Congress Heights
Congress Heights is a targeted investment neighborhood where we are using our resources to work with a host of partners and stakeholders to support specific projects.
LISC has been actively investing in the greater Congress Heights area for over a decade. Located in Ward 8, east of the Anacostia River, Congress Heights has experienced and is continuing to experience tremendous change.
Click on the slideshow to learn more about the dramatic changes that have occurred over the past decade. Keep reading below to learn more about Congress Heights and LISC's projects in the neighborhood.
Nestled in Ward 8, the Congress Heights neighborhood enjoys a rich history and has a distinctive character. Home to a relatively stable middle class, the neighborhood was developed primarily as a residential community with sparse retail and commercial amenities. There are also pockets of large multifamily properties that offer very affordable housing for lower income households.
Like many urban neighborhoods, Congress Heights went through a dramatic decline in the 1970s to the 1990s. During that time very little investment took place and many chose to leave the neighborhood due to crime, drugs and a better quality of life offered in the surrounding suburbs. During the late 1990s through today, however, the neighborhood and surrounding areas have experienced unprecedented levels of investment from both the public and private sectors.
Here are just a few examples of public and private development projects that are bringing new vitality to the area:
• In 2007, The Shops at Park Village Retail Center and new Giant Grocery store opened. In 2008 the adjacent IHOP opened.
• Over the past 10 years, the former Stanton and Douglass Dwelling public housing (650 units) was replaced with Henson Ridge, a HOPE VI project Henson Ridge brings 600 units of mixed income ownership and rental units (90% complete as of 2010).
• The federally owned, long time vacant St. Elizabeth's historic west campus is currently being redeveloped into the headquarters for the Department of Homeland Security and the Coastguard.
• The Town Hall Education Arts and Recreation Campus (THEARC), which is home to 10 nonprofit organizations offering a wide variety of programming, opened in 2005.
• Congress Heights metro opened in 2001.
In the greater Congress Heights community, LISC is a lender, funder, broker and technical assistance provider to a number of nonprofit organizations. The following is a list of our investments:
• Shops at Park Village – A new retail development that replaces a vacant, contaminated ammunitions storage site for the Army known as Camp Simms. Awarded the development rights in 2001, in 2007 developer WC Smith & Co. developed the land into a 65,000 sq. ft. full service Giant Grocery Store, an IHOP Restaurant, and 12 storefront retail spaces fronting Alabama Ave. LISC provided $18.6 million in New Markets Tax Credits and $40,000 grant to East of the River CDC who was a partner in the development and managed community outreach for the project.
The Shops provides goods and services previously not easily accessible to the neighborhood. In addition to Giant and IHOP, other retailers include a Subway, Hardware Store, Dry Cleaners, Barbershop, Wachovia, Dots (clothing store), a Flooring Store, Nail salon, and a public Library.
The project created over 200 jobs the majority of which are at the Giant. Of the initial hires roughly 90% were from Ward 8.
• Hope Apartments – 10 units of transitional, supportive housing for families whose head of household in is substance abuse recovery. Located at 3715 2nd Street SE, the property opened in 2006 and is owned and managed by Community of Hope. LISC provided a $20,000 strategic planning grant and $20,000 predevelopment grant, and brokered $300,000 operating support grant from the Freddie Mac Foundation.
• Jasper Place Apartments – In 2006, LISC provided $1 Million acquisition loan to East of the River CDC to acquire the property at 1350 -1354 Jasper Place SE and redevelop as 40 affordable rentals. Since that time, East of the River CDC is no longer operating and the property was sold to WC Smith & Co. who redeveloped the property as affordable rentals.
• Plaza 8 – Located at 3029 Martin Luther King Jr., Ave SE, Plaza 8 replaced a dilapidated apartment building with a 9,000 sq foot office that housed East of the River CDC and Children’s Hospital Pediatric Center. LISC provided a $675,000 construction loan and $18,000 in grant support to East of the River CDC, the developer. Though the CDC is no longer in operation, Plaza 8 is still home to the pediatric center offering quality health care.
• South Capitol Health Center - Community of Hope is developing a new medical facility that will provide primary care, dental and mental health services to residents in the greater Congress Heights area. The center is expected to open in 2013 and will accommodate 33,000 visits annually. LISC is providing a $1.7 Million construction loan for the new center and provided a $50,000 grant to help Community of Hope manage their capital campaign and we provided a $25,000 grant to help open an interim center so they could begin serving the community immediately.
• Mississippi Avenue Apartments- Community of Hope in partnership with William C. Smith Company redeveloped a vacant former police station at 1320 Mississippi Ave SE into 19 units of permanent supportive housing for homeless families. Community of Hope is providing comprehensive on-site supportive services. LISC provided a $25,000 grant to help cover the cost of a high quality playground on the site for the nearly 50 children who will live there.
LISC also supports a number of programs and initiatives in the community:
• Community Services Department at Building Bridges Across the River – The Community Service Coordinator works directly with young men in the community to connect them to job opportunities and other resources. He has partnerships with area employers and works with young men, most of whom are ex-offenders, to enhance their life skills, and job skills. LISC has provided over $225,000 in grants to support this effort.
Through this partnership we are also helping to improve mobility for very low income working families by providing quality used vehicles for a low price through our partnership with Vehicles for Change and Building Bridges Across the River. To date, seven families have purchased cars.
• LISC is helping provide opportunities for middle school students to develop strong academic habits, behaviors, and skills, by supporting the Higher Achievement Program’s new Achievement Center at Savoy Elementary School in Ward 8. They opened in June 2010 and currently have 45 children enrolled in their afterschool program. LISC provided $50,000 in grant support to the Higher Achievement Program.
• LISC helped connect the Washington Middle School for Girls (located in THEARC) to the Flamboyan Foundation to help them bolster and create a strategic plan for their family engagement efforts. LISC provided a $25,000 grant to help them implement the newly created family engagement workplan which will ultimately improve education outcomes for their students..
• LISC was an early investor in THEARC and continues to support their operations and special projects. THEARC is home to numerous nonprofit organizations offering arts and culture to local youth – such as the Corcoran Art Reach program, the Washington Ballet and the Levine School of Music. THEARC is also home to the Children’s Health Project of Children’s Hospital, providing healthcare for children through age 23.
LISC supported the production of the Washington Ballet’s Nutcracker at THE ARC in 2009. The production enlists 50 local youth as participants in the show and is a source of great pride in the community.
LISC sponsored a domestic violence summit at THE ARC in the fall of 2009, featuring a number of speakers and organizations providing resources to victims and perpetrators.
Copyright © LISC 2012
