(Read more on the multifamily market and more on the debt and equity markets.)
WASHINGTON, DC-Level 2 Development is providing $1 million to an apartment building association so it can remain as affordable housing. The money is part of a public benefits package the company negotiated with the city for its nearby View 14 Apartments project, which is breaking ground today.
Located at the corner of 14th and Florida Ave., NW, View 14 is an $80 million mixed-use residential and retail complex with 185 units and 34,000-sf of retail. There is a letter of intent from a gym to take up about 25,000 sf of the retail, principal David Franco tells GlobeSt.com. The rest of the retail will be divvied up between a restaurant and service-oriented shops, he explains. There are about six units in this project designated to be affordable housing in View 14, which will deliver in 2009, he adds.
However the chief boost to affordable housing opportunities comes from Level 2's support of a nearby apartment house that just lost its affordability status after 20 years, Franco says. The $1 million will be provided to the Sankofa Tenants Assoc. to purchase 48 low income units in the Cresthill Apartments, located at 1430 Belmont St., NW. “The owners required that the property be sold at market rates after the affordability status expired. Most of the residents would have been displaced,” Franco explains.
He says the $1 million will be used as equity to leverage funds the city is providing so the tenants can acquire the building. Part of Level 2's agreement with the association is that the building remains affordable in perpetuity.
Also part of View 14's public benefits package is $40,000 in contributions to neighborhood organizations and the demolition of a Comcast satellite dish farm and antenna tower at the site–a neighborhood eye sore, Franco says.
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Erika Morphy
Erika Morphy has been writing about commercial real estate at GlobeSt.com for more than ten years, covering the capital markets, the Mid-Atlantic region and national topics. She's a nerd so favorite examples of the former include accounting standards, Basel III and what Congress is brewing.
