An updated plan for an affordable housing building near Langston Blvd has received mostly praise but some criticism from the Housing Commission.
The Housing Commission was provided an update on Dec. 4 on the plan to replace 40 garden-style apartments at the Leckey Gardens apartment complex with a 10-story apartment building with 249 committed-affordable units.
The proposal has evolved since it was first proposed over the summer, said Zachary Williams, a land-use attorney who represented True Ground Housing Partners at the meeting.
“The building that you saw tonight is very different from the building that we submitted. We think it’s a much better building,” Williams said.
That view was shared by Alice Hogan of the Northern Virginia Affordable Housing Alliance, who praised True Ground’s efforts at 2031-2037 N. Woodrow Street in the Waverly Hills community.
“It’s looking really good,” Hogan said. “It’s hitting on so many of our county priorities.”
Hogan was supportive of the plan to have 50 units available to those earning 50% or less of the area median income — a rarity in Arlington affordable-housing projects — and the emphasis on units with more than two bedrooms.
“The developer and design team are being very responsive to the community,” she said.
The proposal was vetted by a site-plan review committee (SPRC) at meetings held Nov. 13 and Dec. 8. Planning Commission review and County Board action are tentatively slated for February.
Housing Commission member Katie Wenger acknowledged the building “looks beautiful.” But she pressed for information on how True Ground would address the needs of existing residents, who are slated to be displaced during construction.
True Ground’s Jordi Fabian said the plan is to relocate residents either to another of the organization’s properties, or to another property that “works for them.”
True Ground would cover the difference in rent during the construction period, then invite the displaced residents back into the new building, Fabian said.
“They will be the first ones to choose” their new apartments, he said.
Housing Commission chair Kellen MacBeth praised the project, but voiced concern that no current tenants were part of the SPRC process, set up by the county government to review the development plan.
“We’ve got to find a way to get tenant representation — they need to be involved,” MacBeth said.
While the county government sets up the SPRC panels, MacBeth rapped True Ground for not pressing for tenant representation.
“You need to make sure you’re pushing the county to make sure they’re including tenants in the SPRC,” he said.
The existing apartment complex was constructed in the late 1940s. It was acquired in 2000 by True Ground, then known as the Arlington Partnership for Affordable Housing (APAH).
Two years later, a $5.4 million renovation was completed. In 2004, the property was renamed to honor Thomas Leckey, a founder and the first president of APAH, who had died the previous year.
The existing apartment complex includes 13 one-bedroom units, 25 two-bedroom apartments and two four-bedroom units. Seven of the apartments are rented at market rates, with the remainder restricted to those earning 50% or less of the area median income.
Located about a block south of Langston Blvd, the project is one of the first moving through the pipeline since County Board adoption of the Langston Blvd Area Plan in 2023.
That plan envisions an increase in development density throughout parts of the 4.5 acre corridor stretching from East Falls Church to Rosslyn.
