The Hodge on 7th, a 90-unit seniors-only apartment building, will deliver in April and is taking pre-applications now.
Apartments are restricted to seniors making 60 percent or less of the area median income. A couple making $51,360 will pay $1,143 a month for one of the one-bedroom, roughly 700-square-foot units in the building. Yet, says Buwa Binite, principal at Hodge co-developer Dantes Partners, while surveying his team's handiwork, "it doesn't feel affordable." Nor do the units, with floor-to-ceiling windows and open floor plans, and access to a green roof and fitness center, feel like they are for "seniors"--only small details like the grab bars in each bathroom and low-slung kitchen cabinets give them away.
The location, next to the new Giant in Shaw and "within walking distance to everything," is also perfect for tomorrow's active senior. "You've got a lot of churches," says Binite, "Metro, the rec center, and restaurants."
Dantes Partners is partnering with Roadside Development on the $28 million project. It's named after the late Michael Hodge, a city employee who greatly expanded the program that helped finance construction projects for nonprofits in the District.
The development goes some way toward making sure that D.C.'s seniors can stay in the District if they want to--though not all the way, as in mid-February the waiting list of interested parties was already 400 seniors long.
Rachel is the managing editor of Elevation D.C. She also covers tech, business and science for publications nationwide. She lives in Brookland.