A half-dozen bills are set to hit the floor of the Virginia House of Delegates in January that were inspired by the poor conditions at the Serrano Apartments and other Virginia affordable housing properties.
After residents exposed poor living conditions at the Columbia Pike apartment complex, Del. Alfonso Lopez (D-49) tells ARLnow he began drafting bills to strengthen tenant rights and improve living conditions in affordable housing properties across the Commonwealth.
Arlington County is loaning $150 million to a D.C.-based real estate company buying the Barcroft Apartments along Columbia Pike.
This move — approved Tuesday — is an unusual one, but Arlington County says it did what was necessary in a short amount of time to support the sale to Jair Lynch Real Estate Partners. The company has agreed to keep the property — Arlington’s largest market-rate affordable apartment complex — as committed affordable housing for 99 years.
Arlington County and Amazon intend to loan hundreds of millions of dollars to an unnamed affordable housing provider to purchase a Columbia Pike apartment complex.
The Barcroft Apartments, at 1130 S. George Mason Drive, is the largest market-rate-affordable apartment community in Arlington, and county officials say they have to act quickly to ensure it stays affordable for current residents.
(Updated at 12:45 p.m.) Work has started on a long-stalled affordable housing development at the Central United Methodist Church (CUMC) site, across from the Ballston Metro station.
The $84 million multi-use redevelopment, dubbed Ballston Station, will replace the church (4201 Fairfax Drive) with an 8-story building comprised of 144 committed affordable units, CUMC’s new sanctuary space and an early childhood education center for about 90 kids.
(Updated 10:35 a.m.) Nonprofit affordable housing developer AHC Inc. announced today (Tuesday) that it will begin ceding management of all its properties to third-party companies in the new year.
The move comes less than a year after AHC transferred day-to-day management of the Serrano Apartments (5535 Columbia Pike) to an independent company, which Arlington County required in response to complaints of rodents and shoddy maintenance.
The following appeared earlier this week in the ARLnow Press Club’s Early Morning Notes newsletter. Join the Press Club and help support more local reporting in Arlington.
This week, the County Board got another update from tenant advocates and property owner AHC, Inc. about the ongoing work to improve the physical conditions at the Serrano Apartments as well as their tenant-landlord relationship.
Arlington County has started the process of finding a developer to lead the Crystal House Apartments redevelopment project in Crystal City.
The county seeks a “robust, experienced and trustworthy master development partner” to replace surface-level parking with 738 apartment units, most of which will be affordable housing, by January 2028, according to its request for qualifications.
Tucked away in an Arlington County storage facility is a shattered Tiffany Studios stained glass window of Jesus Christ in the act of blessing those who gaze on him.
For decades, it adorned The Abbey Mausoleum that once stood near Arlington National Cemetery. Light would have pierced the 12-paneled, 9-foot by 6-foot window, casting jewel tones on the burial site of the man to whom the window was dedicated — E. St. Clair Thompson, a wealthy Mason interred there in 1933.
(Updated, 12:30 p.m.) Some Marymount University students say they can’t afford a new housing policy that will require them to live on campus all four years.
Last week, a group of 15 students demonstrated outside of the Catholic university on N. Glebe Road in protest over a policy that will take effect next fall, requiring most students to live on campus during their entire stint at the school.
Metro Service Still Affected by Derailment — “On Thursday, October 14, there will be no rail service between Rosslyn and Pentagon stations due to the ongoing investigation into Tuesday’s derailment. In addition, Orange and Silver line trains will single track between Clarendon and Foggy Bottom. Customers should expect delays in both directions. Free local shuttle buses will operate between Rosslyn, Arlington Cemetery, and Pentagon stations, with free express shuttles between Rosslyn and Pentagon stations.” [WMATA]
Portion of Train Removed from Tunnel — From NBC 4’s Adam Tuss: “Almost 24 hours after the Blue Line derailment — a section of the derailed train is on the move. Only 3 railcars here. We were told the 4th railcar was the one that derailed. There were 8 railcars total.” [Twitter]
The head of a local nonprofit that advocates for affordable housing is stepping down after five years at the helm.
Michelle Winters announced Friday that effective Nov. 30, she will no longer be the executive director of the Alliance for Housing Solutions (AHS).
(Updated at 2 p.m.) Plans from a local affordable housing nonprofit to redevelop apartments in the Fort Myer Heights neighborhood, near Rosslyn are ready for public review.
Arlington Partnership for Affordable Housing (APAH) proposes to redevelop some buildings in a housing complex consisting of a series of three-story garden apartments and a detached single-family residence. These buildings are located within a mile of the Rosslyn and Courthouse Metro stations.
