Church and Housing Provider Vindicated in Clarendon Case

A church's involvement in affordable housing subsidies by the state doesn't violate the Constitution. So says another court in the ongoing battle at The Views at Clarendon, which has cleared yet another legal hurdle in its battle to build an apartment building heavily subsidized by the government in place of the First Baptist Church of Clarendon. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit this week upheld a ruling, issued last May, that found that Arlington did not violate the state or U.S. constitutions by subsidizing the church-led project.

The struggle may finally wrap up 5 years of lawsuits 7 years after the Church hired the Arlington Partnership for Affordable Housing (APAH) to advise on an affordable housing project. The Church later sold the land to The Views at Clarendon Corporation, a non-profit, for $5.6m, with plans to build 46 market-rate and 70 affordable apartments. The Church retained 3 of 7 seats on the board, and will retain two floors within the new structure and a small building on the side. That lead to a neighbor arguing in Peter Glassman v. Arlington County, et. al that the subsidy amounted to unconstitutional support to a church, an argument that has been repeatedly rejected by both state and federal courts.

The news is a relief for the housing provider, not least because it began construction on the project last January (tearing down) and has just now begun building the 10-story structure, and the courts have refused to enjoin construction. While the case could be appealed - back to the same appellate court or to the U.S. Supreme Court - "further appeals are unlikely to be successful" says Raighne Delaney, an attorney Shareholder with Bean, Kinney & Korman, a law firm representing the non-profit. With plaintiffs having exhausted all automatic appeals, further appeals would be heard only at the discretion of the court.

"The county got a great bargain here," said Delaney. The nature of the bargain was a $13.1m loan the county gave to the developer, for which it got 70 subsidized apartments, with the feds kicking in a $14.5m loan and $20m grant for the project thanks to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. "Constitutionally, the only thing that mattered here was what the church got out of it. Even if it was a bad deal, the government is allowed to make bad deals," said Delaney, who stressed that the transaction is unbeatable for the county. Delaney said the real test is not whether the state is doing business with the church, but whether there is any "excessive entanglement" with the church. "The answer to that really is no. The state is not disallowed from doing business with the church, prohibiting regular business with the church would be a sort of anti-religious bigotry, and that's not allowed either."

Arlington Virginia real estate development news

Georgia Avenue's Beacon Center Gets its Wings

Tally another mixed-use development for the Almighty, as religious groups around the District seem to have a leg up in building these days (Bethesda church, Clarendon church). Following a long and contentious Zoning review process, and following several trying meetings with the Historic Preservation Review Board (HPRB) and the National Park Service (NPS) concerning the project's potential effects upon the neighboring Fort Stevens, the Emory United Methodist Church Beacon of Light in Brightwood received Board approval in the early Spring, and are finally ready to move forward with their Beacon Center project.

Granted a raze permit for 6120 Georgia Ave, NW late last week, neighbors can expect demolition and construction to begin shortly.

The $30 million development, designed by PGN Architects, will offer 180,000 s.f. of multipurpose housing and various congregational and community facilities. The Beacon Center will supply transitional spaces (24 units) in an effort to aid the homeless work toward permanent residency. Also in the works are 34 units for seniors citizens, 17 units reserved for veterans, and 16 affordable rentals. A college-sized indoor multi-sport gymnasium (basketball and soccer) and rec center will be available to the surrounding community. The aggressive expansion will also feature a full service banquet facility, office space for the church and for lease, senior citizens services (such as optometrist, podiatrist, etc.) and ground-floor retail. Additionally the current sanctuary (doubling as a community theater) will be renovated and expanded to 500 seats. Patrons will have access to roughly 100 underground parking spaces and several rows of bike spaces.

Sean Pichon, a Partner at PGN Architects, said his firm has been especially challenged by the need to adjust their designs to the steep grade of the property. Other difficulties included maintaining the "view corridors" and balancing the affordability of the project with the goal of an attractive and congruous facade. Working hard to best the obstacles, designers created features like "curved green roofs" over the retail space to create and "continue the imagery of the hillside." To allow for views from Georgia Avenue his team situated the main entrance on the side road, Quackenbos; this maneuver also enabled multiple access points and preserved the historic stairs leading up to the old church.

