An All-Affordable Proposal for Florida and Q

• November 24, 2014

by Lark Turner

Mi Casa has submitted an all-affordable residential proposal for a parcel at Florida Avenue and Q Street NW (map). The proposal is one of at least three vying for the coveted city property owned by the Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD).

The seven-lot parcel is just off North Capitol Street near NoMa, Truxton Circle and Bloomingdale. Developer Maedwell and a third company, Evergreen Urban, have also submitted bids on the site.

DHCD, which released the solicitation for offers on the site along with dozens of other vacant and blighted properties, did not immediately respond to a request for comment on a possible fourth proposal for the seven lots at the site.

Mi Casa is working with Powe Studio Architects on its proposal for the 27-unit Barnett-Aden Apartments. The development would include 13 two-bedrooms, 12 three-bedrooms and two one-bedrooms.

The units would be designed for seniors, families and people with caregivers and be adaptable to allow “aging in place” within the units. The larger bedroom sizes were selected in part because of demand for three-bedrooms at another Mi Casa project at 3232 Georgia Avenue NW. The proposal, unlike its competitors, is not mixed-use and does not include retail space.

DHCD wrote in its solicitation for offers on the site that developers exceeding the minimum required percentages of affordable units in their offers would receive “preference.” But since all three proposals include an affordable housing component, it’s unclear how much affordability will factor into the agency’s decision and how it will be weighed against other considerations, like financing.

This article originally published at http://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/blog/mi_casas_all-affordable_proposal_for_florida_and_q/9261