Apartment Complex Acquired In Arlandria To Preserve Affordability

ALEXANDRIA, VA — Affordable housing developer Wesley Housing has acquired an apartment community in Arlandria-Chirilagua with the intent of keeping it as affordable housing.

The property purchased is Parc Square Apartments, a six building property with 66 units. In the short term, Wesley Housing and its affiliate, Wesley Property Management, will immediately address safety issues and work to improve livability for existing Parc Square residents. Community Lodgings will partner with Wesley Housing to provide enhanced services to Parc Square residents.

In the long-term, Wesley Housing intends to have a multi-phase redevelopment of Parc Square with the nearby Beverly Park Apartments, as well as properties owned by Community Lodgings. Wesley Housing will seek entitlements for the redevelopment of the multi-phase project with a goal of starting construction on the major phase in 2025.

"Committing these units to long-term affordability and making critical repairs will greatly benefit existing residents and the community at large,” said Kamilah McAfee, Wesley Housing vice president of real estate development. "Our ultimate goals are to reduce the economic burden of housing in this community, improve the quality of living for residents, contribute to income diversification, and attract private and public investment to generate economic opportunities and access to desirable amenities and services.

Wesley Housing intends to keep Parc Square Apartments as a "long-term affordable housing asset," as Arlandria-Chirilagua faces challenges of rent increases and gentrification due to its location near Amazon HQ2 in Arlington and the upcoming Potomac Yard Metro. The Arlandria-Chirilagua neighborhood in Alexandria is a largely Latino community with median household incomes below 50 percent of the DC region's Area Median Income. It is also one of Alexandria's Opportunity Zone census tracts, part of a federal tax incentive program to encourage economic development in these areas.

Wesley Housing acquired the property with a $2.3 million grant from the Amazon Housing Equity Fund and a $10.26 million acquisition loan from Housing Partnership Fund, Inc. and lender Woodforest National Bank. As a condition of the Amazon grant, the units will remain affordable housing for at least 99 years. The Amazon Housing Equity Fund provides loans and grants to preserve affordable homes near Amazon's largest employment centers in Arlington, Virginia; Washington State's Puget Sound region; and Nashville, Tennessee.

"We are so pleased to be a part of the solution by addressing the affordable housing shortage," said Catherine Buell, director of the Amazon Housing Equity Fund. "By teaming up with organizations such as Wesley Housing, we are able to help grow the housing stock for moderate- to low-income households as well as support our communities of color whose diverse contributions help make Northern Virginia such a wonderful place to live, work, and thrive."

Wesley Housing's other Alexandria properties include Beverly Park, Lynhaven Apartments and ParcView Apartments. Another project is the Waypoint under construction on Fairlington Presbyterian Church property.