The Lewinsville Retirement Residences (LRR) launched a major expansion last week, breaking ground for construction of 18 new apartments created from a three-way partnership between Elm Street Development and West Group, developers of Evans Farm; the Department of Housing and Urban Development, and the Lewinsville Presbyterian Church.
The new apartments will fulfill the requirement for “affordable dwelling units” that West Group and Elm Street Developer agreed to build when they were granted a rezoning that permitted the construction of 124 market-rate units at Evans Farm, a mix of single family homes, townhouses, and condominium residences.
LRR already has 144 units at its existing complex next to Lewinsville Presbyterian Church on Great Falls Street in McLean.
The new building will also provide public meeting areas, office and clinic space for residents, and a 50-space parking lot at The Lewinsville, described as an independent living facility for low and moderate income people more than 62 years old.
The new structure and parking lot will be built on part of the former Evans Farm Inn property that borders the existing Lewinsville structure.
A NEED-BASED DHUD housing subsidy pays roughly two-thirds of the LRR’s $1.6 million annual rent, according to spokesman Beverly Brockus. The church-sponsored corporation has housed more than 600 residents since it opened in 1980.
“For the few who said this LRR expansion would never happen, we are delighted to prove them wrong,” said Kathryn MacLane, executive vice president for West Group.
That may have been a reference to a comment from a member of the Fairfax County Planning Commission, who commented that the proposal couldn’t work.
“It’s neat to see such broad-based partnership filling a need that the community clearly has for affordable housing for the elderly,” said
Dranesville Supervisor Stuart Mendelsohn.
“THE THREE-WAY partnership of private, public, and faith-based interests builds community in the best sense,” he said. “None of this could have been done without any of the three parts.”
When developers of Evans Farm applied for a rezoning in 1998, they had to meet a county requirement to provide “affordable” housing. In the face of some opposition to such housing from the community, the proposal for elder housing caught the attention of public and private interests.
“LRR needed to expand, so this was a creative solution that solved a lot of different problems,” said Mendelsohn.
Construction will begin later this month, with completion expected in March, 2003.
To qualify for one of the 18 units, residents will have to meet guidelines established by Fairfax County for its affordable housing.