The housing crisis was so acute that the lack of schools, streets and trees did not deter tenants from moving in as quickly as the buildings were completed. Both developments filled up almost immediately, with waiting lists of hundreds wanting to get in.
After the war and in the 1950s, the complexes were among the area's most popular rental communities. Former presidents Richard M. Nixon and Gerald R. Ford both lived in Parkfairfax as young congressmen. At that time, beyond their borders lay largely undeveloped countryside.
Parkfairfax, built in 1941 and 1942, has 1,684 all-brick garden-style condo units.
(Photos Rich Lipski -- The Washington Post)
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The complexes deteriorated after their heyday as rental communities, however. By the time they were converted into condos in the 1970s, they were badly in need of updating. Both developments were renovated before they were sold as condos.
Now, available units in the two developments get snapped up almost as quickly as they did in the 1940s. Steeply rising real estate prices have pushed many buyers into the condo market; close-in locations such as Arlington and Alexandria have only gained in popularity as traffic congestion has increased regionally.
"Properties stay on the market an average of five to seven days now," said Bonnie Blaszczyk, an agent with Re/Max 100 who specializes in Fairlington. "They're extremely popular." In the spring, when the real estate market was at fever pitch throughout the region, the condos sold even more quickly.
Defense workers and newcomers to the Washington area, such as Tim Abbott, a major in the U.S. Army, are attracted to the wartime complexes today.
Abbott, who recently transferred to Washington from Fayetteville, N.C., bought a two-bedroom 930-square-foot condominium in Parkfairfax in June for $295,000. He was one of several competing bidders for the condo; he had bid on two other homes in Parkfairfax already.
Abbott said the close-in location attracted him to Parkfairfax, along with its rolling landscape and park-like setting. He said the brick complex also had a "military feel about it" that he liked. "It's brick, it's all connected, it feels like a military post."
He was taken aback by the cost, though.
"In Fayetteville, I would get 1,000 acres of land, 3,000 square feet of house, a couple horses and a butler for what I paid here for a two-bedroom condo," he said.
For the Washington area, though, Parkfairfax is still considered affordable and a logical starter home for a first-time buyer such as Abbott, although perhaps not for long.
Prices have skyrocketed in the two condo complexes over the past two to three years of increased defense spending and galloping home price appreciation, figures from the area's multiple listing service showed.
Average sale prices have more than doubled -- and in some cases close to tripled -- in both complexes over the past four years, with most of the increases in the past two years, agents say.
"Two to three years ago, it was really cheap," real estate agent Blaszczyk said. "I used to think, 'Why aren't these houses selling for more?' The demand just wasn't there as much as it is now."
