W.B. Hopke Awarded Dry Utilities Project for Crystal House 7 and 8 in Arlington, VA

Crystal House 7 and 8 (aka Highland Row) is part of a five-phase infill redevelopment plan expansion in the heart of National Landing in Arlington County. A public-private partnership between Arlington County, Amazon’s Housing Equity Fund, EYA, True Ground Housing Partners and the Washington Housing Conservancy is preparing for the next phase of development for the transformative, mixed-income expansion of the Crystal House Apartments Complex.

The project which currently has 828-units is now preparing for an additional 865 new townhomes, including 655 dedicated affordable units. Eventually the project will include a range of income levels with two phases being fully affordable and EYA’s Crystal House multi-family rental building that will include approximately another 200 units.

Hopke was awarded the dry utilities project in September 2025 and began the initial stake out and initial surveying work in October. Overseen by general contractor EYA, Hopke’s role at Crystal House 7 and 8 will include power and fiber optic work at the Fern Street South and 18th Street South location, and the project is scheduled for completion by Spring of 2026.

W.B. Hopke estimator, Patrick Langley stated, “Our work includes digding approximately 4-foot trenches from the manholes to the transformers and laying conduit for Dominion to install the power. We estimate approximately 1,500 feet of power duct banks and power conduit, along with multiple power 6’ x 12’ x7’ concrete power vaults. For the fiber, we will be installing approximately 2,200 feet of fiber conduit for Comcast, Verizon, and Arlington County fiber.”

According to Mr. Langley, the main challenge for this project is that there will be a fair amount of street work, down 18th Street South, and crossing South Fern Street at multiple points, for both new fiber and power lines. It’s a busy location and a tight area to work, with many existing utility crossings. It may require half-road closures and traffic direction.

Hopke has selected an experienced team for this project to include Project Manager, Svetla Tororova, Superintendent, Jimbo Cloniger, Foreman TBD and Crew TBD. Stay tuned for more updates as this project continues into 2026.

W.B. Hopke is a fourth generation, family-run construction business focused on building high quality utility infrastructure and lifelong careers. Hopke is located in Alexandria, VA and works throughout DC, Maryland, and Virginia. With almost 70 years of experience, Hopke prides itself on repeat customers across all kinds of market segments – schools, churches, data centers, distribution facilities, multi-family, mixed use, residential subdivisions, senior living, self-storage, heavy highway, retail, commercial office, automotive, stream restoration, and parks.

Contact W.B. Hopke about a career in utility installation and site work at 703-971-0404 or info@wbhopke.com.

References

“Highlands Row Next Phase Of Crystal House Apartments Expansion,” Patch, https://patch.com/virginia/arlington-va/highlands-row-next-phase-crystal-house-apartments-expansion, Accessed October 1, 2025.

“EYA buys Crystal City land for luxury townhouses at Crystal House infill,” Washington Business Journal, https://www.bizjournals.com/washington/news/2025/08/22/arlington-crystal-house-eya-townhouses-whc-amazon.html?utm_source=st&utm_medium=en&utm_campaign=me&utm_content=WA&ana=e_WA_me&j=41272031&senddate=2025-08-25&utm_term=ep5&empos=p5, Accessed October 1, 2025.

“New townhouse project near Crystal City expected to break ground later this year,” ARLNow, https://www.arlnow.com/2025/08/25/new-townhouse-project-near-crystal-city-expected-to-break-ground-later-this-year/, Accessed October 1, 2025.

Architectural rendering courtesy of EYA LLC