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Land developer, home builder and general contractor EYA’s experience with public-private partnerships and sustainable developments is being tapped for the redevelopment of a portion of the Parker-Gray Historic District in Alexandria, Va.

The Washington, D.C.-based company recently delivered the first phase of housing units in Old Town Commons, a $230 million town home, condominium and multifamily apartment development. The project involves redeveloping a five-city-block public housing development into both affordable and market-rate housing.

“When we started, these five blocks were developed with 194 1950s barracks-style public housing apartments,” Senior Vice President Brian Allan Jackson explains. “We’re redeveloping the neighborhood block by block and building a new community.”

Delivery of the first block of homes began in 2010, with demolitions on the second block now underway. When >> >> completed in 2015, Old Town Commons will double the density of the site to 379 units including 134 affordable/public housing units and 245 market-rate homes.

EYA is serving as the developer and builder of the entire site. The affordable housing units will be owned and managed by the Alexandria Redevelopment and Housing Authority, and EYA will own and manage the market-rate housing. In 2006, EYA and the housing authority entered into a public-private partnership (P3) to develop the area, Jackson explains.

Finding a Balance

The architecture of the three- to four-story apartment buildings and town home buildings on the site will match that of the surrounding Parker-Gray Historic District, settled during the 19th century. The area’s architecture differs from the Colonial style seen elsewhere in Alexandria, Jackson says.

Exterior design features include exterior brick and HardiePanel siding, a combination of CPVC and wood windows, brick stoops with wrought iron rails, rooftop terraces and optional decks and front porches, and a landscaping package featuring drought-tolerant plantings.

All of the exterior architectural details were approved by the city’s Board of Architectural Review to ensure they fit the historic district, he adds.

Old Town Commons is also built to U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED for Homes specifications.

Environmentally friendly features in­clude ENERGY STAR® labeled double-pane windows, exterior doors and CFL light fixtures; energy-efficient gas heat and 14+ SEER electric air conditioning; R49 roof insulation and R15 exterior wall insulation; programmable thermostats and optional rough-ins for solar electric panels or solar hot water, Jackson says.

Other LEED considerations include the development’s proximity to public transportation, shopping and other neighborhood amenities, he adds. Old Town Commons also will feature a public park and a number of streetscape improvements.

“Finding a balance of energy efficiency, affordability and historic appropriateness has been the big challenge with this project,” he explains.

Units in Old Town Commons will range in size from one to four bedrooms. The market rate town houses will range in size from 1,400 to more than 2,000 square feet, Jackson says.

Interior features include:

• Designer birch cabinetry with 42-inch upper cabinets.
• Granite or Corian countertops with an undermount stainless steel sink.
• Hardwood flooring.
• State-of-the-art appliances including a gas range, digital microwave, and ENERGY STAR® appliances.
• Recessed lighting.
• Pantry storage with shelving.
• An advanced home wiring system for distribution of high speed internet, cable and home telephone.
• Ceramic tiles and cultured marble vanity tops.

Lessons Learned

EYA is taking advantage of federal tax credits  to help finance the project, giving it a two-year window to complete each phase of construction on the public housing portion.

“The deadlines are very tight, so we’ve had to do parts of each phase concurrently as opposed to sequentially,” Jackson says.

Other project challenges include poor soil and site conditions including abandoned utilities. EYA and its subcontractor companies are applying the lessons it learned from early stages of construction to later and future phases. “Because we have five blocks to work on, on a practical level we can take what we learned about soil condition and undocumented utilities on the first block and carry that over to the second,” he adds.

EYA is working with a number of subcontractors with which it has long-established relationships. “We’re moving aggressively and rapidly out there; our communication with the entire team has been good,” Jackson says.

Company Focus

EYA was established in 1992. Since then, the company has built more than 3,500 homes and 32 communities in Alexandria and Washington D.C., as well as Arlington, Montgomery, Prince George’s and Fairfax counties.

“Our focus has always been on urban infill residential development for sale within the Washington area,” Jackson stresses. “In the last five years we’ve focused on public-private partnerships and sustainable development.

“Our focus is on trying to create life within walking distance [of homeowners],” he adds.

The company is vertically integrated with capabilities in design, general contracting, construction management and property management.

Since it was founded in 1992, EYA has been recognized with nearly 200 awards, including more than “80 GALA/ Monument awards locally and the ULI International Award for Excellence,” the company states.

Most recently, EYA received an America’s Best Builder award in 2009 from Builder magazine. The award is voted on by a panel of industry experts and the magazine’s staff. This is the second time the company won the award; it previously was honored in 2000.