Arlington Holds Open House To Celebrate Renovated County Government Center

ARLINGTON, VA — Arlington County held a rededication ceremony Wednesday afternoon for its renovated Ellen M. Bozman County Government Center, an event that included the official opening of a new full-service Courthouse library and a new permit center on the first floor.

County staff members also were on hand in the elections office on the third floor of the building to give residents an introduction to the ranked choice voting system that will be used for the first time in Arlington in June’s Democratic primary election.

“I know you have questions about it. I know you have a fear that you are going to do it wrong,” Arlington County Board Chair Christian Dorsey told the crowd at Wednesday’s rededication ceremony about ranked choice voting. “Rest assured, if you are here today, you are going to learn how to do it right.”

Along with the new library and permit center, work on the "Renovated and Reimagined Bozman Center," which began in September 2021, included renovations to the lobby, second and third floors, the ninth-floor break-room and parking garage-level common areas.

The Arlington County Board approved the $4.8 million renovation project in July 2021, with the hope that it would be ready by January 2023. “So, we’re a little bit late, but I hope you will see as you visit here with us this afternoon how wonderful it is,” Dorsey said.

In 2018, Arlington renamed the Courthouse Government Center in honor of Ellen Bozman, who was a member of the board when the new headquarters building at 2100 Clarendon Boulevard opened in 1986.

Dorsey said the new Courthouse Library, a fully circulating branch of Arlington Public Library, has “all the features that we have come to know and love from our library system, including a wonderful children’s area.”

In 2024, the county plans to hang a public art project from the ceiling in the main lobby to the building.

At the opposite end of the first floor is the new permit center, which will be open Tuesdays and Thursdays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. for building and zoning questions, permit application assistance, records research, and other services. The lobby also includes a new Arlington Welcome Center.

Funding for the project came from a tenant improvement allowance that the government center’s landlord, JBG Smith, provided to the county following a lease renewal in 2018.

Arlington County owns the land under the government center, while JBG Smith owns the building.

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