A plan to redevelop a Lyon Village church as affordable housing for LGBTQ+ seniors has been canceled.
Clarendon Presbyterian Church and True Ground Housing Partners announced yesterday evening (Thursday) that a proposed 102-unit development at 1305 N. Jackson Street is “not financially viable.”
“This is a very difficult decision for our community, as well as the partnership Clarendon Presbyterian Church and True Ground established,” the organizations said in a joint press release. “We are grateful for the spirit of collaboration, transparency, and effort that went into this project.”
Over three years ago, Clarendon Presbyterian began assessing the feasibility of tearing down its existing structure to build six stories of committed affordable housing. In addition to wanting to construct more housing “that is welcoming to LGBT seniors,” church representatives warned that mounting expenses could force the congregation to relocate if it didn’t redevelop.
In recent months, the project faced significant pushback from neighbors who argued that a six-story building would be too large for the site, which is adjacent to single-family homes, three-story townhomes and six-story structures on the other side of 13th Street N.
The church filed conceptual site plans last May and released a promotional video for the project in January, but it never filed any formal site plans.
True Ground representative Garrett Jackson told ARLnow that the decision to nix the project resulted from “a series of conversations with the church.”
“The environment is shifting, where we’re constantly having to monitor all of the factors at play that make affordable housing possible, and unfortunately, with this particular instance … it wouldn’t quite pencil [out] for us,” he said.
Jackson declined to comment further on specifics, but said that the decision had more to do with finances than any opposition from people living near the site.
“There was quite a bit of scrutiny on this project, and so I don’t think anyone wants to necessarily be under that spotlight,” he said. “But moreso, we couldn’t quite figure out the financing to make the project be what we were hoping that it would be.”
Clarendon Presbyterian pastor, Rev. Alice Rose Tewell, said the church “remains committed to affordable housing, particularly senior housing that is LBGTQ+ affirming.”
“Over time, as a church community, we will discern together where God might be calling us next,” Tewell said in a statement. “There are many unknowns ahead, but we do know this: Our church property is well positioned to make a major impact; we are a people of faith who support each other and stand alongside the wider community in times of great turbulence.”
This isn’t the only church redevelopment project to falter in recent weeks in Arlington. Developer Snell Properties has also tapped the breaks on plans to build two residential high-rises at 1820 and 1830 Fort Myer Drive, currently home to a gas station, an office building and Arlington Temple United Methodist Church.
Snell cited concerns about heightened construction costs brought on by President Donald Trump’s new tariffs, the Washington Business Journal reported.
Jackson said that other True Ground projects are in progress elsewhere in the D.C. area as the organization continues to evaluate their feasibility on a “project-by-project basis.”
“It’s unfortunate to share that this is where we landed with this one, but we remain committed to affordable housing … and [to] senior housing, as this project was attempting to build,” he said. “We look forward to continuing to do that everywhere we can, in every corner of the county and throughout the DMV.”
