It was another busy week in Alexandria.
This week’s top stories focused on development projects all over the city, from Old Town North to Carlyle and in the West End. News of the mixed-use projects comes as affordable housing advocates are protesting against being priced out and are asking for greater assistance from the city.
Politics-wise, City Council Member Alyia Gaskins celebrated two recent victories in her Democratic primary race for mayor. Gaskins is leading with fundraising, having raised $149,107 with $69,425 on-hand, according to quarterly campaign finance reports released Monday. Her opponent Vice Mayor Amy Jackson has raised $59,984 and has $22,682 on-hand, while former real estate developer Steven Peterson has raised $44,700 with $14,019 on-hand.
Gaskins also handily won the recent Alexandria Democratic Committee’s Straw Poll by 81%, followed by 16% for Jackson and 3% for Peterson. The primary is on June 18.
On Tuesday, we reported on a new movement to return Alexandria’s City Council to ward/district representation. While the nine-member Alexandria School Board is divided into three districts, the seven members of City Council are at-large, representing the entire city. The Communities for Accountable City Council is a self-described non-partisan group of city residents “exasperated with the intransigent Alexandria City Council that is unaccountable to communities and neighborhoods because of Alexandria’s At-Large election system.”
In our poll this week we asked whether City Council should return to a ward system. Out of the more than 500 votes, 57% voted yes and 43% voted no.
The most-read stories this week were:
- Notes: Old Town North building sold for $15.4 million to be turned into mixed-use apartment building (8413 views)
- Alexandria considering big plans for properties next to Eisenhower Avenue Metro station (4987 views)
- Alexandria City Council approves new ‘neighborhood’ at former Vulcan Materials site (4603 views)
- CVS set to close in Taylor Run neighborhood on Duke Street (3611 views)
- Affordable housing advocates rally outside Alexandria City Hall (3559 views)
- No arrest after fistfight leads to gunfire in Lincolnia (3351 views)
- Notes: Fundraiser for motorcyclist killed on Duke Street raises thousands (2390 views)
- Local organization forms to push Alexandria back to district/ward elections (2303 views)
- Mystic BBQ & Grill opens on Lee Street in Old Town (2235 views)
Have a safe weekend!
What a busy week in Alexandria.
This week’s top story was all about money, with a $1 million Powerball ticket getting sold in the Alexandria area of Fairfax County.
On Monday we reported that an Alexandria resident was charged after a loaded gun was allegedly found in his carry-on bag at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA). The incident marked the third time last month that a firearm was confiscated from luggage at the airport.
Also Monday, Mayor Justin Wilson said in his monthly newsletter that the March 27 death of the Potomac Yard arena deal would likely mean a period of stagnation for that area of the city. Landowner JBG Smith, however, softened its stance after initially releasing a scathing opinion on the situation, and told the Washington Business Journal on Wednesday that it now envisions Potomac Yard as a tech corridor anchored by the Virginia Tech Innovation Campus.
In a Thursday poll, ALXnow asked whether Alexandria is better off without the Potomac Yard arena. The poll got more than 1,300 responses, with 65% voting “Yes,” 26% voting “No” and nearly 10% voting “I don’t know.”
Got a good spot to see the eclipse on Monday? Our second-most-read story this week showcases an eclipse viewing party being hosted by the city in Old Town.
The most-read stories this week were:
- Powerball ticket worth $1 million sold in Mount Vernon (7387 views)
- City of Alexandria hosting eclipse viewing party in Old Town (7375 views)
- Notes: Pizza and cocktail bar opening this week in Old Town (5997 views)
- Sign ordinance update tackling longstanding sign complaints from Alexandria businesses (5400 views)
- In wake of Potomac Yard arena implosion, Alexandria mayor says area will stay the same for ‘quite some time’ (5398 views)
- Alexandria gets federal grant for Duke Street transitway (4171 views)
- No arrest after woman stabbed in neck in Alexandria’s West End (3522 views)
- CIM Group sells apartment complex next to old Landmark Mall property for $225 million (3149 views)
Have a safe weekend!
A 14-building apartment complex next door to the former Landmark Mall property recently sold for $225 million, the Washington Business Journal first reported.
The City’s Office of Real Estate Assessments confirmed the March 28 sale and the amount, which have not yet been posted online.
The property was purchased by Bridge WF II VA Mason Van Dorn LLC, a partnership between Florida-based Shoreham Capital and Utah-based Bridge Investment Group Holdings LLC, according to the Washington Business Journal.
