October 11 – 17, 2018
FA LLS CHUR C H, V I R G I NI A • WW W. FC NP. C OM • FR EE
FOU N D E D 1991 • VOL. XXVIII NO. 34
F���� C����� • T����� C����� • M��������� • M�L��� • N���� A�������� • B�����’� C���������
I����� T��� W��� 3 C���-E������� P����� E����� �� F.C. S�������
Three City of Falls Church events are scheduled to go down this Saturday, including a fire station open house, a community cleanup and recycling and hazardous household wate collection. SEE NEWS BRIEFS, PAGE 9
38 N���� T���� O��� C��’� ‘R�� R���’
Cue Recording’s “Red Room” is no more. The rear studio is being leased out and revamped into the new independent atelier 38 North Studio, which opened last month.
Real Estate Developer Todd Hitt Arrested, Charged With 8 Securities Fraud Counts
F��� D�� F�� �� F.C.
But Broad-Washington Project Still a Go, Says Insight Properties
BY NICHOLAS F. BENTON
FALLS CHURCH NEWS-PRESS
joists, originally developed during the Renaissance, has been in operation in Falls Church since the construction of the current George Mason High, but space and safety considerations have been given as reasons for eliminating it in the new school. Even though the final design features of the proposed new George Mason High School, coming with a $120 million bill that Falls Church citizens will foot, are being touted by the School Board
Despite the FBI arrest and arraignment on eight counts of securities and investment fraud of Kiddar Capital’s principal Todd Hitt last week, the large-scale mixed-use project that Hitt was deeply involved with in downtown Falls Church will continue apace under the direction of the Insight Property Group, Insight’s Marty Stern said in a statement to the News-Press Monday. “Insight Property Group remains fully committed to Broad and Washington and delivering an exceptional development that serves the growing residential, business and arts community. To that end, we have, and will continue to, pursue options and work with the City to redevelop Broad and Washington without Kiddar Capital as a tenant of the office building, ” Stern said. Todd Hitt, CEO of Falls Church-based Kiddar Capital, shocked the regional development community and many in Falls Church when he surrendered to the FBI Friday on an outstanding arrest warrant in connection to securities fraud charges, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. Hitt, whose company was located at the future site of the big 2.3-acre mixed-use project at Rt. 7 and 29 he was co-developing, is alleged to have falsely claimed Kiddar Capital managed $1.4 billion in assets and had offices in Houston, Palm Springs and London and failed to disclose extravagant spending, such as the leasing of private jets and the purchase of sports tickets and jewelry, according to the Washington Business Journal, which first
Continued on Page 5
Continued on Page 4
SEE PAGE 17
P��������� P������’ N�� S����� B�����
Providence Players of Fairfax open their 2018-2019 season continuing a tradition of eclectic programming capable of showcasing acting talent with “Lovers and Executioners,” the tragi-comedy by John Strand which made its debut 20 years ago at Washington D.C.’s arena stage. SEE PAGE 15
P���� P��� ���� M������ P������� J���� Singer-songwriter Matthew Perryman Jones will give locals a treat when he performs at Jammin’ Java next Tuesday night. SEE PAGE 16
FARM DAY IN THE City of Falls Church was held at the Cherry Hill Park last weekend, and as always among the most popular features was the hayride pulled along by a gentle ol’ mare. (P����: G��� M�����)
Key Theater Pros Sign Petition For Fly Loft at New George Mason High BY NICHOLAS F. BENTON
FALLS CHURCH NEWS-PRESS
INDEX
Editorial............... 6 Letters................. 6 Business News ... 8 News & Notes 10–11 Comment ..... 12–13 Calendar ..... 18–19
Classified Ads ... 20 Comics, Sudoku & Crossword ........ 21 Crime Report ......22 Critter Corner....22 Sports ............... 23
Falls Church’s heavyweight theater professionals began weighing in on the now-contentious issue of current plans to exclude a fly-loft system from the theater-auditorium at the new George Mason High School. Former Falls Church vice mayor and vice chair of the City’s Creative Cauldron theater performance and educational board, Marty Meserve, penned a letter to the News-Press this week where
she calls the omission “a huge oversight.” She also joined her signature to over three dozen others attending an annual gala last weekend of the Creative Cauldron non-profit based in Falls Church. “I urge the schools to reconsider this omission and treat the arts department with the same fairness that other other programs enjoy,” Meserve wrote. A fly-loft system in the theater is that which enables the rapid change of sets and scenes and the storage of larger props over the stage behind the curtain. The system of pulleys and