The Montgomery County Department of Housing and Community Affairs (DHCA) pledged to support the preservation and renovation of 177 income-restricted affordable units at Parkside Landing Apartments in Rockville by financing with a 40-year Housing Initiative Fund (HIF) loan of $5,342,517.
Through lending, DHCA supported preserving 118 affordable units and producing 59 additional affordable units, making a total of 177 units now priced affordably, according to a Montgomery County press release.
The HIF loan provided by Montgomery County supports income-restricted affordability for 177 of the 236 apartment units. Under this plan, 18 housing units are priced for tenants with incomes at 30 percent of the area median income (AMI), 159 units are priced at 60 percent of the AMI and 59 units are priced at market rate.
Parkside Landing Apartments has a total of 236 garden-style, one, two and three bedroom apartment units. The City of Rockville’s public housing agency, Rockville Housing Enterprises, Inc., acquired the apartment property in 2012 to preserve the affordable rental community.
The group recently completed a full renovation. The project cost approximately $63 million.
The in-unit renovations included new kitchens, bathrooms, flooring and individual HVAC units. Additionally, the project included renovation of common and exterior areas such as architectural enhancements, landscaping, drainage, doors and locks, balcony repairs, insulation, rental office, community programming area with internet and more.
Partial project financing was provided by four percent Low Income Housing Tax Credits (LIHTC), Maryland CDA Tax Exempt Bond financing, State of Maryland Rental Housing Works, a grant from the City of Rockville, energy subsidies and deferred developer fee equity. The existing PILOT (Payment in Lieu of Taxes) remained in place.
Parkside Landing is located within walking distance of the Rockville Metro Station, Downtown Rockville and is adjacent to Dogwood Park. Residents will have access to supportive services including after-school tutoring, health and wellness services and adult financial literacy training.
“DHCA continues working with affordable housing developers to protect tenants, preserve our existing affordable housing and produce new affordable housing,” said Aseem K. Nigam, director of the Department of Housing and Community Affairs. “At Parkside Landing, we preserved and produced 177 affordable housing units within walking distance of transit.”
A ribbon cutting and grand reopening celebration for the project was held on Sept. 13th. Until recently, the property was called Fireside Park Apartments.
“We continue working to protect, preserve and produce dedicated affordable housing,” said Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich. “At Parkside Landing, we protected tenants from displacement; preserved 118 existing affordable units; and produced, through a lending agreement, 59 additional affordable housing units. All together, we achieved 177 affordable housing units near Metrorail that have been modernized, with energy efficiency improvements,” he said.
Montgomery County is applying every available policy tool and financial resource to help reduce housing cost burdens by increasing the number of affordable, rent-regulated housing units. The county pledges to provide rent supports and preserve current affordable housing while protecting tenants from displacement.
“We have $140 million available for affordable housing in FY23, with $100 million of that for capital lending. We have dedicated at least $40 million of that capital lending to preserve affordability of up to 700 units facing increasing rent pressures, including properties near transit like the Purple Line,” said Elrich.