Bridge Property Management is now managing the property, according to the Mason at Van Dorn website.
The 25-acre, 1,180-unit apartment complex was built in 1972, and was acquired by California-based CIM Group in 2017, according to a March 29 release. At the time it bought the property, Landmark Mall was about five years away from being demolished to make way for the 52-acre WestEnd and the Inova at Landmark developments.
CIM Group confirmed the sale of the property, but did not mention the price or buyer in the release. CIM Group also owns another large Alexandria property — the Southern Towers apartment complex near the intersection of Seminary Road and N. Beauregard Street.
CIM Group says it made a number of improvements to the Mason at Van Dorn Apartments property, including upgrades to communal areas, building a residential club house near one of the property’s two large swimming pools, as well as a playground with a grilling area. CIM Group also said they built a new business center, fitness center, theater room and kids room.
Images via Google Maps and Facebook
(Updated 5:25 p.m.) The owner of an aging office building in Old Town North wants it converted into a 136-unit apartment building, and credits the decision to the “ongoing and diminished office market and current high vacancy rate.”
The five-story, 112,000-square-foot office building was built in 1983. It’s owned by Principal Life Insurance Co. of Des Moines, Iowa, and managed by PF III Abingdon LLC, an affiliate of the D.C.-based real estate investment firm the Pinkard Group.
“Due to the on-going, diminished office market and current high vacancy rate, the Applicant seeks residential use to repurpose the building,” PF III Abingdon LLC said in its application.
The group wants approval to build a new 43,352-square-foot building wing at the south of the property, which is currently occupied by a surface parking lot. They want to increase the 50-foot height limit to 65 feet to accommodate a mechanical penthouse on top of the building, as well as make lobby, courtyard and other aesthetic improvements. The plan also includes seven on-site affordable housing apartments.
The plan will go to the Planning Commission on Tuesday, Feb. 6.
Despite having a high vacancy rate, the applicant said that traffic in the area will diminish.
“The surrounding streets will operate at a less congested state with residential use as compared to office use,” the applicant said. “No new parking will be constructed as the existing parking is sufficient for the proposed number of residential units.”
The proposal joins a trend of local developers converting outdated offices to residential properties, as roughly a quarter of workers in the D.C. Metro area continue working remotely.
From protests over evictions to outrage over living conditions, complaints at the Southern Towers Apartment complex in Alexandria’s West End have become somewhat commonplace over the last few years.
The aging five-building complex is home to an estimated 7,000 people living in about 2,000 workforce apartments. One maintenance worker told ALXnow that he fixes at least two riser leaks per month on the property, the most recent of which affected 14 apartments in The Sherwood building last month.
One of those residents, Alex, was forced out of his three-bedroom apartment due to flooding for two weeks. He said that he potentially lost more than $1,000 in property.
“So much hot, steamy, rusty brown water started flowing down the wall that I could do nothing,” Alex said. “I moved my kids out of their rooms and the water just kept coming. I tried to bail it out but it was too much.”
CIM Group bought Southern Towers in 2020, and residents have protested living conditions and evictions for years, especially throughout the pandemic. This year alone, Southern Towers was visited by the director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency and CIM Group was asked to resolve its eviction fight by Virginia Senators Tim Kaine and Mark Warner.
There are five 1960s-era apartment buildings in the Southern Towers property — The Sherwood, The Stratford, Monticello, The Graham and The Ashlawn. The Graham was renovated by the previous owner before CIM Group bought the property, and it stands as a model for redevelopment of the other buildings, which will happen over time, Jerry Thomas, managing director for CIM’s on-site property management, told ALXnow.
Thomas said CIM Group is being responsive to resident concerns, while performing much-needed infrastructure improvements. Residents, however, contend that there are near-constant issues with mold, flooding, rodent infestations and more.
“Over time we have started the unit renovation process within multiple buildings,” Thomas said. “We’re about ready to undergo renovations to lobbies and corridors in The Sherwood and The Stratford. We’ve got some bigger infrastructure projects that are going on — new roofs at The Stratford, The Graham and The Sherwood, as well as new windows at The Ashlawn and Monticello buildings.”
Thomas said that the recent flooding incidents were due to aging building risers and the air conditioning system being switched over to heat for the fall and winter months. He also said that Sherwood and Stratford lobbies will soon be demolished and renovated in the hope of finishing construction by the end of the first quarter of 2024.
