Mayor Vincent Gray and other supporters broke ground Feb. 15 at The SeVerna on K, a new 133-unit apartment building at 43 K St NW, composed mostly of affordable units.
The project, which is being sponsored by Bible Way Church through its affiliate Golden Rule Apartments and developed by Mission First Housing Development Corporation and The Henson Development Company, will "complete the redevelopment of the former Golden Rule Center site," according to Elizabeth Askew, a spokesperson for Mission First.
The old site was a 40-year-old building with 40 apartments and a grocery store, and a blocked-off L Street, Askew says. Including the already completed SeVerna apartments on 1st St NW and townhomes on L St NW, "[this project] is both kind of...building new buildings and restoring the street grid."
The SeVerna development overall is a $35-million-dollar project, nine stories tall, with an exercise room and a roof deck.
According to Askew, 21 units in the SeVerna on K are reserved for individuals and families making less than 50 percent of the area median income. Another 80 units are reserved for individuals and families making less than 60 percent of the median income, and 32 units will be rented at market rates.
Bible Way Church has been working to provide affordable housing almost since its inception in 1927, starting with rooming houses in the 1940s and moving to large-scale apartment buildings in the 1970s.
Rachel is the managing editor of Elevation D.C. She also covers tech, business and science for publications nationwide. She lives in Brookland.