At a City Council meeting this week, more details emerged about plans to convert the Eisenhower Valley’s long-beleaguered Victory Center into a new bastion of affordable housing.
The developer, Stonebridge, proposes to convert the long-vacant office building and part of the massive parking lot into 825 mixed-income housing units.
The current building would be converted into 378 units at various levels of affordability:
- 82 units would be available at 50-60% of the Area Median Income (AMI)
- 190 units would be available at 80% AMI
- 106 units will be available at 100% AMI
As part of the agreement, the developer could receive a partial real estate tax abatement on the converted Victory Center property — not the new construction — for up to 25 years. The property would have a 90% tax abatement for the first five years, then 10% less every five years.
City Manager Jim Parajon said if the city were to try to build similar amounts of affordable housing, the cost would be in the millions and would far exceed the potential tax revenue lost from the tax abatement.
“It would be way past the tax abatement,” Parajon said, “and it would be money we’d have to come forward with.”
The conversion section is estimated to add 82 students to the school system.
The new neighboring development, meanwhile, would feature 450 new market-rate units.
Parajon also revealed that the project would feature 2,000 square feet of community space leased to the city for $1 for 40 years and a section for retail. Parajon said options for that community space include a mini-library, something with recreational elements, or a club for local teens.
“There are a lot of different things that could be discussed,” said Parajon,” but that space would be available and under full control of the city.”
Parajon also said the space would be a “warm-lit shell” after some problems with art spaces created without amenities — possibly a reference to MetroStage’s struggle to find the funding to make the cold dark shell at The Venue (925 N. Fairfax Street) work.
Whatever the use of the community space ends up being, City Council member Canek Aguirre requested that it double as a polling location given that there isn’t an easily accessible one in the Eisenhower Valley.
City staff said the project is heading back to the City Council for approval sometime in December, with the building required to commence construction within two years of approval and be completed within four years of approval.
