Pentagon City, Virginia
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Detail of Washington Tower |
Pentagon City is an unincorporated
neighborhood (also called an "urban village") located in the southeast portion of
Arlington County, Virginia, near
The Pentagon and
Arlington National Cemetery. The community of residential, office, and retail complexes is a major tourist stop due to its proximity to
Washington, D.C.; Pentagon City is less than a mile from the
Potomac River, which separates the
Commonwealth of Virginia from
Washington, D.C. It is conveniently located on the
Blue and
Yellow Lines of the
Washington Metro, and the
Pentagon City Metro station is one of the busiest in the metrorail system during peak and off-peak hours.
The Pentagon, whose parking lots span both sides of nearby Shirley Memorial Highway (
I-395), is located just a couple of blocks away. The neighborhood of
Crystal City borders Pentagon City to the east along S. Eads Street, and separates Pentagon City from
Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport. Washington Boulevard (
S.R. 27), Arlington Boulevard (
U.S. 50), Columbia Pike (
S.R. 244),
Jefferson Davis Memorial Highway (
U.S.1), and
S.R. 110 are nearby major thoroughfares.
The area is primarily known as a shopping district, particularly for the multi-level indoor shopping mall, the
Fashion Centre at Pentagon City (also known as the Pentagon City Mall), which includes
Macy's and
Nordstrom as
anchor stores. On the west side of the Fashion Centre is the mixed-use development of Pentagon Row, which includes a
Harris Teeter grocery store and many smaller specialty stores and restaurants in the midst of high-end apartments. Pentagon Row features an outdoor ice rink during the winter.
Other popular retail outlets include
Best Buy and
Borders Books and Music at the Pentagon Centre, which is located to the east of the Fashion Centre across Hayes Street. Adjacent to the Pentagon Centre is a
Costco Warehouse, which sits in a larger complex of warehouses that is one of the few signs of the area's former industrial character. In 2003, the Costco complex was one of three Arlington County sites proposed by the Virginia Baseball Stadium Authority to host the relocating
Montréal Expos; the other two sites were a plot of undeveloped land closer to the Pentagon and a site in the neighborhood of
Rosslyn. Though some polls of Arlington residents appeared to show overall support for locating the stadium in the county, the issue was highly divisive and many Pentagon City residents strongly opposed it in a highly visible campaign.
Major League Baseball finally announced in the fall of 2004 that the Expos would move to the District, where the team became the
Washington Nationals.
Virginia Highlands Park, located immediately south of the central retail area, provides a lush green space as well as basketball, tennis, soccer, and softball/baseball facilities. Adjacent to the park are the Aurora Hills branch of the Arlington Public Library system and a firehouse. The suburban neighborhood of Aurora Hills, which consists primarily of single-family detached housing, extends due south of Pentagon City.
The
River House apartments complex includes three older high-rise buildings (The James, The Potomac and The Ashley) that house many residents. Other high-rise luxury apartments and condos on Pentagon Row as well as the four-story Southampton Condominium townhouse community provide housing for thousands of residents.
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Arlington's Urban Villages - Pentagon City
