Mixed-Use, Mixed-Income Apartment Project in D.C. Makes Its Debut

Washington, D.C.–A recent ribbon-cutting ceremony marked the official opening of 3Tree Flats, a mixed-use residential, transit-oriented development in Washington, D.C.’s Petworth Neighborhood. Affordable Housing Developers and Jair Lynch Development Partners brought the $42 million mixed-income apartment project to fruition.

Once known as Georgia Commons, 3Tree Flats takes its name from a metal sculpture of three trees that graces the property’s interior courtyard, and carries the address of 3910 Georgia Ave. NW, a site just two blocks from the Georgia Avenue-Petworth Metrorail station. The six-story building encompasses 130 residences, including 11 two-story loft units, accommodating both affordable housing and market-rate renters. “It opened fully leased,” Mary Margaret Plumridge, a spokesperson for the developers, tells MHN. “Demand from the neighborhood was for mixed-income rentals. It’s what they wanted, and we delivered it in a timeframe that has made it successful.”

The property also offers 28,000 square feet of commercial space that is occupied in its entirety by Mary’s Center, a community-based healthcare facility. “We were able to deliver commercial use right at the beginning. Mary’s Center employs about 100 people, so the commercial segment of the property is helping to support retail in the area and revitalize the neighborhood.”

3Tree Flats also features a list of residential amenities that includes a fitness facility, a community room and a green roof terrace, which is just one of the sustainable elements that earned the property LEED Gold for Neighborhood Development certification from the U.S. Green Building Council.

Residents of Petworth were not the only ones eager to see 3Tree Flats open its doors. The desirability of the project–its mixed uses, mixed-income designation and location in a market with significant demand–helped pave the way for AHD and Jair Lynch to secure financing from a bevy of public and private sources, including Stratford Capital Group, which syndicated low-income housing tax credits to M&T Bank and Sherwin Williams.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development contributed funding by way of the Federal Housing Administration’s 221(d)(4) mortgage insurance program, and the DC Department of Housing and Community Development, acting via the Housing Production Trust Fund, came through with a loan for the project. Additionally, the DC Housing Finance Agency provided financial assistance through a McKinney Act loan and tax-exempt, private activity bond volume cap. “3Tree Flats was the only residential development that received financing through DCHFA in 2009, and it is one of the only projects delivering right now,” Plumridge notes. The DC Office of the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development contributed to 3Tree Flats’ financing as well, as did the DC Primary Care Association, which made funding available for Mary’s Center.

“3Tree Flats is a classic mixed-use, transit-oriented development designed to help revitalize a neighborhood,” she says. “It’s also a great project with great amenities and a great development team, so all those factors have made it successful.”