Non-Profit Partners Acquire Silver Springs Apartments
Housing Partnership Equity Trust and AHC Inc. have partnered to acquire Woodleaf Apartments in Silver Spring, a suburb of Washington, D.C., for $33.5 million.
By Dees Stribling, Contributing Editor
Silver Spring, Md.—Housing Partnership Equity Trust (HPET) and AHC Inc. have partnered to acquire Woodleaf Apartments in Silver Spring, a suburb of Washington, D.C., for $33.5 million. The 228-unit property is comprised of one- and two-bedroom units and is adjacent to FDA headquarters on the White Oak Federal Campus. It’s also near downtown Silver Spring.
According to HPET and AHC, is goal of the deal is to preserve the property’s affordability, which they say is critical to the growing workforce in the area. Job growth in the area is being powered in large part by the planned expansion of the FDA.
HPET is a social-purpose REIT created by the Housing Partnership Network, a collaborative of affordable housing and development non-profits whose aim is to preserve affordable rental housing. The 12 non-profit members of HPET are: AHC Inc.; BRIDGE Housing Corp.; Chicanos Por La Causa Inc.; Community Preservation and Development Corp.; Eden Housing Inc.; Hispanic Housing Development Corp.; Homes for America Inc.; LINC Housing Corp.; Mercy Housing; Nevada HAND Inc.; the NHP Foundation; and NHT/Enterprise.
The REIT launched in 2013 with $100 million in initial investment capital from Prudential Financial Inc., Citi, Morgan Stanley, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the Ford Foundation, HPN and the non-profit members. With the Woodleaf acquisition, HPET will close out its initial capital raise and expand its portfolio of affordable rental properties to more than 1,100 units.
HPET invests long-term, low-cost equity alongside its non-profit partners, enabling them to acquire rental properties more quickly. The REIT structure is better able to compete with for-profit developers, bypassing complex financing packages or subsidies that can take months or years to assemble.
Arlington, Va.-based AHC is a non-profit developer of affordable housing in the Washington area. Since 1975, it has developed or preserved nearly 50 affordable rental properties housing about 6,500 households, and in 2004, the non-profit expanded its footprint to the Baltimore area. AHC also runs a resident services program that serves more than 2,000 children and families.
