Rosslyn Traded Its Observation Deck for a Faster Park. Fall Still Runs on Interim Space.

Tomorrow evening, Friday, October 23, from 5 to 6:30 p.m., the Rosslyn BID is holding Howl-O-Ween at Gateway Park. The event has pet-themed vendors, a beer and wine bar for owners and the annual dog costume contest, with registration on site. The listing gives the location as the Gateway Park Interim Dog Park.

That one word, interim, applies to most of Rosslyn's public life this fall. The farmers market meets on a plaza. Fall Fest was held at a pop-up park. The neighborhood's new piece of public art is a seasonal canopy. The permanent park meant to anchor all of it is still on paper, more than two years after Arlington gave up something real to get it built sooner.

The deal that was supposed to shorten the wait

On July 22, 2024, the Arlington County Board voted 5–0 to end public access to the observation deck at 1201 Wilson Boulevard, as ARLnow reported. In return, the County got nearly $14 million for Gateway Park. CoStar Group had bought the 560,000-square-foot building, known as Central Place Tower, in February 2024. According to Arlington Economic Development, the company agreed to pay the County $13,951,900 to "significantly expedite" the park's redevelopment, "accelerating its completion by nearly a decade."

The design team is Field Operations, the firm behind Met Park. The County Board adopted the Gateway Park Master Plan and Design Guidelines in December 2024. That plan calls for a reimagined central lawn, flexible event space, an updated dog park and gardens, safer pedestrian connections, more tree canopy and native plantings, new play and seating areas, and room for public art.

The idea behind the trade was simple. Rosslyn would give up a public view from the top of a tower and get a better park at ground level years earlier than it otherwise would have.

How the dates have moved since then

Since the vote, the schedule has slipped with almost every update. Here is how the published forecasts have shifted, document by document:

• FY 2025–2034 Capital Improvement Plan: total funding of $31.085 million, including the $13.95 million CoStar contribution, with completion projected for fall 2028.
• May 2025: ARLnow reported that construction was expected to begin in 2026.
• Proposed FY 2027–2036 CIP, released May 2026: the County Manager proposed the 10-year plan on May 19, 2026. In it, design starts summer 2026, construction starts summer 2027, and completion is projected for fall 2029. Total funding is $29.685 million, with a final $1,247,762 in developer funds still expected in FY 2027. The plan also now assumes no BID contribution, which was previously carried at $1 million.
• September 15, 2026 Park and Recreation Commission staff report: construction is "anticipated in late 2027." The construction manager is preparing a report on whether the plan still fits the project budget.

In just over a year, the projected start moved from 2026 to late 2027, and the projected finish moved from fall 2028 to fall 2029. The County's project page still lists the park as "In Design." These are projections, and the latest CIP figures come from a proposed plan. If they hold, this October is one of several more Rosslyn will spend with Gateway Park in its current form. None of the County's published schedules say whether the lawn or the dog park will close during construction.

The current park has been improved in small ways. In May 2025, ARLnow reported that volunteers from R-Dogs installed dog ramps and a platform worth about $6,000 in the interim dog park, the same spot where tomorrow's costume contest will be held.

The BID built a stand-in

While the permanent park waits, the Rosslyn BID has spread the neighborhood's gathering space across several temporary sites. The biggest is the NOW, a pop-up park at 1401 Wilson Boulevard. Its name comes from its location at Nash, Oak and Wilson. The BID describes it as a temporary park "that bridges today and tomorrow," built on a terrace that used to sit unused. It has three zones:

The NOW opened on September 22, 2025, and was nominated for a DESIGNArlington Award that year. Friends of Urban Agriculture helps tend the Grow zone. This year the NOW hosted the neighborhood's two largest fall events, both now past. Rosslyn Reserved, an evening with a sommelier-led tasting, ran on September 24. On October 3, Rosslyn Fall Fest took over the space with music from Justina Beth-El and Loyal Skeptics. Screwtop Wine Bar poured, there was a corn maze and axe throwing, and the food trucks included Men'Nu, Spudology, Monsieur Waffle, Big Cheese and Mama's Donuts.

So the event that would naturally belong on a reimagined central lawn was held on a converted terrace instead.

Sixteen feet up, where the view used to be at the top

The most visible change this season hangs over Central Place Plaza, beneath the same Central Place name that once belonged to the public observation deck. Color Currents, by the DMV studio The Floral Guru, is a 56-foot canopy made of more than 130 individually painted mesh panels. It hangs about 16 feet above the plaza and moves in the wind. The palette reworks Rosslyn's brand colors into more than a dozen custom shades. In the Rosslyn BID's feature on the installation, founder Halima Adetona said the piece started from how the plaza is used: "Commuters cut through on their way to the Metro, lunch crowds fill the plaza tables, and the surrounding glass towers catch light throughout the day." The BID says it commissioned the installation after its perception survey found strong interest in more seasonal décor.

The canopy also covers the Rosslyn Farmers Market, which runs Wednesdays from 2 to 6 p.m. at Central Place Plaza, 1800 N. Lynn Street, during a season the BID lists as May through October.

The permanent rooms are up a few floors

Rosslyn's newest year-round gathering spot is also above street level. Noble Fox Bar & Terrace opened July 27 on the fourth floor of Le Méridien at 1121 19th Street N., with executive chef Francecil Ponte, Eater DC reported. The same report describes a menu of steak frites, blackened shrimp tacos, flatbreads, club sandwiches and burgers, with most dinner entrées in the mid-$20s. It also lists weekday happy hour from 4 to 7 p.m., with $6 beers and $8 wines. According to the restaurant's own site, dinner runs 4 to 10 p.m. daily and breakfast starts at 6:30 a.m. on weekdays. The BID has already scheduled an event there. Rosslyn x Pitch-a-Friend is on Thursday, November 5, from 6 to 8 p.m., and $12 general admission includes one drink.

Two blocks away, the Hyatt Centric Arlington at 1325 Wilson Boulevard has Awbrey & Sons Lounge, which has a terrace with Arlington views and serves drinks daily from 5 to 11 p.m.

Long-running ground-floor spots do not always last. Tupelo Honey closed permanently on September 28 at 1616 N. Troy Street after 11 years in the Rosslyn area, when its lease expired, ARLnow reported.

The interim calendar, from here

What is left of the season is spread across the same temporary and borrowed spaces:

1. Friday, October 23, 5–6:30 p.m.: Howl-O-Ween at the Gateway Park Interim Dog Park, 1300 Langston Blvd., with costume contest registration on site.
2. Wednesday, October 28: Halloween Trike at the farmers market on Central Place Plaza, the last Wednesday of October.
3. Thursday, November 5, 6–8 p.m.: Pitch-a-Friend at Noble Fox Bar & Terrace.
4. Through the fall: Color Currents over Central Place Plaza.

Work on the park's edges is also continuing. The September staff report says new applicants for the site next door at 1401 Langston Blvd. have requested a GLUP study. A second Long Range Planning Committee meeting is expected this fall, and public space and park considerations will be among the topics.

If you own in Rosslyn and want to know how a park still in design, a new rooftop dining room and a steady calendar of pop-up events show up in what buyers will pay on your block, Vassar Broermann Group can give you a candid read. Start with a free home valuation.