MetroTowns Parkside, an affordable housing community in Ward 7, will deliver Phase 2 of its townhomes--28 three-bedroom units--before year's end or in early January. But if you wanted to purchase one, you're out of luck--the homes, with the exception of the model, are all under contract.
"We were in a marketing trailer, we hadn't really started construction," says Corey Powell, senior development manager at
Enterprise Homes, which is partnering on the development. "[Prospective buyers] were looking at the plans and renderings. There wasn't anything tangible for anyone to see," yet the contracts came quickly, he says.
The three-bedroom, 2.5- or 3.5-bath townhouses are priced from $259,900, and are reserved for buyers that make no more than the area median income, which is $107,500 for a family of four. Only a stone's throw from the Minnesota Ave Metro station, it's perhaps no surprise that buyers were willing to purchase without even having seen a finished home. "Folks have been very receptive," Powell says.
The third phase, which will include another 35 townhomes and a 42-unit rental community to replace an affordable apartment building that was torn down to build MetroTowns, will get underway in early 2014, Powell says.
The $33.7-million development was the vision of the late Abe Pollin, who owned the Washington Wizards, the Washington Capitals, and the Washington Mystics.