up a couple hundred grand and down by about the same amount over the course of five transactions and hence become partly numb to the popular hysteria that goes with the bear-and-bull cycle.

And that is what kicked in after the Announcement. “Amazon Headquarters 2 to be created in Arlington’s Crystal City!”

From the flak merchants, that is around 25,000 jobs, and maybe a complete transformation of the area south of the Pentagon all the way to Potomac Yards.

I support the effort by Mr. Bezos to colonize us, of course. What right thinking person wouldn’t?

So that has been percolating for a year or so, and the nature of the transformation should startle anyone who had to deal with the big DoD presence that populated the new development in the 1970s. Check the plans in progress. This image doesn’t include lowering the former Jeff Davis Highway to ground level.

This is going to be a mess for a couple years. Could be good when it is done. I think I may sit it out in the country.

Copyright 2019 Vic Socotra
www.vicsocotra.com