Developers betting on Southwest Washington, D.C., the smallest and least populous of the city’s quadrants, just shelled out $35.2 million for a 223-unit apartment complex. Rose Green Cities Fund intends to make the building more sustainable and maintain “many” of the units as affordable for middle- and low-income families.
Southwest D.C. is developing, but not especially fast. It’s certainly not like Columbia Heights or U Street, where many upwardly mobile young professionals now call home. (Check out these interactive maps to see parts of the city that have undergone massive demographic changes between 2000 and 2010.) The four-acre complex is a few blocks northwest of a proposed soccer stadium for D.C. United and about a mile east of Nationals Park, but while stadiums bring in tourists they don’t do much in the way of improving livability nearby. Besides, the Southwest Freeway cuts most of the neighborhood off from the rest of D.C., and Fort McNair to the south likely doesn’t attract too many civilians.
Still, a planned $1.5 billion redevelopment of the nearby Southwest Waterfront — where ambitious new restaurants have struggled to survive in recent years — could eventually lure renters. Two gleaming office buildings opened near the Green Line Metro stop in 2010, along with a revamped Safeway grocery store. It’s not Whole Foods opening in Midtown Detroit, but it’s something.
So while the neighborhood is certainly not prime for rapid development right now, we all know how quickly that can happen. As the Washington Post notes, “Given the construction of luxury apartment buildings nearby, Channel Square probably had attracted the interest of developers seeking investments that would yield similarly aggressive rents.”
The Channel Square Apartments, as the complex is known, are part of Rose and Citigroup’s $75 million fund to preserve affordable housing in urban areas. But how much will remain affordable? Rose has said 51 percent, though it hasn’t decided on a “formula” yet.
Southwest D.C. could certainly use an influx of cash. Residents wouldn’t hurt either. And a 223-unit apartment building promises to bring more folks to the neighborhood. Let’s just hope it’s not at the expense of others being forced out.
The Equity Factor is made possible with the support of the Surdna Foundation.
Bill Bradley is a writer and reporter living in Brooklyn. His work has appeared in Deadspin, GQ, and Vanity Fair, among others.
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