by Blake Warenik, National Housing Conference and Center for Housing Policy
Last month, I had the pleasure of taking the Washington Metro’s Red Line just a few stops to tour the Rhode Island Row mixed-use development in Northeast D.C. with my colleagues at the National Housing Conference and Center for Housing Policy. At the time of our tour, Rhode Island Row’s housing units were in their final stages of construction and have since opened to residents.
Situated adjacent to Rhode Island Avenue Station on the former site of an 800-space commuter parking lot, Rhode Island Row represents a dramatic departure from the bridge-and-tunnel vision of mid-century D.C. toward a sustainable, transit-oriented model that offers residents of all income levels access to housing, jobs and amenities.
Rhode Island Row’s project manager, Caroline Kenney of Urban Atlantic Development in Bethesda, Md., was our guide. She and her company worked to ensure that Rhode Island Row serves a mixed-income population, making 20% of the project’s 247 housing units affordable to area families at or below 50% of area median income using a combination of Low Income Housing Tax Credits and other sources of HUD multifamily financing.
While that’s the main point of interest to those of us in the affordable housing world, Rhode Island Row is a living study in sustainable development. Practitioners and experts in the planning, transportation, environmental and government fields will find a lot to like about this transformation of a regional transit hub into the seed of a vibrant community.
Please watch below and pardon the dust.
Rhode Island Row is managed by NHC Leadership Circle member The Bozzuto Group. Learn more at RhodeIslandRow.com.