When Elizabeth Bay moved to Alexandria earlier this year, she was fresh out of graduate school and excited to start her new career in the federal government. She came to Alexandria to look for an apartment she could afford near Washington — and she wanted to begin her new life near Old Town.
"I was looking for an older apartment," she said. "I wanted something with all of the aesthetic amenities."
While house hunting, she fell in love with the Hunting Terrace Apartments — its architecture, its vast courtyards and its convenient location on the Potomac River. In May, she signed a one-year lease to pay a monthly rent of $1,005. She now realizes that signing the lease was a drastic mistake, and she has been caught in the crossfire of an affordable housing maelstrom that threatens the diversity of Alexandria.
"What does this city want?" she asked. "Does it want a diversity range between those who can afford a $500,000 condominium and those who can afford a $1 million townhouse?"
Bay fears that she will have a hard time finding an apartment in Alexandria with a comparable monthly rent. She said that the management company handling Hunting Terrace was not forthcoming about the fate of the 1940s-era apartment building, and she feels that her lease is trapping her in an uncertain situation.
"When I signed the lease, I didn’t know that the building was owned by the Virginia Department of Transportation. I didn’t know that Hunting Terrace would be demolished," she said. "The management didn’t explain any of that to me and I think that’s wrong."
Now that the Department of Transportation has announced the pending sale of Hunting Terrace, Bay is one of hundreds of residents who will have to make some difficult decisions. Her lease will expire in May and she will not be given an opportunity to renew or extend it. She will be evicted into a housing market that is increasingly expensive, and she’s not sure what she’s going to do
"I don’t have a lot of options in terms of what I can afford," Bay said, adding that the demolition of Hunting Terrace may mean the end of her time in Alexandria. "I think this is grossly unfair."
AN AGREEMENT BETWEEN the Virginia Department of Transportation and Kay Management was reached on Nov. 4. According to the agreement, the department will sell the complex at an undisclosed amount to Kay, who owned the 115-unit apartment complex before construction began on the massive new Woodrow Wilson Bridge. Kay will redevelop the property with Giuseppe Cecchi, the developer who is known for upscale buildings such as the Watergate in Washington and Porto Vecchio in Alexandria. Hunting Terrace residents fear that the kind of development Kay and Cecchi are likely to build will be unaffordable to them.
"I think that their long-term vision would be to redevelop the Hunting Terrace site," said Mark Jinks, assistant city manager. "Clearly, Cecchi’s signature buildings are large, upscale developments." Kay Management agreed to provide some Hunting Terrace residents the opportunity to sign one-year leases at their current rental rate, but that offer was extended to only those residents whose leases expired in December 2005. All of the leases will expire in December 2006, forcing the last residents out of their homes.
"Residents here have had to put up with years of dust and construction noise," said Michelle L’Heureux, who pays a $1,000 monthly rent at Hunting Terrace. "After enduring all of that, it’s a shame that our reward is that we’ll all be kicked out."
Under Virginia law, residents of buildings that will be demolished are not legally entitled to moving expenses — and many Hunting Terrace residents say they are scarred about what will happen to them when they are evicted from their homes.
THE SALE WAS discussed at last week’s City Council meeting and although council members expressed concern for the tenants, they said that there is little that can be done to help them.
"I don’t want people lulled into a false sense of security," said City Councilwoman Joyce Woodson. "Nothing stays the same."
Mayor Bill Euille said that the city would do everything in its power to help residents who will be evicted from Hunting Terrace.
"The Office on Housing will do its due diligence to work with the residents to make sure that they are fairly and equitably treated," he said.
But some tenants are skeptical. "Euille is in the construction business, and this is a construction boys’ club," said Ardith Campbell Dentzer, president of the tenants’ association. "I’m sick of hearing promises. I want to see some action. What is the city going to do for the residents of Hunting Terrace?"