This Thursday, the new Parc Rosslyn high-rise - located at 1531 North Pierce Street - will open its doors to the public and solidify its' place as one of Arlington County's greatest affordable housing accomplishments. The product of more than 10 years of work by the Arlington Partnership for Affordable Housing (APAH), the Parc Rosslyn is a 15-story, 238 unit building that sports 96 units of affordable housing and amenities otherwise unimaginable in such a development
- floor-to-ceiling windows with views of the DC skyline, patio grills, a business center, a concierge and, perhaps most surprisingly, a rooftop swimming pool. "I think people will be stunned by this beautiful building," said Nina Janopaul, Executive Director of APAH. "It represents a very efficient use of government resources to create this wonderful opportunity for a mixed-income, diverse property.”
Located in the Rosslyn-Ballston corridor, the Collins & Kronstadt-designed building satiates the area’s needs for high-density, affordable, green housing (a LEED silver certification is pending for the project) in one of the region’s biggest and busiest thoroughfares. “We’re really fulfilling this goal that the Arlington County Board had back in the 1960's to create transit-oriented development,” Janopaul told DC Mud. “We’re using density near public transit corridors - and what a wonderful thing that is for the environment, too.”
At a total cost of $68 million, more than two-thirds of Parc Rosslyn budget came from tax exempt bond-issue financing – making it the largest ever such project approved by the County. "Essentially, the term of art is a conduit financier," says Ken Aughenbaugh , Director of Arlington County's Housing and Neighborhood Division. "These bonds are sold on the market by an investment bank to others who buy the bonds as investments - usually larger corporations or mutual funds. This is a mechanism that other jurisdictions around the country use to finance affordable housing developments." The rest of the funds for the project came from low income housing tax credits and soft second mortgage financing provided by the County.
APAH originally acquired the site - which formally housed a 1940s-era, 22-unit garden apartment development - from Arlington County in 1994 at no cost, but did not begin construction until January of 2007. Residents began to move in this past July, while the finishing touches – swanky pool included – were finally completed in September. Construction was handled by Paradigm Development, the company which 
will also be serving as the building manager of the project.
In order to mark the occasion, Parc Rosslyn will hold its’ gala grand opening this coming Thursday, October 16th, on site at the new building. Congressman Jim Moran (D), Chairman J. Walter Tejada of the Arlington County Board, Executive Director Susan F. Dewey of the Virginia Housing Development Authority, APAH Chairman Caroline Settles, and Executive Director Janopaul will all be on hand to remark on the occasion. The ceremonies begin at noon and will include a tour of the facilities. The event is open to the public.
8 comments:
Sure let's bring crack, cocaine, and LSD across the river from DC into our neighborhood. Mixed-income and low-income spell bad seeds. Look at what it did to Maryland.
no, warehousing the poor is a bad idea, but mixed income is not.
Across the river, eh? You must mean from Georgetown University. Those kids can party.
boo... I live about a mile from there and my wife and I just signed a 3 year waitlist for a pool where we will pay through our noses so that our kids can enjoy themselves. I'm all for workforce housing, but a pool? Monument Views? Come on. It's like the puplic-waterfront-housing in Annapolis. Makes me ill.
Low income housing serves hard working folks, like janitors, teachers aides, and restaurant workers. They don't earn enough to pay the average rents in Arlington of $1650/month. When we ask everyone earning under $60,000 to live in the outer suburbs, we get sprawl and segregation.
I don't mind other folks being given a chance to live close to the city, that's cool. But I work as hard as "janitors, teacher's aides and restaurant workers", and am still paying off student loans that helped me get there. My complaint is with my dear tax dollars being spent for this - if it were all private I would support it fully, but my money going toward those who chose lower paid careers? Not cool.
I agree with the majority of comments here. These buildings only lower our tax base, lower our property values and increase crime. I'd like to make Arlington County Board live in these urban utopia's their building. What a bunch of crap!
Doesn't anyone retain all the infomation they read??? It's "Market Rate" and Affordable housing folks. It won't induce more crime or lower property values. If anything, it will increase property values!! It's amazing how people want to gripe about anything and everything, just to gripe. I noticed no one put their names on the complaints.
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