Tuesday night, the board of the Falls Church Housing Corporation voted to invest $500,000 toward moving the City Center South Senior Apartments plan forward despite mixed signals from the F.C. City Council the night before.
Some on the Council maintained that their $2 million commitment to the project needs to be reconsidered given the City’s current budget shortfall. But the Housing Corporation and its partners, The Community Builders, voted to press ahead anyway, in hopes the fact the $2 million would leverage an additional $14,607,171, a whopping 7.3 to 1 ratio, will make for a compelling case. The project’s financials are buoyed by federal stimulus funds, being approved by the Virginia Housing Development Corporation for tax credits. Councilman Dan Sze intoned to a Council work session on the subject late Monday night, “I can’t believe I am sitting here listening to my colleagues who oppose this plan. It is exactly what we need to get our economy going. We can’t sit back and wait, we have to drive development, and we need to start here.” The project is designed for four stories and 66 residential rental units for seniors and disabled persons.
