AHC and County Team for $35.5M Gates of Arlington Bid

ARLINGTON, VA-Non-profit affordable housing developer AHC Inc. gets a helping hand from Arlington County in its $35.5 million bid to acquire the Gates at Arlington, a 465-unit affordable housing complex in a designated historical area of the city. Dallas, TX-based Hall Financial Group owns the property and has seen great interest from other parties in acquiring the apartment complex. The county, fearing the Gates would be purchased and redeveloped as a high-end structure accompanied by high rents, recently approved a 500,000 allocation to help AHC Inc buy the property and maintain it as a low- and moderate-income housing destination.

Located along Pershing Dr., the Gates of Arlington is a four-building enclave within the 1,544-unit, World War II-era Buckingham campus of garden-style structures. Buckingham is a three-section residential community that consists of the Gates of Arlington, Buckingham Village and Arlington Oaks, all of which offer affordable housing to everyone from immigrants to young professionals to the elderly. Most of the complex’s diverse group of renters would likely have to move out of the area if a new owner redevelops and increases rents. “The Gates of Arlington is home to a vibrant multicultural community that should not be destroyed in Arlington’s heated real estate market,” says Arlington County Board chairman Chris Zimmerman. “Arlington’s partnership with AHC will preserve the community and maintain critically needed affordable housing.”