Arlington Safeway Site Receives Approval

The Arlington County Board approved plans today to renovate and expand the now-5,000 s.f. Arlington Mill Community Center into a mixed-use development. The project, designed by McLean-based Davis Carter Scott Design, and developed by Bethesda-based Public Private Alliances, LLC, a subsidiary of Clark Construction Group/Clark Ventures, will include brand new retail, residential, and parking space in addition to the new community center. The first of the project's two buildings - the residential portion - will stand five five stories tall. It will house 159 units including studio, one, two, and three bedroom units, sixty-one of them affordable. The second, six-story, LEED-certified civic building will include 33 residential units, 3,000 s.f. ground floor retail, and the 40,000 s.f. community center; Arlingtonians can get excited about a new high school-size gym, two flexible classrooms, and a fitness center. These rental apartments will include ten units for the Department of Human Services for its Supportive Housing Program and 40 two- and three-bedroom units with rent ranging from $993 to $1475. 

Columbia Pike Initiative Coordinator, Jennifer Smith said the project is consistent with the County's vision of revitalization along the Pike. "It will add additional new residential units and me our the long-standing commitment by the county to have an upgraded community center for area residents. A place where they can come together to meet, and greet and have their activities," she said. The developer will not be alone in footing the bill for the development. The project's public areas will be financed by $26 million in general obligation bonds authorized by voters in November 2006. The developer will also receive $11 million from the Federal Low-Income Housing Tax Credits program through the Virginia Housing Development Authority, and $3 million for using the value of the land lease payment to support the creation of the affordable housing units. The 1.9-acre former Safeway site, located at the intersection of Columbia Pike and Dinwiddie Street, will also offer its residents and neighbors three levels of underground parking and a new public plaza along Columbia Pike. Construction is tentatively scheduled for late November.

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