Plans Change for Housing Near Bridge

Developer Offers Fewer Units in Mix of Luxury and Affordable Apartments

The Hunting Towers apartment complex on South Washington Street remains unavailable to developer Giuseppe Cecchi. The Virginia Department of Transportation plans to try to sell it again after the Woodrow Wilson Bridge is rebuilt and the agency can get a higher price than now. (By Tetona Dunlap -- The Washington Post)

A developer who has promised to preserve hundreds of units of affordable housing on Alexandria's desirable waterfront unveiled a new scaled-back proposal last week.

Giuseppe Cecchi originally sought to buy two properties on either side of South Washington Street: Hunting Towers and Hunting Terrace, aging apartment complexes along the Potomac River near the Woodrow Wilson Bridge.

He planned to raze the Terrace and build 400 units of luxury condominiums in two 15-story high-rises. With the money he made from that project, Cecchi promised to refurbish the 500-plus units in the Towers, keep prices affordable and sell the units as condos for the local workforce.

But he has been able to acquire only the Hunting Terrace property and, despite court action, is unlikely to be able to bid on Hunting Towers for at least two years.

Cecchi acquired the Terrace from the Virginia Department of Transportation for about $25 million earlier this year. But he balked at the $85 million that VDOT wanted for the Towers -- he had bid half that amount -- and took the agency to court to demand a fair-market-value appraisal.

VDOT instead decided to take the property off the market. Agency officials explained that they will offer it for sale again when the bridge is finished, to command a higher price.

Officials from VDOT and the Federal Highway Administration have said that money from the sale will help offset the cost of the $2.4 billion bridge project, and in angry letters have chided the city of Alexandria for "downzoning" the property to encourage affordable housing.

VDOT paid $95 million for both properties in 2001.

Cecchi said he and VDOT officials have been meeting all summer to try to reach a mediated solution. Cecchi made his final offer in an ultimatum and asked for a response by Aug. 15. When no response came, Cecchi said he needed a new plan.

So last week, at a meeting of Hunting Creek stakeholders -- residents, landowners, government officials and other interested parties -- Cecchi made a new proposal. He still plans to raze the crumbling Terrace, but instead of building only luxury units there, plans to build a mix.

To satisfy city planners and the National Park Service, he will abide by an 80-foot setback along Washington Street and plant a landscape buffer. Just behind the buffer, he now plans to build three five-story buildings of affordable workforce condos. Those 116 new units, Cecchi said, replace entirely the existing affordable units. And the five-story height complies with Old Town zoning rules mandating that buildings be no higher than 50 feet.

Just behind the affordable housing buildings, Cecchi proposes to build a street, Hunting Creek Lane, and across that street construct three high-rise luxury condos with underground parking and views of the river across South Washington Street. But instead of his original plan for 400 units rising 15 stories, the new concept calls for 300 luxury units. And Cecchi proposes to "tier" the buildings, beginning at five stories, rising to nine and finally reaching the top at the 14th floor.