Breweries, festivals, hiking trails, concerts. Northern Virginia has way more going on than people think. This is where I’ll share the spots and events worth checking out.

 


​ Northern Virginia is never a boring place. There’s always something happening, whether it be an upcoming festival, a seasonal celebration, or a shop's grand opening. Speaking of which, there’s a plethora of new spots opening up right now. Some of these stores will launch soon; others have just opened up. Colgan Teams is here to give you a good rundown.

High Tea with the Highlands

PhOTO BY Soo Chung
Scarlet Springs Farm falls is an event and venue space, but really, they do so much more. They’re also a bed & breakfast, a luxury picnic spot, and one of Northern Virginia’s best event hosts. If you’re a Bridgerton fan, then you’ll especially like Scarlet Spring Farms and their latest Bridgerton-inspired function. The farm is planning a high…

181 Views, 0 Comments

Read Full Post

The Northern Virginia food and drink scene never stays still for long. This week we've got three new openings worth knowing about — and three closings that tell a story about what landlords are doing to hospitality businesses in high-demand corridors right now.

Here's the full rundown.

The Openings

Hawkley Brewing — Herndon

Hawkley Brewing is opening this Monday, March 24th, at 257 Sunset Park Drive in Herndon. They're moving into the space previously occupied by Juicy Brewing Co., and they're hitting the ground running: 10 beers on tap at grand opening, canned beer for to-go, merch, and giveaways. If you're spending any time in the Herndon/Reston corridor this weekend, it's worth a stop.

Ovoka Farm Winery — Paris, Virginia (Fauquier…

398 Views, 0 Comments

Read Full Post

Speakers: Chris Colgan, Peter, Vince, Mal • Date: December 22, 2025

Overview

I grabbed three agents from my team and we drove from the far western suburbs all the way to Old Town Alexandria, ranking every major area in Northern Virginia along the way. We've got Peter, who grew up in Haymarket and now lives in Falls Church. Vince, who grew up in the area and just moved to Strasburg. And Mal, who's newer to NoVA and brings an outsider's perspective. We hit Gainesville, Haymarket, Loudoun County, Leesburg, Ashburn, One Loudoun, Reston, Falls Church, Alexandria, and Arlington, giving honest grades and calling out what nobody else will tell you about each area. (0:00)

Key Takeaways

  • Gainesville: B to C+ range. Great variety and…

558 Views, 0 Comments

Read Full Post

Speaker: Chris Colgan • Date: March 28, 2026

Overview

Figuring out where to live in Northern Virginia isn't as simple as picking a spot on the map. NoVA has 2.6 million residents across roughly 1,340 square miles, and not all counties are created the same. If you don't choose right, you could end up with brutal commutes, higher taxes, and zero walkability. I've been selling real estate here for 22 years and lived in Northern Virginia my whole life. This is a full map tour breaking down every county, key neighborhoods, price points, transportation, taxes, schools, new developments, and who should live where. (0:00)

Key Takeaways

  • Northern Virginia has 2.6 million residents, 30% of Virginia's total population, spanning Fairfax,…

663 Views, 0 Comments

Read Full Post

Tysons just landed another anchor. GRVTY, a Northern Virginia-based defense technology firm, is committing $8 million to build a brand-new headquarters in Tysons, with plans to add 200 positions across engineering, technology, science, and corporate operations. That's on top of the company's existing base of 1,000 employees already embedded in the D.C. suburbs.

Governor Abigail Spanberger backed the move publicly, citing the Commonwealth's concentration of technical talent and its unmatched proximity to government decision-makers. The state is contributing an $800,000 grant through the Commonwealth's Opportunity Fund, with additional support through the Virginia Jobs Investment Program for workforce training.

On its own, this is a significant…

1141 Views, 0 Comments

Read Full Post

That massive old Lord & Taylor space at Tysons Corner Center has been sitting vacant for six long years. At one point, there were talks of a mixed-use tower going up in its place. But instead, we are getting something much more exciting—and it tells us exactly where the Northern Virginia retail and real estate market is heading.

Welcome to Dick's House of Sport

Dick’s House of Sport is officially coming to Tysons One Place, slated to open in Fall 2027. If you haven't heard of this concept, it is not your average sporting goods store. This is a fully immersive, experiential retail destination.

Imagine walking into a store and finding a massive rock-climbing wall, a multi-sport practice cage, and state-of-the-art golf simulators. They even feature…

721 Views, 0 Comments

Read Full Post

Why it matters:
A new pop-up bar in Washington, D.C. is turning real-world events into something you can watch—and bet on—in real time. It’s a glimpse into how media, finance, and geopolitics are starting to merge.

The big picture

Polymarket, a cryptocurrency-based prediction platform, is launching a pop-up bar called “The Situation Room” in D.C. this weekend.

The concept:
A live monitoring hub where guests can follow breaking global events while viewing real-time prediction markets tied to those outcomes.

Think:

  • Live X (Twitter) feeds

  • Flight tracking data

  • Bloomberg terminals

  • Polymarket odds updating in real time

This isn’t a traditional sports bar. It’s a real-world dashboard for global…

357 Views, 0 Comments

Read Full Post

Most people who move to Northern Virginia pick the wrong neighborhood. Not because they didn't research — they did. They Zillow'd obsessively, read the school ratings, watched the YouTube tours. They still got it wrong, because nobody told them that Northern Virginia isn't one market. It's six counties, a dozen distinct real estate submarkets, and about fifteen different versions of what "a good commute" means depending on where you're working and what time you leave the house.

I've been fixing that mistake for 18 years. I'm Chris Colgan — Northern Virginia native, founder of Real Nova Network, and the agent behind 32 million YouTube views on a channel built entirely around helping people understand this region before they commit to it. I grew up in…

1197 Views, 0 Comments

Read Full Post

Northern Virginia doesn't do slow news weeks. Right now we've got a data center battle headed to the Virginia Supreme Court, a 70-year-old drive-in theater rising from the dead, and a stadium design that has the entire DMV talking. If you live here, own here, or are seriously considering a move to this area, these stories aren't just headlines — they directly affect your neighborhood, your commute, and your property value.

I'm Chris Colgan. I grew up in Lawnvale in western Prince William County, I live in Oak Valley off Catharpin Road today, and I've spent 18 years and over $1 billion in closed real estate transactions getting to know every corner of this region. Here's what you need to know right now.

The Digital Gateway Data Center Battle:…

272 Views, 0 Comments

Read Full Post

I've been watching a lot of major moves happen across Northern Virginia lately — from a nearly $20 million farm sale in Loudoun County horse country to rent prices that had Reddit in a frenzy, to data center drama that's heading to the Virginia Supreme Court. Here's my roundup of what I'm seeing right now in the market and across the region.

 

As someone who's lived and worked in this area for over 18 years — I grew up in Lawnvale in western Prince William County and currently live in Oak Valley off Catharpin Road — I have a front-row seat to all of it. If you're looking for the best realtor in Northern Virginia to help you make sense of these shifts, I'd love to connect.

The Northern Virginia Real Estate Market Right Now

Let me start…

312 Views, 0 Comments

Read Full Post
Previous Next