Not all were satisfied, however, as the NPS and Civil War Preservation Trust wrote strong letters of opposition, contending that "the proposed five-story wall along Old Piney Branch Road would create a significant visual intrusion on the fort." Opponents also voiced concern that "the Beacon Center’s overall size and floor plan [read too big]...would have an adverse impact on Fort Stevens and subsequently the other remaining Circle Forts." But the representatives of the Church, including the Pastor, convinced Zoning Board members that they had made significant and genuine efforts at compromise, with the Board ultimately deciding that the overall positives of the project outweighed what little impact the building might have on its neighbors. Instead of a reduction in height and massing, NPS will have to settle for 359 square feet in the new building, reserved for their use as a welcome center/gift shop to "educate and promote the history of Fort Stevens." Reenactors and Fort Stevens staff can imagine the impending sounds of the Bozzuto-lead demolition and construction as the distant rumblings of the long ago battles.

Washington D.C. Real Estate Development News

Bethesda Church Moves Forward With Development, Receives Council's Blessing

Twice the Montgomery County Planning Board had approved the plans of Christ Evangelical Lutheran Church of Bethesda-Chevy Chase to build a 107-unit residential building combined with a six-story church and community center. And twice Hearing Examiner Martin Grossman had recommended denial of the proposal, citing a lack of "compatibility" with several nearby rows of single family homes. The Church's development team had reduced their mixed-use development plans from 53,000 s.f. to 25,000 s.f., as well as offered more dramatic setbacks and reduced massing in an effort to appease naysayers. But although Grossman called the augmented plans a "much closer call" he still predicted

the development to "dwarf the nearby single-family detached homes." Nonetheless, last week County Council became the "ultimate decider," settling the dispute with a 6-2 vote in favor of the Church's plans.

Virginia-based MTFA Architecture is the project architect, and seem to be busy with several church-residential combo projects, as another of their client's in Arlington (The Views) recently emerged in tact after a similar drama. The Church project will occupy two-acres, currently inhabited by a church building and attached community center, several single-family homes and a surface parking lot, all of which will be razed. Parking needs will be satisfied by two levels of below-grade lots. The complex will cover a college-size indoor athletic field for community use, public green spaces, affordable residences serving the elderly, transitional housing for the homeless, and a range of other social-work programming.

While Councilman Mark Elrich "was frankly appalled" at the plans to essentially box in the contesting enclave of residential homes, others saw this sort of development as inevitable, and not much of a change in the grand scheme of zoning in the area, as many other large projects nearby have already been approved. Councilman Roger Berliner seemed to take a less reactionary stance, and painted a broader picture in which he concurred that "substantial compatibility" was present in this proposal give the urban nature of the immediate area.

But Church representative Barry Lemley said there is still about a year before construction can be expected, as preliminary site planning and securing building permits should take a significant amount of time. Having originally partnered with Bozzuto in 2006, and then left the agreement to tackle planning and approval process on their own, the Church will once again look for private development partner to see the plans through.

Lemley says they remain undecided on whether to release a RFP immediately, or sit on the approvals until the market further stabilizes. "For an urban infill project like this, in this slow economy, some of the bigger firms that passed on it originally, may have an interest now," Lemley said. And even though construction might be further down the line, and delivery probably won't happen for "two to three years," Lemley and his church are relieved to have the support of County Council. "We always thought we had a unique project here," he explained, "and while some people thought that it was too much, others thought that it was just what the community needs."

Bethesda, MD Real Estate Development News

Clarendon: Urban Planners Taken with New View of Urban Churches

Late last year, the Views at Clarendon emerged unscathed from a cloud of lawsuits and officially kicked off construction. Now one of the region's more intriguing mixed-use projects is on schedule, and attracting national attention as a model for unique partnerships. The Views at Clarendon Corporation's mixed-use, mixed-income building will hold 70 affordable apartments and 46 market rate apartments, not so outstanding by itself, but that it was done through the auspices of the church is turning the heads of urban planners around the country.

As the First Baptist Church of Clarendon faced a budget shortfall a decade ago, it could have reacted in the typical fashion, selling out to a developer and moving to a cheaper, less urbanized community. That would have shut down the church's daycare center and local mission. Instead, the church chose to protect its historic building, stay local, keep the daycare center and double down on its mission by setting up a non-profit corporation to run an affordable housing project. First Baptist - now the Church at Clarendon - sold its air rights to the non-profit, of which it held 3 of 7 board seats, allowing the non-profit to cater to low-income and disabled residents, consistent with the church mission. Other urban churches have retained a portion of the new structure after selling its land, but the model of expanding its influence is a new one. Architect Michael Foster, a principal of Arlington's MTFA Architecture, thinks of this as a paradigm shift. "This has really been watched closely, and nationally, for mixing an existing church at the base of the building in this way. Most mixed-use is office-retail-residential. One that's dominated by public housing is not totally unprecedented, but as a land-use model, it helps us all think a little differently about preserving the role of churches and communities."

