By Southwester Staff
The Waterfront Station II development, currently under construction at 1000 4th Street SW, in front of the Southwest Library, marked a construction milestone on October 14.
DC’s Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development, John Falcicchio, joined executives from Hoffman & Associates and Clark Construction Group for a “topping off” ceremony to mark the completion of the building’s structural phase, the modern equivalent of a ceremony traditionally held when the last beam is placed atop a structure.
Once complete, the 12-story, 400,000 square foot building, scheduled for a winter 2023 delivery, will offer a mix of housing, retail and amenities. Architect Torti Gallas Urban included design features intended to compliment the surrounding neighborhood and modern elements such as angular glass balconies meant to mirror the waves of the waterfront.
Approximately 29,000 square feet of retail and cultural use space will be home to a 150-seat black box theater space, a family-owned restaurant called the Good Company Doughnut Cafe and pre-kindergarten education from AppleTree Public Charter School. The development includes 210 parking spaces, 200 bicycle spaces and rooftop solar panels.
The public-private partnership behind the development utilized a unique financing model to reach 30% of units designed as affordable housing. Of the building’s 449 apartment units, 136 are categorized as affordable. This includes 68 units at 30 percent Median Family Income (MFI) and 68 units at 50 percent MFI. These units include permanent supportive housing.
The financing model included private developers Hoffman & Associates, affordable housing developer AHC Inc., and capital partners Grosvenor Americas, Merchants Capital and The Richman Group. Typically to achieve this rate of affordable housing, projects rely on public resources such as the Housing Production Trust Fund, but Waterfront Station II took a different approach, combining a market-rate equity investment with equity generated through the sale of 4% and 9% Low-Income Housing Tax Credits to complete the $179.5 million capital stack. Matching market-rate equity investors with Low-Income Housing Tax Credits has the potential to support both public and private entities and pave the way for more affordable housing options in the DC market and beyond.
In addition to the $141.25 million financed by Merchants Capital, The Richman Group invested $19.3 million in tax credit equity and Grosvenor, a privately owned international developer and owner, formed a joint venture with the development team to finance $25 million through its Structured Development Finance program. In addition to the $25 million, the development team also invested $6.25 million, for a combined $31.25 million equity investment.