Phoenix Bikes Hopes to Build New Building for Arlington Youth

Phoenix Bikes teaches young people life and work skills through refurbishing bicycles — and now the staff and volunteers supporting the nonprofit want to build something even bigger.

"This program has been exploding over the past three or four years," said Pancho Bate, a Phoenix Bikes board member. "The space that we're in is just inadequate — so we're going to build them a new building."

It's an ambitious project, but a necessary one.

About 80 teens, mostly at-risk kids from South Arlington, go through the program each year. They spend their hours building bikes from the ground up in a 600-square-foot workshop near Barcroft Park. The space has no air conditioning, no bathroom, a leaky roof and no storage area — which means all of the built or in-progress bikes have to be moved out at the start of the day and moved back in to store overnight, Bate said.

The nonprofit hopes to raise $1 million for its capital campaign. Fundraising won't be full-bore until the new building gets final approval from Arlington County — expected soon. But so far $50,000 has been raised, mostly from private donors and also thanks to a $20,000 grant from a charitable trust.

To that end, the Madison Manor Bike Club will host the second annual Phoenix Rising event from 6 to 11 p.m. on July 20 at the Dominion Hills Pool Clubhouse. The French-themed dinner party coincides with the Tour de France and (generally) Bastille Day, and will feature donated French food and drink from local businesses like The Front Page, Artisan Chocolates, Lost Rhino Brewery, Trader Joe's, Au Bon Pain and others.

Tickets are $50 and advance tickets are recommended because the party is limited to 100 people and "registrations are coming in fast and furious," Bate told Patch. Register here.

Participants will be entered in a raffle to win a bike the Phoenix kids recently refurbished. And 100 percent of the proceeds will go to the nonprofit.

"We'd love to reach our goal, and it's a fun party," he said. "And it's a great cause to support."

Design for the new Phoenix Bikes building is "very cool," Bate said, and supporters hope it will be situated in South Arlington, accessible to the Washington & Old Dominion Trail.

Once the nonprofit gets final Arlington County Board approval on the new building, Phoenix Bikes can start going after larger, corporate donors. 

Bate lived in Arlington for 33 years — 20 of them in the Madison Manor neighborhood. He now lives on Capitol Hill, but one of his children works for the Arlington Chamber of Commerce and he still rides with the "old Manor boys."

The Madison Manor crew first approached Phoenix about the French-themed fundraiser last year to give back to the community in a way that promotes cycling, especially youth cycling, Bate said.

The League of American Bicyclists recognizes Arlington County as a silver-level Bicycle Friendly Community. The only gold-level Bicycle Friendly Community on the East Coast is Cambridge, Mass.

"Arlington is so well-poised to become the gold standard for cycling communities," Bate said. "We're very, very close. If we're able to get this building built on a prominent spot on the W&OD, it will put us over the top."