MidCity recently broke ground on a 108-unit multifamily apartment building at 1400 Montana Avenue NE, in Washington, DC. Located in the Brentwood census tract, a designated Opportunity Zone, the $33 million project is financed with Opportunity Fund equity and a construction loan from Sandy Spring Bank. L.F. Jennings is the general contractor.
Designed by Maurice Walters Architects, the Class A apartment building will feature amenities including a fitness center, lounge, co-working spaces, dog washing station, bike room, and multipurpose amenity room spilling out onto a landscaped rooftop terrace. The project also includes 34 surface parking spaces. Nine of the units will be set aside for individuals and families making up to 60% of area median income.
Rendering of 1400 Montana Avenue NE Project
Demolition of the existing one-story commercial building occurred in December and will be followed by 17 months of construction. Final building delivery is anticipated for May 2022.
Jamie Weinbaum, Executive Vice President at MidCity, noted: “We are thrilled to break ground on such a beautiful new residential building and look forward to adding needed housing to this vibrant neighborhood.”
Madi Ford, Senior Vice President and General Counsel at MidCity also noted: “MidCity’s strategic acquisition of this site capitalizes on the Opportunity Zone benefits the District has offered developers to encourage economic revitalization in neighborhoods most in need of investment. We are excited to be among the first developers in the city and region to break ground on an Opportunity Zone funded project. We look forward to maximizing investment benefits to our stakeholders through this dynamic program.”
The Opportunity Zone location allowed the project to raise the necessary equity investment to deliver much-needed new housing to the area. The project is adjacent to MidCity’s 20-acre Brookland Manor property, a site that also benefits from the same Opportunity Zone designation. Brookland Manor is being redeveloped in phases into RIA, a mixed-income, mixed-use campus with approximately 1,800 residential units and up to 181,000 square feet of commercial space. RIA will also feature an Opportunity Fund as a component of the project’s capital stack, as well as charitable and public financing components to support community development and infrastructure needs at the site.