Shirlington, Virginia

Shirlington is billed as "Arlington’s Arts and Entertainment District"[2] and is a largely mixed-use development based on New Urbanist principles.

It is mostly middle-class residential, but like most of Arlington County has been experiencing an economic renaissance and is now home to many upscale dwellings and retail and service establishments that also serve the nearby Fairlington, Parkfairfax, Green Valley and Long Branch Creek areas.

Most residential, commercial, and retail development lies south of Four Mile Run while the area to the northeast, which is sometimes considered part of neighboring Green Valley, is more light industrial.

[5]: 2  Emphasis was placed on making the area pedestrian friendly with automobile parking located behind the commercial buildings.

As the plan was implemented, South 28th Street was extended westward and a building to house both the Signature Theatre and the Shirlington Library was constructed.

[6] Shirlington is home to WETA-TV where nationally-broadcast programs such as PBS Newshour and Washington Week are filmed.

The non-profit Analytic Services (ANSER)[8] and the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International[9] are headquartered there.

[14][15] A high-occupancy toll lanes (HOT lanes) project proposed for I-395 in the 2000s would have directed additional traffic onto the circle and required the addition of a new entrance and exit to the circle and six new traffic lights,[16] but the Arlington County portion of the project was cancelled in 2011.

There are numerous restaurants, saloons, a Harris Teeter grocery store, a public library, a full service station that has been there since the 1940s, and a theater in the complex.

[18] The current Library, a 15,000-square-foot (1,400 m2) facility at 2800 South Stafford Street (since changed to 4200 Campbell Ave) underneath the Signature Theater, which was under construction from August 2005 opened in March 2007.