“You can’t replace all of the risers in a building,” Thomas said. “We’d replace all the risers if we were to empty the building, tear all the skin off the building, and do the building would have no residents in it, and then you’d replace all the pipe work. And that’s not an option.”
Thomas continued, “What happens is there’s 60 Different risers in a building. So, this last (flooding incident) one was like riser number 30. When riser number 30 broke, they will fix the entire riser for number 30… But then there’s 59 more risers in the building.”
There are no plans to establish resident groups to voice concerns to CIM Group, and residents are instead represented by activists from African Communities Together (ACT).
Solomon Ayalew, DMV director for the nonprofit, said that CIM Group needs to conduct a system-wide investigation to identify the pervasiveness of mold in apartment heating and air units.
“There needs to be more consistent checks around mold,” Ayalew said. “The pipes are ancient, and quicker responses to fixes and maintenance when needed. For example, there’s only one emergency staffer for the entire complex. If anything happens, one person has to take manage this entire complex, which is what happened with the recent flooding. One person tried to take care of 14 units. It’s just ridiculous.”
In September, multiple City Council members toured the property. Council Member Alyia Gaskins wrote CIM Group that she toured the buildings with her young children, and that one of them had a coughing fit due to mold.
“What we observed is unacceptable,” Gaskins wrote. “We also observed holes in walls and a major flood in the elevator. As a councilmember and mother, I do not want anyone living in conditions that compromise their health, safety and stability.”
A lawsuit filed by D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb over alleged artificial rent inflation will hit some of the region’s biggest landlords, including companies with properties in Alexandria, DCist first reported.
Schwalb’s lawsuit alleges the landlords of acting as a rent-setting cartel that use Texas-based property management software company RealPage to artificially drive up rent prices around the region.
According to the lawsuit:
In practice, RealPage has focused on recruiting into the cartel the buildings with the largest number of units (i.e., buildings with fifty or more units). In the District, a sizable
majority of units in large multifamily buildings — approximately 60% — set their prices using RealPage’s RM software.In the Washington-Arlington-Alexandria Metropolitan Statistical Area, that number is even higher: over 90% of units in large buildings are priced using RealPage’s RM software.
As a practical matter, this leaves many District residents with no choice but to pay RealPage’s inflated rents.
The largest defendant in the lawsuit is Greystar, which manages six communities across Alexandria and uses RealPage RM Software for pricing:
- Bailey’s Crossings Apartments
- Del Ray Tower at Fuse
- Notch8
- Platform
- Station 650 Apartments
- The Blake
Other defendants in the lawsuit include Avenue5 Residential, which owns e-lofts in the West End, and Avalon Communities, which owns Avalon Potomac Yard. Another developer in the lawsuit, JBG Smith, has been part of plans to redevelop Potomac Yard.
“RealPage, the Defendant Landlords, and other Participating Landlords have unlawfully agreed to forgo competition in favor of using a central entity — the RealPage RM Software — to set apartment rents,” the lawsuit said “Their agreement is reflected in existing documents, has been
publicly acknowledged by cartel members, and is closely policed to ensure compliance.”
The lawsuit said RealPage suppresses landlords’ independent price decision-making and requires the landlords to impose rents generated by the company’s software. Landlords using the software have touted their ability to raise rents by 20% or more, the lawsuit said.
The lawsuit comes on the heels of years of rent increases, with many of the defendants in the lawsuit owning the Class A apartments in Alexandria that have seen an average 4.7% rent increase over the last year.
Image via The Blake/Facebook
The Alexandria Planning Commission unanimously endorsed a sweeping overhaul of the city’s zoning ordinances on Wednesday night, giving City Council the green light to vote on it later this month.
There were more than 100 attendees and 51 speakers at the Planning Commission’s five hour public hearing, which ran after midnight. The speakers were a mixed bunch, with about half supporting the legislation and the other half opposing it.
The Zoning for Housing overhaul is intended to expand new affordable housing opportunities and would reshape a host of ordinances, including changes to single-family zoning, expansion of transit-oriented development, reducing parking requirements for single-family homes and analyzing office-to-residential conversions.
“I think we’re going to have to be nimble with this,” said Planning Commission Chair Nathan Macek. “I do think, though, we want to be careful with this particular market, and given the challenges that this distressed office space has already, we just have to be sensitive of the fact that we not douse the potential for the development because we’re trying to put too many constraints on it.”
