DC Affordable Duo Receives Financing

A rendering of Northwest One Phase II in Washington, D.C. Image courtesy of the District of Columbia Housing Finance Agency

The District of Columbia Housing Finance Agency is providing financing for nearly 700 units of affordable housing in two Washington, D.C., neighborhoods. In one transaction, the agency will provide funds to preserve and upgrade existing units, while a second financing will provide funds backing the second phase of a mixed-income, mixed-use development.

DCHFA recently issued a combined total of $104.2 million in tax-exempt bonds and underwrote $81.4 million in federal Low Income Housing Tax Credit for the two affordable housing projects.

Christopher E. Donald, executive director & CEO of DCHFA, said in a prepared statement that the financing of nearly 700 units in a week demonstrates the robust activity of DCHFA’s robust multifamily pipeline.  Through its Multifamily Lending and Neighborhood Investment and Capital Markets divisions, DCHFA issues tax-exempt mortgage revenue bonds to lower the developers’ costs of acquiring, constructing and rehabilitating rental housing. The agency offers private for-profit and nonprofit developers low-cost predevelopment, construction and permanent financing that supports the new construction, acquisition and rehabilitation of affordable rental housing in D.C.

DCHFA issued $59.2 million in tax-exempt bonds for the Villages at Parklands Phase I in Ward 8 and underwrote $43.6 million in federal LIHTC equity for the acquisition and renovation of 461 apartments.

Huntington Village Apartments and Orchard Park Village Apartments comprise the Villages at Parklands Phase I. The tenant associations of the apartment communities exercised their rights under the Tenant Opportunity to Purchase Act to acquire their buildings. They selected Dantes Partners, L&M Development Partners and H Street Community Development Corp. to rehabilitate the properties at a total cost of $121 million. Located in D.C.’s Randle Heights neighborhood, the properties were built in the 1950s and were last renovated in 2006. Following the renovations, both Huntington Village and Orchard Park will continue to be LIHTC restricted at 60 percent of Area Median Income and operate with HAP subsidies.

For the second deal, developers MidAtlantic Realty Partners, Taylor Adams Associates and CSG Urban Partners were charged with the construction of a $103 million six-story building at the Northwest One Phase II site in Ward 6. DCHFA issued $45 million in tax-exempt bonds and underwrote $37.8 million in LIHTC equity for the construction of 212 affordable apartments. Northwest One is a New Communities Initiative designated project from the Office of the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development. Additional financing for the project is being provided through a $39 million DMPED NCI loan.

Phase II is the second of three phases that will ultimately deliver approximately 600 residential mixed-use, mixed-income units and more than 56,000 square feet of retail and community services in the NoMa neighborhood. In October 2020, DCHFA issued $29.9 million in tax-exempt bonds to finance the first phase of Northwest One to the development team. DCHFA also provided $17.4 million in 4 percent LIHTC credits for the first phase, which included 220 housing units, of which 150 were affordable.

The Phase II building will have units for residents earning 30 percent and 60 percent of AMI or less. The unit mix will consist of 12 efficiency units, 80 one-bedroom units, 65 two-bedroom units, 44 three-bedroom units and 11 four-bedroom units. Approximately 83 units will operate with Local Rent Supplement Program subsidies from the DC Housing Authority. Also, 11 of the 83 at 30 percent of AMI will be Permanent Supportive Housing units that will be operated under the PSH program. Seventy-two apartments will be reserved for tenants who previously lived at the Temple Courts and Golden Rule affordable housing communities that were demolished in 2008.

Other DCHFA Deals

In June, DCHFA issued $63.2 million in tax-exempt bonds for the rehabilitation of Worthington Woods Apartments, a 394-unit affordable housing community in Ward 8’s Washington Highlands neighborhood. DCHFA also underwrote $45.5 million in federal LIHTC and $9.1 million in D.C. LIHTC equity for preservation of the community’s affordability. Montgomery Housing Partnership and Anacostia Economic Development Corp. are in charge of the redevelopment project.

Several months earlier, DCHFA issued $23.1 million in tax-exempt bonds and underwrote $22 million in federal and local LIHTC equity for the development of Alabama Avenue Apartments, an 86-unit affordable housing property being built in Ward 8 by Enterprise Community Development and Durrani Development Corp.