Shirlington is an unincorporated urban area, officially called an "urban village", in the southern part of Arlington County, Virginia, United States, adjacent to the Fairlington area. The word "Shirlington" is a combination of "Shirley" (from the Shirley Highway or Interstate 395) and "Arlington".
Shirlington is billed as "Arlington’s Arts and Entertainment District" 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.
Geography
Shirlington lies in the valley of Four Mile Run, a tributary of the Potomac River. The land rises toward Fairlington in the south and Green Valley in the north.
The area is bounded by I-395 on the east except for a small section of the city of Alexandria that lies to the west of the interstate. The only structure in that section, the Shirlington Gateway office building, has an Arlington address and is usually considered a part of Shirlington. To the north and west, starting in the east, Shirlington is bordered by South Glebe Road, 24th Street South, South Shirlington Road, South Four Mile Run Drive, and South Walter Reed Drive. On the west and south, starting in the west, Shirlington is bounded by South Arlington Mill Drive, the Arlington County Environmental Services facility, and the west side of Park Shirlington Apartments.
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.
History
Shirlington began when Joseph Cherner, automobile dealer and banker, established the Shirlington Corporation to build a shopping center for nearby Fairlington and Parkfairfax. He began with a site on which the first store opened in June 1944. In 1959, the Lansburgh's department store opened a , $2.5 million store, its second suburban branch. However, by the 1970s, Shirlington was an aging traditional shopping center facing competition from shopping malls.
In the 1980s, Shirlington was partially renovated to create a "traditional main street" along South 28th Street (now Campbell Avenue) with two office buildings at one end and a big box store and a cinema at the other. However, Shirlington remained small.
By 2000, Arlington County authorities, who had previously concentrated on development of areas adjacent to Washington Metro rail lines, began giving more attention to areas not served by Metro, such as the Columbia Pike corridor and Shirlington. The property's owner and the county spurred the creation of a Shirlington Phased Development Site Plan (PDSP) and the associated Shirlington Design Guidelines. A conceptual design for the area was established and almost of new mixed-use development was envisioned. Emphasis was placed on making the area pedestrian friendly with automobile parking located behind the commercial buildings. This plan was approved by the Arlington County Board in 2001.
The development, a public-private partnership between developer Federal Realty Investment Trust of Rockville, Maryland (the operator of several other regional town-center-like developments such as Bethesda Row, Pentagon Row, and Rockville Town Center) and the county, began in the mid-2000s. 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. Several new residential and parking structures were added as well.
Economy
Shirlington is home to WETA-TV where nationally-broadcast programs such as PBS Newshour and Washington Week are filmed. WETA-FM radio and some USPTO satellite offices are also located in the town. The non-profit Analytic Services (ANSER) and the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International are headquartered there. The design firm HNTB Corporation has major offices in Shirlington as well.
Transportation
Shirlington lies on Shirley Highway (I-395) for which the town is named and is accessible from Shirlington Circle (Exit 6 on I-395). The town is served by the Shirlington Bus Station, the only enclosed public bus station in Arlington and the principal transfer point for Metrobus and Arlington Transit (ART) bus service in South Arlington.