Council Seeks to Maintain Affordable Housing at Hunting Towers

Alexandria City Council expressed a desire Tuesday to maintain affordable workforce housing in Hunting Towers in south Old Town when the Virginia Department of Transportation

The city doesn’t have the housing resources to buy or loan the property, which is valued at about $61 million. However, the city can use its zoning authority to prevent any new owner from rebuilding on the property in hopes of maintaining the existing affordable housing.

“From my point of view, we should be really explicit with private interests that our goal is to keep this workforce housing project, which is what it has been for its entire life,” Councilman Rob Krupicka said. “… We’re not going to be entertaining folks coming in and asking for zoning changes and other changes just to rack up the rent.”

VDOT purchased Hunting Towers and the nearby Hunting Terrace in 2001 to make room for the new Woodrow Wilson Bridge.

Deputy City Manager Mark Jinks said Tuesday that VDOT has already spent the money it expects to make in the sale of the property on the Wilson Bridge project.

The property’s former owner, Kay Management, had the right to buy the property back from VDOT but the two parties couldn’t strike a deal, Jinks said. VDOT now can take sealed bids from potential buyers beginning this summer.

Built in the 1940s, the two eight-story towers were constructed in a way that prevents massive interior renovation and the addition of modern amenities.

“You can’t put more bathrooms in. You can’t do washers and dryers. You cannot do central air,” Jinks said. “They have wall units. It is very limited. Basically it provides great housing for the people there, but it's never going to be Class A.”

Jinks said the walls within the towers structurally cannot be taken down to create larger apartments. The towers contain 530 units, the vast majority of which are one-bedroom apartments and efficiencies.  

Without the potential for new amenities, Jinks said the units could likely remain at an affordable rate.

VDOT has increased some rents to a market rate in recent years and there are tenants at risk of having rent raised by a potential new owner, Jinks said. More than 100 “grandfathered rent units” remain in the towers.

Jinks suggested council draft a resolution about its desire to maintain the workforce housing in Hunting Towers.

“We wrote a letter [to VDOT], maybe we can meet with… VDOT or the governor, but it’s senseless when you don’t have a dime to put down toward making a deal,” Mayor Bill Euille said.