A Towering Dream for Rosslyn

Douglas Peterson had a dream.

A former longtime employee of Arlington's housing office and director of an affordable-housing nonprofit organization, Peterson wanted to build a rental building that could house some of the county's modest-income residents -- working people squeezed by the sharp uptick in housing prices in the past few years.

Even though rents would be low, he wanted the high-rise and its amenities to be high-quality. And in a location that even the wealthiest Arlingtonians might want to call home. And as the cherry on the sundae, he wanted it to be environmentally friendly, too.

"A lot of people said to me, 'Are you friggin' insane?' " Peterson, executive director of the Arlington Partnership for Affordable Housing, said of the early reaction to his idea five years ago.

Now, Rosslyn Ridge, his 15-story affordable-housing brainchild, is under construction on a hill on N. Pierce Street, above Route 50 in Rosslyn, a prize location with unobstructed views of the Washington Monument and the Lincoln Memorial.

The building is being constructed by Arlington-based Paradigm Development Co., which will also manage the rentals. The Arlington Partnership for Affordable Housing (APAH) will own it.

Rosslyn Ridge is surrounded by some of the priciest condos in the area and is adjacent to Hillside Park, known among longtime Arlingtonians as "Billy Goat Park," the largest open wooded area in the heavily urbanized neighborhood.

The $75 million residential complex will include 238 rental units, 96 of which will be set aside for lower-income people, including larger apartments for families. Of the affordable units, six will be reserved for people with physical disabilities and will be built with accessible features such as no-lip showers and low handles on cabinets. Leasing is expected to start by December 2008.

The 267,470-square-foot complex will also include 238 parking spaces -- one per unit -- on three levels of underground parking.

The building will have a rooftop splash pool and a "green roof," planted with grass and flowering shrubs, that is expected to last about three times as long as a regular roof. The environmentally friendly roof also cuts down on heating and cooling costs and manages storm water run-off.

In addition, recycled materials will be used in construction; only low-emission paints and adhesives will be used inside the apartments.

"It's going to be really cool," Peterson said at the site last week, the emotion evident in his voice as he surveyed the site preparation work under cold, still-wintry skies. "This is a big project for a nonprofit. We're like a major player now."