City staff tabled one initiative — a bonus height amendment that incentivizes developers to add affordable housing to projects in exchange for two additional stories of construction in areas where height limits are 45 feet or more. Del Ray residents protested the move, with many saying that its approval would destroy the neighborhood.
“Staff’s recommendation is to table this proposal as several existing zoning provisions, that are not proposed to change under this package of reforms, would severely curtail this provision’s regulatory and financial viability,” according to a staff report.
Prior to the meeting, Mayor Justin Wilson said on social media that the city’s zoning laws are outdated. Wilson said that the proposed policies will desegregate the city, and that a number of zoning ordinances in the 20th century divided the city by race.
Alexandria is having a spirited conversation about laws that prohibit building anything but detached single-family homes.
8 NEW CONSTRUCTION detached, single-family homes have sold in 2023:
AVERAGE sale price: $2.17M
LOWEST sale price: $1.90M pic.twitter.com/2krQ1uXw5D
— Justin Wilson (@justindotnet) October 31, 2023
Alexandria’s affordable housing crisis
Alexandria is currently experiencing an affordable housing crisis, and lost 90% of its affordable housing stock between 2000 and 2017. The city has pledged to produce or develop thousands of units to meet 2030 regional housing goal set by the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments.
According to the city:
According to U.S. Census figures, nearly twenty percent of Alexandria’s 80,000 households with incomes up to $75,000 are cost burdened. Approximately 19,000 households are paying more than the federal government indicates they should for housing, leaving little in their households budgets for necessities. The City projects that the number of households in Alexandria will rise to about 100,000 households by 2035. The longstanding imbalance between housing supply and demand, exacerbated by stagnating wage growth particularly in low to moderate-wage sectors, is a key factor underlying the high cost of housing, imperiling our ability to grow an economy that depends on a diversity of skillsets.
Alexandria middle school teacher David Paladin Fernandez said that many of his fellow teachers can’t afford to live in the city.
“I know multiple educators that live outside of Alexandria, some as far away as Fredericksburg,” he said. “They don’t live in these places because it’s convenient. They live in these places because that is where they can afford to live, meaning they will not be able to connect to the community in the same way a resident can. They will not have the benefit of the students and parents seeing them as fellow citizens of Alexandria, despite the fact that they’ve chosen to give their lives to serve the city.”
The city conducted dozens of public meetings for more than a year on the Zoning for Housing proposals, but only released a draft plan in September.
“The sessions have focused on general issues and goals, not specific proposals,” said North Ridge resident Sonny Yoder, who asked for a deferral. “Full disclosure came only 30 days ago.”
Luca Gattoni-Celli, founder of YIMBYs of Northern Virginia, said that the city can solve its affordable housing crisis and shouldn’t fear the solution. Gattoni-Celli lives in the West End, surrounded by thousands of city residents living in apartments, he said.
“Living near thousands of other human beings is nothing but a blessing for me and my family,” he said. “It’s wonderful.”
West End resident Kursten Phelps said that she got lucky eight years ago when she got a $5,000 raise and that she and her family were then able to afford to buy their home.
“We got very, very lucky,” Phelps said. “Many of our kids friends are being squeezed out of Alexandria because their rents are rising and there’s no available homes in their budget.”
Ian Smith, 24, has been living in an Alexandria duplex for the last three years, and said that young residents find it nearly impossible to afford to live in the city.
“Even though we get college degrees and work hard for our competitive jobs in the DMV area, basic aspirations like owning a home and starting our own families seem completely out of reach due to the cost of living,” Smith said. “We desperately need housing. This initiative is a great first step.”
Many city residents pleaded with the Planning Commission to defer the proposals, and said that the public has not had enough time to discuss the draft plans.
Roy Byrd, a 25-year city resident, is chair of The Coalition for a Livable Alexandria, a group founded this year largely in opposition of these rezoning issues. He said that there are several unknown variables that the public needs to understand.
“Will the median cost of a single-family home decline or increase by how much year-over-year over the next 10 years?” Byrd asked. “Will the proposed zoning changes result in an increase in revenue for the city, and if so, by how much during the 10 year period, and will it also result in lower property taxes and reduced fees for residents?”
City Council will conduct a public hearing on the Zoning for Housing package on Tuesday, Nov. 14, followed by a public hearing on Nov. 18 and a vote on Nov. 28.
More details on the draft initiative are below the jump.
