District Buys $49M Apartment Complex for Renovation

WASHINGTON, DC-The District–along with partners Clark Realty Capital, CHV Tenants Association, Change All Souls and the DC Housing Finance Agency–has acquired the 406-unit, multi-structure Capital Heights Village complex for $49 million, and will completely renovate the property. Upgrades are being made possible via the assistance of federal subsidies and the spaces will be designated for low-income residents. The units are spread out among a 10-story, 189-unit high-rise structure, a total of 210 units from 23 garden apartments, and seven townhouses. Located at 14th Street and Columbia Road, the high-rise structure carried a price tag of $27.4 million when it was sold at the end of last year, and has a proposed 2003 assessed value of nearly $5.7 million. Upgrades to the high-rise have already begun and are scheduled for completion in August, at which time, work on the garden apartments will begin. “We’re conducting renovation in every aspect of construction,” Clark Realty Builders’ project executive Jeremy Bigelow tells GlobeSt.com. Clark Realty Capital is the developer of the project, while Clark Realty Builders has a $7.9 million contract to handle the construction aspects. “We’re putting in new air conditioning, new kitchens, new floors. But it’s not a complete renovation; we’re not repairing every floor. It’s on an as needed basis.” Tenants will remain in their spaces while the work is underway, a circumstance of which Clark is very sensitive. “We want a s little disturbance to the tenants as possible,” Bigelow says.Columbia Heights Village is part of the housing agency’s $62 million plan to repair and preserve 750 Section 8 housing units in the area. “As our city rebounds we want to ensure that every resident from firefighters, to business owners, to teachers can afford a place to call home,” DC Mayor Anthony A. Williams explains upon announcing the acquisition and impending upgrades. Part of the funding from the project comes from the HFA’s $30 million in tax-exempt bond financing.