Terwilliger Place

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Located at 3445 Washington Boulevard, just 1,500 feet from the Virginia Square-GMU Metro, Lucille & Bruce Terwilliger Place is a 160-unit affordable rental community, featuring a modern 6,000-square-foot ground floor space for American Legion Post 139. The Certified EarthCraft Gold building includes community and multi-purpose spaces, a counseling office, and a business center. Terwilliger Place has a 50% veteran preference, and more than 10% of the units are reserved for households earning 30% of the area median income.

This community was conceived when, in response to an aging facility and diminishing membership, the members of American Legion Post 139 saw redevelopment as an opportunity to transform their site, programs, and services. In 2016, the American Legion Post 139 selected True Ground to redevelop their site in Virginia Square to create affordable one-, two-, and three-bedroom apartments and a new Post.

True Ground guided the project through the Washington Boulevard and Kirkwood Road Special GLUP Study “Plus” and Concept Plan in 2017, which helped unlock greater density for the site. The project was approved for rezoning and gap financing from Arlington County’s Affordable Housing Investment Fund in 2019. True Ground skillfully balanced the hybrid underwriting parameters to enable both this project and Loudoun View Senior Residences to win 9% credits in the same cycle in 2019.

The project broke ground in May 2020 and the first residents moved in during August 2022.

Financing

The $80 million project includes $33.8 million in Low-Income Housing Tax Credits (LIHTCs) awarded by the Virginia Housing. Capital One purchased the tax credits and provided $70,000 in predevelopment grants from Capital One’s Community Impact & Investment team. The transactions were originated by Edmund Delany, Senior Director and Senior Capital Officer for the Mid-Atlantic region of Capital One’s Community Finance team. In addition to tax credits, Virginia Housing also provided a direct permanent loan, a loan through its Resources Enabling Affordable Community Housing in Virginia (REACH Virginia) programs, and a grant for pre-development work. The Commonwealth of Virginia provided a permanent loan from the Virginia Housing Trust Fund. Arlington County provided a loan of $11.5 million.

Terwilliger Place is the first True Ground property where philanthropy has played a pivotal role. The Terwilliger Family Foundation provided the lead gift of $1.5 million. Ron Terwilliger is a renowned multi-family developer and national advocate for affordable housing. The project is named Lucille and Bruce Terwilliger Place in honor of his parents.

More than 50 donors joined the Terwilligers in responding to True Ground’s Uniting to Serve capital campaign, including Amazon, which provided $1 million through the Arlington Community Foundation. In total, more than $4 million was raised to support construction, create more units serving extremely low-income households, and support programming for residents.