APAH Purchases Arna Valley View Apartments Preserves Affordability
Arlington, VA (February 28, 2014) – The Arlington Partnership for Affordable Housing (APAH) today purchased the 101-unit Arna Valley View Apartments, preserving an affordable rental housing community in this close-in South Arlington location. With the purchase of Arna Valley View, APAH now provides housing to 1,218 Arlington households at 14 properties.
“APAH welcomes the opportunity to preserve this community to be 100% affordable for the next 60 years and provide homes for some of our lowest-income neighbors,” said APAH President/CEO Nina Janopaul. “We are honored to become a part of the rich cultural and ethnically diverse history of the Arna Valley neighborhood.”
“The history of Arna Valley shaped Arlington in modern times. It was once an affordable rental community housing low-income whites, African-Americans and Latinos and other immigrants, then was largely redeveloped to accommodate Arlington’s higher income residents. This spurred the deep commitment to affordable housing we have in Arlington today,” said Arlington County Board Member Walter Tejada. “We are very glad to have APAH as our partner who will preserve housing affordability for diverse low income workers in this historic community.”
“As an Arlington-based company, we are pleased to be able to see this community transferred into the hands of an Arlington-based nonprofit and preserved as affordable housing for the Arlington community for generations to come,” said Tim Naughton, Chairman, CEO and President, Avalon Bay Communities.
APAH purchased the 101-unit garden-style rental apartment community from Avalon Bay Communities, the original developer of the site. The 2.1 acre property, built in 2001 as committed affordable housing, includes three four-story buildings, a central parking structure, a community room, business center, tot lot and picnic area.
Two-thirds of the Arna Valley View apartments are family-sized with 25 two-bedroom and 40 three bedroom units. APAH will also be preserving apartments that are affordable to very low income Arlingtonians. The property is 100% committed affordable with one-third of apartments affordable to individuals and families earning less than 60% of the Area Median Income (AMI); one-third affordable to families earning less than 50% of AMI; and one-third affordable to families earning less than 45% of AMI. These are some of the lowest-priced rental units in the County’s committed affordable (CAF) portfolio.
APAH financed the purchase of Arna Valley View by combining loans from three Arlington County Programs – the Affordable Housing Investment Fund (AHIF), federal Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program and federal Home Investment Partnership Program (HOME) – and with Virginia Housing Development Authority’s taxable SPARC and REACH programs.
Arna Valley View is located at 2300 S. 25th Street, within easy access to Rt. 395 and close to Crystal City and Pentagon City. Arna Valley is a community spanning Rt. 395 at S. Glebe Road and was once a community of homes and privately owned apartments that were affordable to lower-income workers in Arlington. The historically African-American community was also home to a growing Latino population. In 1999 Avalon Bay received Arlington County Board approval to redevelop the community to a 924-unit complex that is a combination of town homes and garden-style apartments. Avalon Bay built the 101-unit Arna Valley View and an additional 60+ units scattered throughout the complex as committed affordable rental units as part of the agreement with the County.
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