Alexandria renting units in Class A apartments — newer, high-rise buildings — have seen their rent increase by an average of 4.7% over the last year, real estate website UrbanTurf reported.
Those Class A units comprise the majority of new construction around the region and are generally developments built after 1991 and featuring amenities. The effective rent per month in one of those units in Alexandria, which includes a mix of studios, one and two-bedroom rentals, is $2,475 per month.
That increase is one of the sharpest increases in the region, behind only Upper Georgia Avenue (increased by 5.6%) and Bethesda (increased by 5.2%).
Rents for those types of units increased across most of the region, only decreasing slightly in NoMa and the Capitol Hill neighborhoods of D.C.
Rents for Class B units, generally mid/high-rise units, has also increased over the last years, rising by an average of 18% in the region. UrbanTurf reported last year that West Alexandria saw a 116.8% increase in Class B unit rents while Arlandria saw a 108.1% increase.
Anita Morrison, principal at Partnerships for Economic Solutions, said in a panel earlier this year that despite a surge in new residential units being built in Alexandria, rents have continued to climb.
“The fastest growing age category is people ages 65-74 and children under 20, but folks 20-24 dropped in Alexandria and 25-34 did not grow as much as the rest of the market,” Morrison said. “We think that’s a reflection of not being able to buy here.”
Morrison said the problem is that, even with the new housing units, Alexandria’s housing supply isn’t keeping pace with the demand.
“The scale of developments haven’t met the need,” Morrison said. “We’re always running a few steps behind the demand. It’s about getting enough supply to increase vacancy rates and create competition, but we’ve never moved the needle enough with supply to see that happen.”
A makeover has been proposed for a 53-year-old office building in Old Town North.
The owners of the former home of the Alexandria Community Services Board at 720 North St. Asaph Street want the building converted into a 12-unit multifamily apartment building with ground floor commercial space.
The owners, Joseph “Teddy” Kim and Phil Kang want to convert the three-story, 31,515-square foot commercial office building into 12 two-bedroom residential units with ground floor commercial space.
“With the proposed conversion of the existing 31,515-square foot commercial office building, the building will contain approximately 19,610 square feet of residential floor area at a 1.25 FAR (floor area ratio), with 5,889 square feet, or a 0.38 FAR, of existing commercial use to remain,” according to the special use permit application. “In summary, the proposed requests will facilitate the adaptive re-use of an aging office building to a multifamily residential building that will enhance the existing site and bring quality residential units to an active and vibrant neighborhood.”
The value of the property has gone down since it was bought for $5.8 million in 2005. It was last assessed at $5.2 million in January — $1.8 million for the land and $3.4 million for the building, according to land use records.
The proposal will go to the Planning Commission on Dec. 5.
City leaders broke ground on Housing Alexandria‘s 474-unit affordable apartment complex in Arlandria on Wednesday, capping off the largest project of its kind in Alexandria history.
It will be 2026 by the time residents start moving into the two-building, 36,000 square-foot complex, Housing Alexandria said in a release. The buildings, named Sansé and Naja, will be located near the corner of W. Glebe Road and Mount Vernon Avenue. The property will include a large underground parking garage and 34,000 square feet of commercial space, which will include childcare and health care services, according to Housing Alexandria.
“This is not just the largest affordable housing project the city has ever undertaken,” Mayor Justin Wilson said at the groundbreaking. “This is a project
adjacent to some of the best transit investments we have around and within a mile of the new (Potomac Yard) Metro station. It is adjacent to some of our biggest and growing job centers, in Potomac Yard and along Route 1.”
Housing Alexandria first moved into Arlandria in Feb. 2022 when it bought a 14-story apartment building at 511 Four Mile Road.
“The opportunity to develop 474 affordable units and commercial space doesn’t come along very often,” said Aaron Remolona, Housing Alexandria’s vice president of development and acquisitions. “We are not new to this housing development, but we are new to this neighborhood… I want to thank the organizations in this community that have been willing to help us, teach us, and connect us – namely Casa Chirilagua and Tenants and Workers United.”
Evelyn Urrutia, executive director of Tenants and Workers United, said that Wednesday was a historic day.
“We say today is a historic day for us because this project will truly benefit the families that we work with,” she said. “The work reflects the government and development partners, but it is also the work of our community. This project is a reflection of the type of housing we need across the city. We hope this is just the beginning, and that this project will serve as an example for all who want to work in our city.”
