Affordability Extended at The JBG Companies’ Falkland Chase

By Jeffrey Steele, Contributing Writer

Chevy Chase, Md.–An agreement has been struck to extend the term of 90 rental assistance units at the Falkland Chase Apartments in Silver Spring, Md. The JBG Companies and Montgomery County’s Department of Housing and Community Affairs (DHCA) are the parties entered into the agreement.

Falkland Chase, which The JBG Companies acquired in April 2013, operated under a 1985 agreement with the county. That agreement stipulated that 90 units would be leased for rents at 60 percent and 40 percent of Area Median Income (AMI). Because the agreement ends this year, the units could have returned to market rents. But the JBG-DHCA agreement extends for another five years the availability of the 90 units as rent assisted.

Falkland Chase is an approximately 75-year-old, 450-unit garden apartment community that sits on approximately 22 acres. That site is made up of three parcels at 8305 16^th Street, less than one-quarter mile from the Silver Spring Transit Center.

“It has long been a stated goal of The JBG Companies to support efforts to provide affordable housing in the Washington, D.C., region,” JBG senior vice president for development Rich Jordan tells MHN. “Earlier this year we hosted a summit with our industry peers and regional officials to broaden the dialogue on the issue. Working with the County to extend the term of the affordable units at Falkland Chase is very much in keeping with JBG’s work in this area.”

The five-year period is the time frame agreed to by The JBG Companies and the county, Jordan says, adding, “The agreement includes the ability to extend this period, provided the parties mutually agree to extension terms.”

Redevelopment of the north parcel of Falkland Chase is in the early planning stages, with the initial phase expected to be complete in five years. The north parcel currently has 182 units, and has been approved for redevelopment with 1,250 units of housing and 70,000 square feet of retail. About 17 percent of those units, or approximately 215 of the new apartments, will be maintained as workforce or affordable units.

There are no redevelopment plans for the west and south parcels, which together are the site of 268 units.

“Affordable housing is an important priority of mine,” county executive Ike Leggett says. “Over the past eight years, we have created or preserved nearly 15,000 affordable housing units. This agreement with JBG is another important step.”

Adds DHCA director Richard Nelson, Jr.: “Advocates for affordable housing stress the importance of having an affordable housing supply near public transit. JBG’s willingness to maintain the availability of affordable units at Falkland Chase is a strong support to the work we are doing.”