Inaugural National Landing 'Parklet' Lets People Gather On Busy Street

ARLINGTON, VA — The National Landing Business Improvement District opened its first “parklet” in the Pentagon City neighborhood. The space, with a painted bench, tables and chairs, is located in blocked-off parking spots on S. Fern Street near the intersection with 12th St. South.

The National Landing BID said the new parklet and future parklets will provide residents, workers and visitors with a more comfortable space to gather.

The parklet, on the west side of S. Fern Street, opened on Nov. 17. Barriers provide a buffer between the street traffic and the seating area. The parklet is expected to remain in place through spring 2023.

"The National Landing BID has a history of taking vacant or underutilized spaces and repurposing them to create temporary place-making and unique experiences for community-building," Tracy Sayegh Gabriel, president and executive director of the National Landing BID, said in a statement.

The new parklet and other initiatives to create people-friendly spaces come as developers continue work on Amazon’s HQ2 at PenPlace and MetPark in the National Landing area. A second parklet will open in the next month along the south side of 12th Street, according to the National Landing BID.

These parklets are the first to open since Arlington County released its updated parklet regulations in 2021, “an important step toward creating pedestrian-friendly zones in Virginia’s largest walkable downtown,” the National Landing BID said.

The locations and parklet designs were selected based on responses from a public survey of 200 residents and visitors.

The National Landing BID selected ZGF Architects, No Kings Collective, Chapel Valley and Social Supply to design and build the parklets. They will serve as a pilot program to see if similar spaces should be built along streets throughout the National Landing area, which includes Pentagon City, Crystal City and Potomac Yards.

“As we await the opening of the area’s premier public spaces at PenPlace, MetPark, the Water Park and more, it’s initiatives like these that not only beautify the area, but provide safe, comfortable gathering space that our community needs,” Sayegh Gabriel said.

Along with these parklet projects, several large-scale public spaces are scheduled to open in National Landing in 2023 and beyond.

"In the meantime, we aim to use initiatives like these to provide safe, comfortable, and beautiful gathering spaces for people to utilize," she said. "We received great feedback on our NaLa Beach Club and Summer House pop-ups at Gateway Green, and our new parklets provide additional opportunities for programming that will contribute to the growing vibrancy along the 12th Street corridor."

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