The Hine Project’s North Building
Hine Update – Tenants Move into North Building in January
Project’s First Office Building Tenant: Provider of “Co-Workspace”
By Larry Janezich
At last week’s ANC6B meeting, Commissioner Steve Hagedorn submitted her report on the status of the Hine project. The report said that contractors have told community stakeholders that seventeen people are currently being vetted for the “affordable” rental units in the North Building and new tenants who have been approved will start moving in “after December 31.” Half of those being vetted are over 55.
Since the North Building was built with Low Income Tax Housing Credit (LITHC) funds, the North Building has units designated “affordable” and half are reserved for seniors 55 and older. The LITHC program effectively limits apartment’s availability to those earning a fraction of the Area Median Income (AMI), which in DC is about $109,000. The actual amount of income is determined by a number of variables and choices the developer makes regarding how the financials of the project are structured.
According to a pop up which appears when you visit the the Stanton-Eastbanc marketing website for North Building rentals (http://770cstreet.com/):
The last question offers a link to a form to fill out if an applicant is over 55.
The tenant selection process is handled by a property management company that developers routinely hire to manage affordable housing projects. The availability of the units and associated income limits is advertised, prospective tenants apply, and the management company selects tenants based on the same criteria any tenant must meet with the goal of providing stable long term occupancy.
Commissioner Hagedorn also reported that Stanton-Eastbanc is in negotiations with retail tenants for the first floor of that building and expect that they will be moving in and beginning operation in February. There is additional retail space available in the basement of the North Building.
As for the South Building scheduled to be delivered in 2017, the report on the development had some new information unlikely to be welcomed by the owners of townhomes on the east side of 8th Street, across from the development. Developers revealed they plan to have “party rooms” and roof terraces all along the top of the 8th Street side of the building.
Separately, the project’s first office tenant was signed earlier this year, as reported in September by Washington Business Journal. That tenant, The Yard, has leased 31,500 square feet of the 150,000 square foot office building. The company rents private offices, conference rooms, “open co-working” (like when Peregrine tables are all filled with people using laptops), and dedicated desks on a temporary basis to smaller companies needing work space or, perhaps, seeking a prestigious Capitol Hill business address. As “perks” they offer high-speed wi-fi, coffee & tea, printing, receptionist services, and storage. The company is based in New York – the Hine Project will be its first DC location. See their website here: http://bit.ly/2fXrq7C
(An earlier version of this post incorrectly attributed the Hine report to Commissioner Diane Hoskins.)
CAPITOL HILL CORNER 
Thanks for this report. You note that “the [low-income] tenant selection process is handled by a property management company that developers routinely hire to manage affordable housing projects.” Besides the process you outline here (“the availability of the units and associated income limits is advertised, prospective tenants apply, and the management company selects tenants based on the same criteria any tenant must meet with the goal of providing stable long term occupancy”), is there any public sunshine on this process? That is, does the ANC or DCRA or any city agency review tenant selection–or is there some check and balance here that I am missing?
“Developers revealed they plan to have ‘party rooms’ …”
I see this as *good* news.
Writing as someone that (1) lives nearby and (2) has had to find rooms for several completely different sorts of events, I can report that Capitol Hill is critically short of the sort of space needed for a small get-together. There are comparatively few church basements — the usual space for these sorts of things — and they tend to be booked for standing engagements. What little else that is available is expensive and/or difficult to arrange for.
but this portion is residential — the party rooms they’re talking about are amenities for the use of the tenants, not the wider community.
The article does not say if these will be restricted to the building residents.
Do you have other information about this? Would like to review it, thanks.
I have followed up as part of the CAC re “Party Rooms” and that information was in error. There are no party rooms along the 8th ST residential building.
Income. Requirements are more reasonable than I expected.