Next year could be make-or-break time for Falls Church officials’ desire to do something big on the affordable-housing front.
The city, through its Economic Development Authority, already owns nine small apartment properties in the Virginia Village community near Annandale Road. At a Nov. 19 meeting between elected officials and staff, discussion turned to moving forward on a consolidated plan for housing the neighborhood.
“We’ve been talking about it publicly for four years,” said Mayor Letty Hardi, speaking of proposals to purchase more properties in order to assemble a contiguous parcel large enough for a major housing initiative.
At the meeting, City Manager Wyatt Shields laid out a plan to hold multiple sets of discussions:
- With residents citywide, to determine if there is interest in moving forward and, if so, how to proceed
- With residents and property owners in the immediate area, to gauge the willingness to see existing structures knocked down and replaced by something new
- With nonprofit providers that could partner on any future housing project
Hardi agreed it is time to “start engaging the community.” Council members themselves could take up the issue in a substantial way during their annual retreat, slated for Jan. 31.
City officials told ARLnow the properties owned by the Economic Development Authority include 302, 303, 310 and 312 Shirley Street; 202, 204, 206 and 208 Gibson Street; and 310 Maple Ave.
The properties have been purchased at different times and for varying prices. Among them: An early-1940s quadplex at 208 Gibson Street was acquired for $650,000 in 2008, while a nearby quadplex of similar vintage at 302 Shirley Street was purchased for $925,000 in 2021.
The properties continue to be rented out as the city determines how to move forward. They are among approximately 20 multifamily buildings of roughly the same size and vintage spread across 4.5 acres of Virginia Village, behind Bowl America.
City officials could attempt to purchase additional properties from current owners, but Council member David Snyder said the more publicity is given to the effort, the more expensive acquisition could become.
“You start talking about that too much … [it] will just ratchet up the prices,” he said.
With the community and property owners aware of city intentions, “there’s just no way for us to be doing this in secret,” Shield said at another point in the meeting.
Shields said he didn’t want to get into a position where owners of strategically located remaining parcels held out for exorbitant sales prices.
“They need to be treated fairly as well, but the taxpayers need to be treated fairly,” he said.
More complicated than direct purchase would be attempting to acquire additional land via governmental eminent-domain powers. Under state law, the acquisition would require creation of a “duly adopted redevelopment or conservation plan” first.
City officials likely would need to know how much land they could count on before seeking partners on any future development project.
“The real question for the nonprofits is, given what is currently in the public domain, is there a path forward if we were to solicit interest with what we have,” Shields said.
