District of Columbia Housing Authority Headquarters

Leveraging DCHA assets to produce new mixed-income housing and administrative facilities.

Challenge

Like many housing agencies across the country, the District of Columbia Housing Authority (DCHA) is faced with an inventory of aging/obsolete public housing inventory that is in need of significant capital investment or redevelopment. Additionally, as the agency seeks to address these challenges DCHA seeks to create more balanced mixed-income communities without displacing of existing residents. In an era of decreasing Federal support for public housing, the agency must achieve these goals by leveraging its assets and limited funding to the greatest extent possible.

Solution

Since 2012, HR&A has provided strategic planning assistance, transaction support services, and real estate advisory for key projects throughout DCHA’s portfolio. HR&A is providing transaction support services for the redevelopment/replacement of DCHA’s headquarters into a vibrant, mixed-use project that retains the headquarters on site while adding over 900 units of mixed-income housing in the air-rights above the headquarters space. HR&A prepared solicitation documents, evaluated prospective development partners, aided in the selection of a development partners.

IMPACT

HR&A continues to serve as owner’s representative to advance negotiations between the selected development partner and DCHA, and groundbreaking is anticipated in mid- to late-2019.