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Affordable Housing Development Opens in Ballston

By Katie Pyzyk

The opening of an affordable housing community in Ballston was welcomed with much fanfare on Tuesday evening. Numerous county officials joined new residents at The Jordan (801 N. Wakefield St.) for a grand opening ceremony.

The apartments are aimed at individuals or families earning 50-60% of the area’s mean income. A key selling point of the apartments is their proximity to local businesses and public transportation. They’re about one block from Ballston Commons Mall and about four blocks from the Ballston Metro. County Board Chairman Chris Zimmerman pointed out that this is important because the people who typically need public transit the most are those with lower incomes. Residents at The Jordan are also eligible for a public transit subsidy.

Zimmerman said because Arlington is becoming a more expensive place to live, it’s vital to be creative and innovative in providing housing options. He said the county is at risk of losing its diversity without such options.

“We need to make sure this is a place in which everyone can live,” Zimmerman said. “Not just those who are privileged with a high income.”

The property is owned and managed by AHC Inc., a nonprofit developer of low and moderate-income housing. They acquired the property through a land swap with The JBG Companies. It’s part of the larger mixed-use development under construction at the corner of Glebe Rd. and Wilson Blvd.

The Jordan replaces the previous affordable housing complex nearby, Jordan Manor, which was demolished nearly three years ago. Residents at Jordan Manor who wished to move into The Jordan received first pick on the apartments. The Jordan houses 90 apartments, whereas Jordan Manor had only 24.

Five of the building’s units have three bedrooms and can accomodate larger families. Nine of the units are fully accessible to residents with disabilities. Amenities include a library, business center, courtyard with fountain and community room.

The first residents moved into The Jordan about a month ago, and the building is currently two-thirds occupied.

Board Approves New Apartment Building Along Rt. 50

By ARLnow.com

A new 12-story apartment building will be coming to the Fort Myer Heights/Courthouse area as part of a plan to help preserve a historic garden apartment complex.

The planned 104-unit building will have a distinctive red brick facade, to match the adjacent Wakefield Manor, Wakefield Annex and Courthouse Manor garden apartments. The existing, three-story buildings — designed by the late, notable architect Mihran Mesrobian and given Arlington County’s highest historical designation — will be preserved “in perpetuity” as a result of the development.

The Arlington County Board voted unanimously on Saturday to approve the development and preservation plan. The new apartment building will be constructed at the corner of N. Troy Street and Fairfax Drive, overlooking Route 50. Currently, a surface parking lot sits on the future construction site.

In addition to helping with the county’s goal of preserving historic garden apartments, the development will tick a number of other boxes on the county’s priorities list. Mature trees on the site will be preserved. The new building will be built to LEED Silver environmental standards. The developer will contribute $75,000 to the county’s public art fund. And the developer will add a couple of units to the county’s committed affordable housing stock (or make a nearly $400,000 cash contribution to the county’s affordable housing fund).

“Three buildings, ranked ‘essential’ in Arlington’s Historic Resources Inventory, will now be preserved for future generations,” County Board Chairman Chris Zimmerman said in a statement. “At the same time, a new, elegant building compatible with its historic neighbors will add 104 new homes to the Fort Myer Heights housing mix.”

A 179-space parking garage will be built under the new building. The parking structure will also have 38 bike parking space.

Changes Along Washington Blvd in Clarendon

By ARLnow.com

Clarendon residents have taken note of two big, recent changes along Washington Boulevard.

About a week ago, a set of new traffic signals at the intersection of Washington Boulevard and N. Garfield Street were switched on. The traffic lights are helping to bring some order to what was previously a somewhat tricky intersection for Garfield Street traffic.

One block away, meanwhile, the Garfield Park at Clarendon Village luxury apartment complex has rapidly taken shape. A wooden outline of the 5-6 story, 149-unit building has sprung up where, just two months ago, there was nothing but a one-story foundation.

New Apartment Building Coming to Ballston

By ARLnow.com

The Goodyear tire store and service center in Ballston will likely be torn down at some point next year to make way for a new apartment building.

The current one-story building is located at 650 N. Glebe Road, across from Ballston Common Mall and one block from Harris Teeter. A developer is planning to build a new 6 story apartment building on the site, starting next year. The new building, tentatively dubbed “The Crimson on Glebe,” will include some 115 to 150 apartments, with 9,000 square feet of ground floor retail space at the corner of Glebe Road and N. Carlin Springs Road.

