Buchanan Gardens Cuts Ribbon After Extended Renovation

Photo: Gerald Martineau via APAH

Community and governement leaders joined together Monday Sept. 10 to cut the ribbon at the newly-renovated Buchanan Gardens apartment complex near Columbia Pike. Apartments are rented to people with household incomes below 60 percent of the area's average income.

It has been 3.5 years and $32.4 million since Arlington Partnership for Affordable Housing's executive director Nina Janopaul first stepped onto Buchanan Gardens' 3.5 acres. She said she was thrilled on Monday to finally have completed the project. She said she was looking forward to telling residents that the big trucks were gone and the mess of construction along with them.

Buchanan Gardens Officially Opens

Janopaul with a bevy of county politicians cut the ribbon Monday Sept. 10, a ceremony that completed the redevelopment of the 11-building, 111-unit, low-income apartment complex. It is located at 914 S. Buchanan St.

At the event: representatives from Virginia Housing Development Authority, Arlington County, the Virginia legislature, Enterprise Community Partners, and Capital One bank. Capital One announced a $250,000 grant to APAH for support programming in the complex.

Listen to our 3 minute podcast--we speak with Janopaul and the builders about the difficulties in pulling together a large project and speak with residents about their new homes.

Map.
Coverage in the Mercury.

Comments (5)

Comment Feed

RE - Affordability

Mr. Thurston, there are almost always a couple of 1-bedroom apartments that rent for $800 while the rest rent for $1100 to $1300. Typically are rented to long-term homeless and subsidized by the county.

The blogs are just unreal about living in Arlington when you are just out of college, have to do a 2-year unpaid or low paid internship to get experience to get your first real job, and have $50,000 in student loans to pay off.

Blogs think everyone under 30 lives in a $2200 apartment with a BMW in the garage below and has $100 per day to dine out at local trendy restaurants.

don 278 days ago

Retail Renters

Hello "This is Really Pathetic,"
One piece of information I did not include in the story (and only after the audio was uploaded did I realize I left out) was that Laurie Piper, the final person quoted, works at Trader Joe's, the grocery store in Bailey's Crossroads. She lives in a one bedroom apartment, she said.
She is the sort of person you write cannot afford to live in those apartments. She said she loved that it was affordable to her.
That said, these are supposed to be affordable to people who earn under 60 percent of the area median income, which is still quite a bit of money (the area median income for a family of four is over $100,000, so 60 percent is over $60,000). I do hear county staff and politicians talk about trying to create affordable apartments for people at lower AMI (40 percent, for instance). The subsidies get expensive very quickly, but it is something the county will most likely have to address.

Steve Thurston, editor 280 days ago

What a Disgrace

Shame, Shame on the blogs for promoting this disgraceful charade.

Terri 280 days ago

WHAT Affordability?

You can buy a one-bedroom recently-upgraded condo in Fairlington for less than it cost to renovate the one-bedroom apartments in Buckingham. What did APAH spend the $32.4 million on, 24k gold-plated kitchen and bathroom fixtures?

Bet the residents of this apartment community are the same folks Northern VA Family services is buying used vehicles for (as recently reported by Arlington Mercury) so they can drive to where the jobs that pay enough for them to afford Buckingham Gardens are located.

fairgirl 280 days ago

Not Affordable

These units are not affordable for single restaurant and retail workers who walk to where they work in places like Ballston Common Mall. College students and unpaid interns are automatically excluded.

It's unconscionable for a non-profit to spend almost $300,000 per unit renovating garden apartments.

Arlington's Blogs are Infomercials for the Status Quo

This is Really Pathetic 280 days ago