A long-vacant building in the heart of Adams Morgan will be renovated and converted to affordable housing and office space, Constantine Caloudas of nonprofit housing developer
Jubilee Housing confirms.
The four-story, 3,800-square-foot space at 2448 18th Street NW will house 10 units of affordable housing "for individuals who earn less than 30 percent of the area median income," Caloudas says. "That's the primary audience Jubilee targets."
The ground floor will become office space for a financial services nonprofit called
Life Asset that helps low-income individuals manage their money without payday loans and check-cashing services. Life Asset had been using Jubilee's meeting spaces on occasion, Caloudas says, but this will be the nonprofit's first dedicated office.
The building has been a long time coming; Jubilee has owned the building since 2009. "It's taken us a little while to move to closing," Caloudas says. "The 30 percent [of median income] households are generally the hardest to develop for to maintain affordability."
The space is being financed with another Jubilee project in Adams Morgan for a total of $5.2 million, but, Caloudas says, the 18th Street NW property will be "the more expensive aspect of the transaction. It's going to [need] major electrical and structural work."
Square 134 is the architect for the project, and Monarch is the general contractor. The groundbreaking is slated for Jan. 22.