DC’s Barry Farm Redevelopment Clinches Gov’t Financing
The District’s housing finance agency issued over $61 million in bonds and underwrote $52 million in housing tax credits toward a 139-unit building at the project site late last month
By Nick Trombola June 6, 2024 2:02 pm
reprints
Washington, D.C.’s massive Barry Farm redevelopment has secured new financing for part of project’s second construction phase.
The District of Columbia Housing Finance Agency (DCHFA) late last month issued $61.1 million in tax-exempt bonds and underwrote $52 million in federal Low-Income Housing Tax Credit equity toward the development of The Edmonson, a four-story, 139-unit affordable housing complex in Barry Farm, a historically Black neighborhood in Southeast D.C.
Construction on the long-awaited, if somewhat controversial, redevelopment commenced in 2022 after years of delays. The project site is owned by the District of Columbia Housing Authority, and is being developed by a partnership between the agency and Preservation for Affordable Housing, a Boston-based firm specializing in low-income projects.
The first phase of construction kicked off with a 108-unit affordable building dubbed The Asberry, set aside for seniors 55 or older, and includes two other multifamily buildings totaling 432 units and 115 townhomes, along with several thousand square feet of commercial space.
DCFHA also issued $33.7 million tax-exempt bonds toward The Asberry in 2022. And the agency indicated that it isn’t done funding other aspects of the redevelopment project, either.
“DCHFA is proud to continue investing in the redevelopment of Barry Farm,” said DCHFA Executive Director Christopher E. Donald in a statement. “We eagerly anticipate investing further in the future phases of this historic neighborhood.”
Barry Farm is one of four neighborhoods covered under the District’s Office of the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development’s (DMPED) New Communities Initiative (NCI), which invests in distressed public housing. Financing for The Edmonson, named after the Edmonson sisters who attempted to flee slavery in the years preceding the Civil War (Emily Edmonson later helped found the Barry Farm-Hillsdale Community), also includes a $21 million DMPED NCI loan.
Washington, D.C., is also betting big on green energy at the sprawling redevelopment project.
New York-based sustainable tech company brightcore energy has been tapped to implement its innovative geothermal HVAC technology in some of the buildings at Barry Farm, including at The Edmonson. It marks the District’s first implementation of a large-scale community geothermal heat pump system.
The geothermal systems are expected to be completed by early 2026, with the rest of Barry Farm expected to be completed by 2030.
Nick Trombola can be reached at ntrombola@commercialobserver.com.
