Land use attorney Kenneth Wire has seen six proposals for the redevelopment of the Victory Center come through in the last twenty years.
The latest one, which that would see the building converted into affordable housing while a neighboring lot is turned into market-rate housing, could be the one that finally overturns the Victory Center’s two-decade run of bad luck.
Wire spoke to the Eisenhower West Landmark Van Dorn Advisory Group last week and offered a more extensive look at the project, including designs for amenities like a private dog park, co-working spaces, and open space.
Before this project, the plan had been to demolish the building.
“We had thoughts of taking the building down and putting a multifamily building there,” said David Cerniglia, senior development manager with Stonebridge. “What we decided to do, after talking with the city, was take the Victory Center and convert it. [The City] was mostly concerned with density on the site.”
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
The adjacent lot would be redeveloped into a residential building with 450 new market-rate units.
Cerniglia explained that wanted to keep the relatively higher levels of density in a corridor close to the Van Dorn Metro station when compared to more townhouses.
“The business decision would be to raze it all and build townhouses,” Wire said. “That was our thought but we got kind of locked out of town on that.”
The end result is a boon for the city’s affordable housing goals. At a City Council meeting earlier this month, City Manager Jim Parajon said it would cost the City of Alexandria millions to secure 378 units at reasonable levels of affordability.
Another side benefit is bumping down the city’s office vacancy rate.
“[The Victory Center] is 3% of the city’s 15% vacancy rate,” Wire said. “We’ll have one of the lowest vacancy rates in Northern Virginia, which is in and of itself fantastic.”
The enormous empty office has also been a hurdle for development along Eisenhower Avenue.
“What excites me about this, having been on every committee since 09 out here, this building has been a blocker for development,” Wire said. “People move in [and ask] ‘what’s happening with that empty building, it’s been sitting there for 20 years?'”
The project will head to the Planning Commission and City Council next month. The plan, Wire said, is to start delivering units to market in 2026.
“This is the fastest delivery of this many [affordable housing units] that you can get in the city,” Wire said.
