By Southwester Staff
A new mixed-use development at 1000 Fourth Street, SW broke ground on December 13. When completed in winter 2023, the 12 story, 400,000 square foot Waterfront Station II will include residences, a performing arts or theater space, AppleTree Public Charter School and a neighborhood restaurant by Good Company Doughnuts, along with additional retail.
The residential component of the project includes 449 apartment units ranging from studios to two-bedrooms. Of these units, 136 have been designated as affordable, comprising 30 percent of the building. The affordable units will be equally split, with 68 available to households earning 30 percent of the area median income and 68 available to households earning 50 percent of the area median income.
“We are proud to be a part of the Southwest community and to announce not only this significant groundbreaking milestone, but the project’s innovative funding model that allows us and our partners — including the city — the ability to offer this amount of affordable housing within a larger mixed-use project of this size,” said Monty Hoffman, Founder and Chairman, Hoffman & Associates. “This project is meaningful to us as a company because it allows us to contribute to and support the communities where we live and work.”
Affordable housing developer AHC Inc. worked with project developer Hoffman & Associates and a range of partners, including DC government agencies, to finance the affordable units.
“There is a very real and urgent need for affordable housing in our communities in the DMV,” said Susan Cunningham, AHC Interim CEO. “To that end, we are pleased to partner with Hoffman & Associates to bring to life this innovative model of deeply affordable housing development in high-cost areas. Thanks to this unique partnership and first of its kind financing, we are creating a vibrant mixed-income community in a sought-after neighborhood with access to public transit, shopping, employment and onsite resident services programming and transforming the lives of 136 families in need.”
The Waterfront Station II project takes a new approach to funding by combining a market-rate equity investor with four percent and nine percent Low-Income Housing Tax Credits.
“We are especially proud of our partnership with Hoffman on this precedent setting structure which creates a new model to unlock mixed-income communities where affordability is a huge structural challenge,” said Alexandra Johns, SVP, Co-Investment at Grosvenor Americas. “Waterfront Station marks our second partnership with Hoffman & Associates. We deeply appreciate their focus on placemaking, social responsibility and sustainability.”
Other features of the development include a second floor courtyard, a rooftop terrace and pool and amenities such as a coworking and communal gathering space, a fitness center, entertainment lounges and a library. Solar panels installed across the roof of the building will improve the site’s overall energy efficiency.
Waterfront Station II is being developed by Hoffman & Associates in partnership with DC’s Office of the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development, DC’s Department of Housing and Community Development and the DC Housing Finance Agency, with sponsorship from affordable housing developer AHC Inc., City Partners and Paramount Development and financing from Grosvenor Americas, Merchants Capital, and The Richman Group.