Not all the attention has been positive. Local groups tried to stop the in-fill project, then protested that Arlington's subsidies for the new non-profit Views at Clarendon constituted an Establishment Clause violation, and the organization found themselves twice in the chambers of the Virginia Supreme Court and several times the subject of Washington Post news fodder. Vindicated by the courts, the non-profit has now nearly finished excavating the site and underpinning the church, and expects to start building up by next month. The church "sandwich" will give them two floors as a condominium and a 3-floor building on the side, the non-profit will own the apartments above and the parking garage below.

Of the 70 affordable apartments, the majority will be priced at 60% AMI, six of the apartments will be 100% accessible (visitable and adaptable), 12 units will have "support of services" provided to those with disabilities, and six of them will be offered to families under 50% AMI. The church will continue to operate the 180-child daycare center, Arlington's largest, as well as expanding its urban ministry, all within a block of Metro. Foster, the project architect, thinks this will help churches remain active in the social fabric, and that the importance of this should not be underestimated. "This represents a dramatic change in how the church engages the community," and that planning organizations are taking note. "We've been getting many calls about this" says Foster, whose firm is also working on a similar type of project in Bethesda, with the church as developer rather than outgoing owner. The non-profit Views has hired Arlington Partnership for Affordable Housing (APAH) as a consultant to help them achieve their affordable housing vision.

The old steeple will remain the tallest structure, with the new building rising just below the steeple height by design. Foster says the building is meant to adapt a mid-rise to colonial architectural style. "The base of the building is designed to fit in with the colonial heritage with the church steeple and remaining school. Its not really meant to be pure colonial, and not meant to be neoclassical, but it does represent what remains on site and the compatibility with the adjacent neighborhood."

Arlington, VA Real Estate Development News

SW Developer Seeks Another Extension on SW Church

Tomorrow, the Zoning Commission considers magnanimously granting a second three-year extension to developer Steve Tanner and his Square 643 Associates for the Old Friendship Baptist Church in southwest Washington DC. The Commission's decision will determine whether the developer, who bought the property for $550,000 in 2003, can continue waiting with fingers crossed for dramatic change in the SW neighborhood, or whether a denied extension and defunct PUD will mean a renewed effort or the end of the line. Tanner has a bit more at stake than just the PUD; the property, advertised as 800 Delaware Avenue, has been on the market for over a year with an asking price of $3.5 million. Certainly denying the PUD would put a damper on the price for a property that has not changed in an area that, according to the developer, has not seen much change either. The development, designed by Shalom Baranes Architects (rendering pictured at left), may someday incorporate the Old Friendship Baptist Church, built in 1886-1887, into a mixed-use building, preserving the historic landmark as non-profit office space and constructing between 18 and 27 new condominiums, with one set aside as an affordable rental unit. The site will provide a minimum of 32 parking spaces with at least 23 for residents and 9 for a future but undetermined non-profit tenant. The L-shaped building will be four stories high on the east side of the church and seven stories high on the north, with no more than 10,000 s.f. set aside for non-profit office space. The ZC set limitations on the non-profit tenant, ordering that no more than 40 employees and volunteers can work on site during work hours limited to 7 A.M. to 8 P.M., which seems to mean they would need a court order to work overtime. Hm. The Zoning Commission (ZC) originally approved the Planned Unit Development (PUD) September 15, 2005 and the current extension, granted in 2007, expired September 15, 2009. In 2007 the ZC granted a three-year extension to the PUD, meaning it would remain valid as long as the developer filed for a building permit within two years, and began construction within three. The developer failed to file a building permit and now the PUD is back before the ZC. In 2007, Tanner claimed the "current market conditions in the immediate neighborhood...made it impossible to attract a non-profit office tenant." The developer had been banking on the nearby redevelopment of Randall School by Corcoran College of Art and Design and Monument Realty, a partnership which ended last spring. Potential non-profit tenants apparently hesitated to sign on without the reassurance that the area would be changing for the better in the near future. In 2007 the ZC said the extension was "justified by the uncertainty of market conditions" near the project - mind you this was in 2007, before the Big Mess. According to Office of Zoning records, between Jan. 2007 and October 2008 only seven time extension applications came before the Commission, one of which belonged to Tanner. Maybe the ZC will feel generous again.

Washington DC commercial real estate news