Arlington County’s Site Plan Review Committee is expected to discuss the building proposal in November. The developer hopes to start construction on the building next year, with construction wrapping up by mid-2013, according to the Washington Business Journal.

Meanwhile, long range planning for the American Service Center site adjacent to the 650 N. Glebe project is underway. The county’s Long Range Planning Committee is expected to conduct a meeting on the site on Tuesday, Oct. 25.

Cherrydale Condo Development Converted to Rentals

By ARLnow.com

The Bromptons at Cherrydale condominium development — a.k.a. 3800 Lofts — is now being marketed as rental apartments.

The move comes about two months after another Arlington condo project, The Myerton, was converted to rentals. Local Realtor Laura Rubinchuk says that the history of the Bromptons project — construction was stopped after the building was declared structurally unsound in 2006 — probably came back to haunt it.

“Slow sales for the Myerton definitely played a part in their decision to convert back to rentals,” she said. “But I think the 3800 Lofts are always going to carry the past with it — buyers are going to be nervous about investing in something that was once on unstable ground, regardless of County clearance and any actions taken to remedy the situation.”

Rubinchuck contends that the Arlington condominium market is “on the mend,” and that The Myerton and 3800 Lofts both represent conditions that were building-unique, not market-wide.

For interested renters, 3800 Lofts is offering 22 large 1- and 2-bedroom apartments with stainless steel appliances and 9-foot loft ceilings. The building is located at 3800 Lee Highway in Cherrydale.

Board Approves Apartment Complex in Virginia Square

By ARLnow.com

The Arlington County Board has approved a new two-building, 534-unit apartment complex on the eastern end of Virginia Square.

The board voted unanimously on Saturday to approve the complex, which includes a 13-story building and a 6-story building connected via an elevated glass skywalk. The complex will be located on the block currently bordered by Wilson Boulevard, Fairfax Drive, N. Kansas Street and N. Lincoln Street. The block is currently home to small low-rise office buildings and surface parking lots.

The new complex, tentatively dubbed Virginia Square Towers, will include nearly 13,000 square feet of ground floor retail space, 630 underground parking spaces and a central public plaza with benches and a water feature.

Running through the central plaza will be a new cobblestone street, to be labeled 9th Street N. The street will be narrow, with wide sidewalks, so that bicycles and pedestrians will be “privileged” while cars will only be “tolerated.” One of the project’s designers said he envisioned an “active and friendly” street where people would be comfortable “playing stick ball in the middle of the road.”

Developed by the Dittmar Company, the buildings will include six dedicated affordable housing units and are expected to attain LEED Gold green building certification. The complex will also be “district energy ready,” meaning it could utilize heating and cooling from a central neighborhood source, which is consistent with the goals of Arlington’s new Community Energy Plan.

As part of the conditions for approval, Dittmar agreed to pay up to $36,000 for the installation of multi-space parking meters along the project’s frontage, $75,000 for the installation of a new traffic light at N. Kansas Street and Wilson Boulevard, $75,000 for public art in the Virginia Square Metro station area and $2.2 million to the county’s affordable housing fund.

A few residents of the Virginia Square Condominiums, located across Lincoln Street from the new complex, expressed concern about the new building’s rooftop water tower obstructing their view. Other than that, little concern was raised about the project during the meeting’s public comment period.

Crystal City Apartment Building Sold

By ARLnow.com

The Crystal Plaza Apartments in Crystal City (2111 Jefferson Davis Highway) are under new ownership.

Archstone sold the building to real estate investor Ralph Dweck at the end of last month. No word yet on why Archstone, a major Crystal City land holder, decided to sell the apartment complex.

We’re also awaiting word from Dweck about his plans for the complex. So far, however, no changes have been announced.

Residents were notified about the sale last week.

Residents of Building Near Construction Collapse Scramble to Find New Homes

By ARLnow.com

First they were forced to flee their apartments as the ground around it slid into a huge construction pit. Then they were told that the money to pay for their hotel rooms was being cut off. Now, about 30 residents of the Swansen Apartments, at 1625 N. Ode Street in Ft. Myer Heights, are being evicted from the still-condemned apartment building, as a three-way legal battle brews.

What started on Aug. 7 as a construction site mishap — the failed retaining wall, the muddy landslide, the threat that the apartment building might collapse — has gone from bad to worse for the Swansen residents, who say they were being told as late as Aug. 23 that they would be able to move back in to their Rosslyn-area apartment building.

That all changed on Aug. 26, residents say, with an email from landlord Mark Swansen.

