Nearly 200 Affordable Units to Replace Silver Spring Former School Site

• September 24th 2020

by Nena Perry-Brown

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Montgomery County's new agency headquarters is adding more residential to the pipeline.

On Thursday afternoon, the County Council's Planning, Housing and Economic Development Committee will consider a resolution to sell a school-turned-county office to non-profit developer AHC, Inc. AHC would replace the former Bushey Drive Elementary School, on Randolph Road between Viers Mill Road and Connecticut Avenue (map), with 196 affordable residential units.

The nearly 6.1 acres will be improved with 168 rental apartments, 24 for-sale condos, and four for-sale houses; the latter will be completed in partnership with Habitat for Humanity. The unit mix will span from one- to four-bedrooms, although the majority will be two- and three-bedrooms.

The multifamily units will be affordable in tiers for households earning up to 30%, 40%, 50%, 60% of area median income (AMI), while the houses will be for households earning up to 70% of AMI. The development would also include roughly 1,300 square feet of communal space, and AHC plans to explore childcare use on-site.

The site currently houses the Department of Recreation, which, along with six other agencies, is relocating to Montgomery County's new headquarters in Wheaton. As part of the move, the county's old Planning Board headquarters in Silver Spring is also slated for residential redevelopment and a MOM's Organic Market.

A public hearing on the school site disposition was held in June and the county executed a development agreement in July. A county staff report expect Planning Board approval next summer and groundbreaking in the fourth quarter of 2022. 

Note: 50% of area median income is the equivalent of $44,100 for an individual or $63,000 for a family of four.

This article originally published at https://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/blog/nearly-200-affordable-units-to-replace-silver-spring-former-school-site/17328.