Board OKs Loaning $6M to Build New Affordable Housing on Columbia Pike

The Arlington County Board on Saturday unanimously approved loaning up to $6 million to a nonprofit developer to purchase land and build an 83-unit affordable housing apartment complex on Columbia Pike.

Arlington-based AHC Inc.'s proposed development will be at 5511 Columbia Pike in the Columbia Heights West neighborhood. It will replace a gas station, undeveloped land and part of the parking lot at Harvey Hall -- another affordable housing apartment building owned and managed by AHC Inc.

The planned six-story building will feature a central courtyard, 6,728-square-feet of ground-floor retail space and an underground parking garage, according to an Arlington County news release.

The county will offer up to $6 million in the form of two 30-year loans at 2.6 annual interest. The money comes from federal Community Development Block Grant funds and from the county's Affordable Housing Investment Fund, the news release states.

Part of Arlington County's affordable housing strategy has been to leverage contributions to that fund from developers. Recently approved projects in and required their respective developers to contribute money to the Affordable Housing Investment Fund, for instance.

AHC Inc. also will apply for federal low-income housing tax credits.

“It is through public-private partnerships like this that the County is working to preserve affordable housing opportunities on Columbia Pike as the corridor redevelops,” Arlington County Board Chairwoman Mary Hynes said in a statement. “This is an important investment that will help ensure that Columbia Pike, even as it is revitalized with more ground-floor retail, more public spaces and new housing, remains affordable for working people.”

Of the new units -- which include efficiencies, two- and three-bedroom apartments -- 64 will be considered affordable to households earning 60 percent of the area median income, currently $64,500 for a family of four. Thirteen will be deemed affordable to households earning 50 percent of the area media income, currently $53,750 for a family of four. And, thanks to the county Department of Social Services "buying down" a few of those, six units will be available to families making 40 percent of the area media income, according to an email from John Welsh, the vice president of AHC's Multifamily Division.

The apartments will be contractually obligated to remain that way for 60 years, according to the county news release.

The new apartments are expected to be complete by fall 2014, according to a presentation AHC Inc. gave to the surrounding community.

All three candidates for the vacant seat on the Arlington County Board . Two of the candidates, Republican Mark Kelly and Green Party candidate Audrey Clement have placed some, if not all, of the blame on a proposed Columbia Pike trolley.

"With the anticipated development of the County streetcar public transportation system and new market-rate development continuing along Columbia Pike, the expectation is that upward pressures on housing prices will continue," according to a county staff report.

"This Project represents an opportunity to build affordable housing across the street from a new market-rate development, 5500 Columbia Pike, and adjacent to a planned streetcar stop, thereby balancing the needs of a transit-oriented, mixed- income community."

This article has been updated to include the information from John Welsh, which was received after initial publication.