Scanning the horizon from the hill atop Woodlawn Plantation in Fairfax County, Michael Babin can picture his agrarian ideal. A produce garden flourishes on a three-acre spread to his right. An orchard blooms on the sloped terrace at his feet. Subdivided plots tended by apprentice farmers stretch across 100 acres surrounding the plantation house. Babin can even see biodiesel-fueled trucks, powered with waste from the nine eateries in his Neighborhood Restaurant Group,… Read More

The Donohoe Cos. Inc. plans to construct a $50 million Residence Inn by Marriott at the Founders Square project in Ballston. D.C.-based Donohoe will break ground on the 183-room hotel in the third quarter of 2011, pending Arlington County approval. The hotel, which could be the first in Arlington to start since 2008, would be finished in 2013. The 150,000-square-foot project would be part of The Shooshan Co.’s Founders Square, a mixed-use… Read More