A development that would preserve affordable housing on the banks of the Potomac River is being threatened by an impasse between the developer and the Virginia Department of Transportation.
VDOT bought the Hunting Towers and Hunting Terrace apartment buildings in Alexandria in 2001 through eminent domain to use the area to store construction equipment for the nearby Woodrow Wilson Bridge project.
The agency sold Hunting Terrace to developer IDI Group Cos. in 2006, when officials determined the site was no longer necessary for the project. IDI is ready to build there.
But the two organizationshave struggled to reach an agreement about the value of the adjacent Hunting Towers site, which VDOT will hold on to until 2012, when the agency has finished reconstructing Jones Point Park under the bridge.
IDI has proposed building a large luxury condo building on the Hunting Terrace site that would require Alexandria to make zoning exceptions for height and density.
In return for the exceptions, IDI would convert all 530 low-cost apartments in the Hunting Towers buildings into affordable and work force condos — an infusion of affordable sales units that would be five times larger than the city has seen in the past 15 years.
Last month, the Planning Commission deferred making a decision on IDI’s proposal, saying the panel wanted the VDOT sale to be completed first.
“Time is of the essence to us, and we’ve now carried the Hunting Terrace property for over two years,” IDI Vice President Carlos Cecchi said. “The longer we have to carry the land, that eats away at our profitability and eventually we get to the point where we have to fish or cut bait.”
IDI had offered to give Alexandria a $20 million deposit as a show of good faith to move the deal.
“Our goal was to provide the city with a way to move forward,” Cecchi said. “If that’s not something they’re willing to do, we’ll have to look at other options for the Terrace.”
Without the zoning exceptions, the Terrace property probably would not be profitable enough to allow IDI to preserve Hunting Towers as affordable units, he said.
While the Planning Commission cited the VDOT sale as its primary concern, city staff has recommended denying the proposal on other grounds. IDI’s proposal for the luxury condo building is too massive and is architecturally inconsistent with Old Town’s standards, a staff report said.