Currently, the building has been condemned by Arlington County due to the failure of sheeting and shoring on the adjacent construction site which has damaged gas lines as well as the property on the north side of the building… You should make alternative living arrangements in light of the uncertain status of the building. No rents will be due commencing in September and we encourage you to utilize the rent monies to find new living arrangements. At this time, due to this unfortunate and unexpected turn of events, we do not have a reasonable timeline for when the building will be put back into a usable, safe and satisfactory condition, if ever. It is unfortunate that it has come to this, but your safety is our primary concern. Please make arrangements to remove any belongings from the building directly through this office.

The email, obtained by ARLnow.com, was copied to three email address from the D.C.-based law firm of Braude & Margulies, which specializes in construction law. Swansen declined to comment on the email when reached by phone, and has not responded to subsequent requests for comment.

The apartment building’s gas lines must be turned back on before residents can be allowed back in, according to Arlington County Inspections Services Division Chief Shahriar Amiri, but residents say that necessary gas line work has been held up thanks to wrangling between Swansen, Clark Construction and developer JBG.

(The construction pit, located along Wilson Boulevard between Ode Street and Oak Street, will eventually transformed into JBG’s planned Sedona and Slate apartment complex.)

“The construction company told us that the building was stable; however, the gas lines for our apartment building were not holding pressure and thus it would need to be replaced,” one resident told us. “Our landlord… stalled this from happening and did not give the construction company permission to work on the building. So, from that point on, no work has been done to the building.”

“The tenants… are likely being used as pawns in their legal maneuvers,” said the relative of one resident.

Swansen residents say they’ve been given until Sept. 24 to move their belonging out of the apartment. Meanwhile, they say that developer JBG, which has been paying for hotel rooms and meals at the nearby Courtyard Marriott hotel, notified them on Friday afternoon — a day before the arrival of Hurricane Irene — that they would no longer pay for the hotel after Tuesday morning. Later, JBG sent an email saying they were pushing the checkout date back a week, to Sept. 6.

Finding a new apartment in the area at that’s as affordable at the Swansen Apartments is providing to be very difficult, residents say.

“The issue here, is that our building was super affordable, and quite a steal for the area,” one resident said. “The neighborhood of Rosslyn easily runs for $2,000 for a one bedroom, and over $1,900 for a studio. This is about $600 more than what I was paying for the apartment with Swansen.”

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Update on Large Residential Developments in N. Arlington

By ARLnow.com

A drive through parts of Lyon Park, Clarendon and Rosslyn today revealed significant progress on three large residential developments, as well as clean-up work on one ill-fated project.

In Rosslyn, Clark Construction crews are busy cleaning up from last week’s retaining wall failure at the Sedona and Slate apartment site. Workers were busy reinforcing the adjacent Swansen Apartments building, which nearly collapsed into the construction pit after the failure.

Residents have still not been allowed to move back into the building, according to Arlington County Inspection Services Division Chief Shahriar Amiri. It’s hoped that the building may be ready for re-occupancy next week. The Sedona and Slate project, meanwhile, has been set back untold weeks or even months.

Also in Rosslyn, Abdo Development’s Gaslight Square luxury condominium building has a gleaming metal frame and teams of busy construction workers. The groundbreaking for the project was in January.

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Myerton Again Changes Course on Housing Project

By Katie Pyzyk

Just five months after announcing its units at The Myerton would be sold as condominiums instead of rented as apartments, JBG has reversed course on the project.

Realtor Laura Rubinchuk Schwartz tells us that slow sales and a hot rental market prompted JBG to stop selling the units at 108 S. Courthouse Road. The developer had made the decision in February to begin sales instead of renting the units.

All buyers are being offered $1,000 for their time and for agreeing to a contract release.

Demolition Underway on Pentagon City Warehouses

By ARLnow.com

Demolition is underway on a block of empty warehouses on S. Fern Street in Pentagon City.

The warehouses, which used to house a DHL distribution office and a Danker furniture store, are being torn down to make way for a new 18-story apartment building called Three Metropolitan Park. The building will be the third in the Metropolitan Park development, across from Costco.

According to the county’s planning division web site, Three Metropolitan Park will consist of 411 apartments and 16,345 square feet of ground floor retail space, one block from the Pentagon City Metro station. The building will be 18 stories — or 202 feet — tall and will have 502 parking spaces.

The Washington Business Journal reports that the apartment building is expected to start renting by the beginning of 2014 at a construction cost of at least $160 million.

Photo courtesy @hoborocks

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