The Alexandria Redevelopment & Housing Authority and EYA received the 2013 Virginia Housing Award for Best Mixed-Income Project for its James Bland/Old Town Commons project. This award represents another successful collaboration on affordable housing between ARHA, EYA and the City of Alexandria.
The Virginia Housing Awards are presented annually at the Governor’s Housing Conference and recognize outstanding and innovative efforts put forth to meet the Commonwealth’s complex array of housing needs. Situated along five city blocks, Old Town Commons is the redevelopment of an existing public housing community. The community was redeveloped as a mix of market-rate homeownership and affordable rentals in townhomes and condominium apartments, designed to capture the charm of historic Alexandria. The project is situated between the Braddock Metro Station and the Potomac River, steps away from Old Town Alexandria.
ARHA partnered in this effort with local developer and homebuilder EYA. The affordable rentals were financed with proceeds from the sale of the land under the market rate homes paid to ARHA, combined with tax credit equity awarded to ARHA by the state housing financing agency, Virginia Housing Development Authority, through a competitive process. The tax credits were syndicated by Boston Capital. Boston Capital and ARHA have secured $24,569,484 in equity for this Alexandria community. Construction will be completed by December 2014. The homes are built to LEED for Homes standards and it is the largest LEED for Homes project in Alexandria.
