WHC Acquires DC Apartments for $72M With Promise of Affordability
By Keith Loria December 27, 2022 12:59 pm
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The Washington Housing Conservancy (WHC), a nonprofit focused on preserving affordable housing in neighborhoods ripe for redevelopment, has acquired Loree Grand, a 212-unit apartment community at 250 K Street NE in Washington, D.C., for $71.5 million.
The seller was not disclosed.
The 10-story building was purchased with help from Amazon (AMZN)’s Housing Equity Fund and JBG Smith (JBGS)’s Impact Pool, an investment vehicle that provides financing for the preservation and creation of affordable workforce housing in the D.C. region.
WHC plans to stabilize rents for moderate-income workers and their families who would be at risk of displacement in a highly competitive housing market, according to the nonprofit. “WHC will preserve Loree Grand’s existing 30 inclusionary zoning units for 99 years, create an additional 129 affordable units for residents earning 80 percent of the area median income or less, and set aside the remaining 53 units for residents earning 120 percent of AMI or less,” according to a statement.
The AMI in D.C. is currently $125,580 for a household of four.
“We are preserving long-term affordability in diverse, high-opportunity neighborhoods under tremendous redevelopment pressure,” Kimberly Driggins, executive director of WHC, said in a prepared statement. “And we ensure that more middle-income earners — like first responders, hospitality workers and teachers — are relieved of the rent burdens that make it hard to save money and build wealth for their future.”
The 195,000-square-foot apartment community includes studio, one-bedroom and two-bedroom units near Union Station, Capitol Hill and the Smithsonian museums.
The new acquisition is part of WHC’s long-term strategy to acquire and preserve 3,000 units of naturally occurring affordable housing in the D.C. region to stabilize rents and prevent displacement.
This is WHC’s second acquisition in D.C., following the December 2021 purchase of the 214-unit Huntwood Courts at 5000 Hunt Street NE for $25 million. Overall, WHC has five affordable apartment properties encompassing more than 1,600 units in the D.C. region.
Eagle Bank provided first-mortgage financing for the acquisition.
Update: This story originally misattributed source material. This has been corrected. We apologize for the error.
Keith Loria can be reached at Kloria@commercialobserver.com.
