As the Arlington County Board prepares to approve the details of its large affordable housing project at Buckingham Villages this week, the overall price has grown beyond the $43.9 million figure quoted in March, when the board first considered the project.
The total price tag for the project is estimated to be $52 million, Housing Division Chief Ken Aughenbaugh told The Examiner on Tuesday.
That number does not include $7 million the county has agreed to loan the developer, Paradigm, to build 100 new apartments of affordable housing.
In March, the county approved plans it had worked out with Paradigm regarding three garden apartment complexes on 17 acres in North Arlington’s Buckingham neighborhood.
The apartments were built between the 1930s and 1950s to house the growing population of federal workers.
The plans allowed Paradigm to level and redevelop two of the three Buckingham Village garden apartment complexes. The county agreed to buy Village 3, while Paradigm agreed to provide 100 new affordable apartments on the site of Village 1 and secure an additional 60 affordable units elsewhere in the neighborhood.
The 140 apartments in Village 3 and the 160 apartments Paradigm is to provide will be preserved as affordable housing units, available to families living on less than 60 percent of the median income — about $56,000 for a family of four.
When the board approved the overall plan in March, it included a $32.1 million figure for Village 3 and $11.8 million for the county to purchase land for a park and two roads.
The cost of the roads and park is now estimated to be $14.7 million, Housing Development Coordinator David Cristeal said Wednesday. The price rose because the county needs more land than originally calculated, Cristeal said.
County staff hope to recoup at least half, or $16 million, of the cost of Village 3 through state and federal grant programs and by selling or leasing the building to a developer who will renovate it, Cristeal said. The county will retain the title to the land. The process of finding a developer will begin this summer or fall, Cristeal said.
There will also be interest costs, which could be $2 million, because the county has two years to close on Village 3, Aughenbaugh said. Not counting the $7 million loan, the cost of Buckingham Village, additional land and interest totals $48.8 million. It is not clear what the remaining $3.2 million of the $52 million is for, though Cristeal said it is likely for road and park construction.
After Paradigm completes the 60 affordable units, the county must pay the difference between the market rate and the affordable housing rate for those units, Aughenbaugh said. The county has an option to buy the units after six years.
Saturday, the board is scheduled to approve plans for Paradigm to build 765 apartments and townhouses on the Village 1 and 2 sites. The county will also vote on designating Village 3 a historic district.
The board will also consider increasing its housing credit line from $11.3 million to $68.3 million “to facilitate the county’s purchase of Village 3 and land and improvements in Village 1,” according to the board’s agenda.
Aughenbaugh and Cristeal said the credit line increase to $68.3 million includes contingency credit beyond that needed for Buckingham.
