City officials are today cutting the ribbon on the model home at a new affordable housing community in Ward 7,
MetroTowns Parkside.
The first 10 rowhomes in the $33.7 million development are also being delivered to their new owners this week as construction continues on the remaining 72 units.
MetroTowns Parkside was built and partially financed by Abe Pollin, the late former owner of the Washington Wizards, the Washington Capitals, and the Washington Mystics. "Mr. Pollin's vision was, back in 2004, to create a community for individuals that served the District," says Corey Powell, senior development manager at
Enterprise Homes. "He saw that the people who made the city go did not have the opportunity to own in the city."
Abe and his wife Irene Pollin identified 8.5 acres of land, about 6 of them vacant, in the Kenilworth-Parkside neighborhood in Ward 7. (The other two acres were occupied by an affordable housing project; each of the 42 rental units that was torn down to build MetroTowns Parkside will be replaced in the new development, Powell says.) Abe Pollin died in 2009, long before the first homes delivered, but Irene will be among the guests cutting the ribbon.
The townhomes each have three bedrooms and 2.5-3.5 baths. Prices start at $259,000, and buyers must not make more than the area median income, which is $107,500 for a family of four.
The first ten units have all been spoken for, mostly by city or federal employees, Powell says. The second phase is available for sale now.