By Susan Straight
Special to The Washington Post
Saturday, June 21, 2008

The Frederick at Courthouse stands out in its Arlington neighborhood.

Physically, its nine stories tower over the nearby three-story Woodbury Park apartments and a new luxury townhouse development. But mostly what makes it different is that it offers new apartments to low- and moderate-income families in an increasingly expensive area.

The building is the newest of more than two dozen owned and run by AHC, a nonprofit local developer of affordable housing. Construction there began in 2005, and tenants began moving in when the first floor was ready last summer. The building was completed in December and full within months.

Many of the Frederick's residents came from Woodbury Park, an older AHC property. The move, in some cases, took them just across the sidewalk.

Joana Blanco had lived at Woodbury Park for 29 years. When she saw the Frederick going up and realized she could qualify, she wanted to make the jump.

"It's much better because here I have two bedrooms and two bathrooms and it's much bigger," she said.

Her son Victor Blanco, a Yorktown High School student, said, "I just like it because I got the bigger room this time."

Joe Morgan moved to the Frederick from Woodbury Park last fall. "I'm never going to take it for granted," he said. "I'm a lot healthier here. I breathe a lot better, and I have the fitness center," he said as he lifted weights on a Saturday afternoon.

Woodbury Park, a set of three-story brick apartment buildings, sits around courtyard areas with tasteful landscaping and benches. Over the years, it has attracted a mix of recent immigrants and other Arlingtonians who make 60 percent or less of the area's median income. Woodbury Park and the Frederick share a playground and a trellised walkway, as well as a leasing office.

Escarleth Torres-Shahin, a former Woodbury Park manager who now oversees seven AHC properties, is fluent in Spanish, which was essential for her job. She noted that the languages spoken at Woodbury Park and the Frederick are changing. "Before, it used to be mostly Spanish-speaking, but not anymore. Now it's such a mix -- Arabic, Mongolian, lots of others," she said.

For that reason, the English classes taught in the community room on the first floor of the Frederick are essential for residents. Shahnaz Begum and her daughter Aneela Mousan came to the United States from Kashmir nine years ago, but Begum could barely understand English when she moved into the Frederick last year. Aneela, a confident high school junior, often translates or answers for her.

Begum has been attending the English classes and can now understand conversations and answer in simple sentences. When asked what she likes about her new home, she responded with no hesitation: "Living room is very big. Nice kitchen."

AHC received a flood of responses when it opened the building to prospective residents. "As soon as we started opening by floor, we filled up the whole building within four months," said Celia Slater, communications manager for AHC.

The Frederick is designated affordable housing; all of its residents have to qualify based on income levels. All households must make 60 percent or less of the area's median income, which translates to $41,340 for a single person or $59,040 for a family of four. In reality, many earn far less. Out of 108 units, 41 receive Section 8 federal housing assistance, which means they make 30 percent or less of the area's median income.

That income would normally not be enough even for an apartment farther out, let alone within walking distance of the Courthouse Metro station, one of the region's most popular and expensive neighborhoods. Many of the neighborhood's less expensive buildings along Route 50 have disappeared in recent years, replaced by condominiums and other high-priced housing.

"This whole area is changing so rapidly," Slater said. Across the street from the Frederick, for example, a complex of four-story luxury townhouses is under construction. And just beyond them, a number of high-rise buildings are either under construction or recently completed.

Living in a high-rise was new for Vital Peña, whose husband, Ramiro Peña, is the maintenance manager at the Frederick. She, her husband and their three children, Ramiro, 11, Karina, 6, and Diana, 16 months, all moved from Woodbury Park. She noted that one of the major differences between her two apartments is that the windows at Woodbury Park looked out in three directions, while at the Frederick there's a view in just one direction. "I was happy there, but it was too small for us," she said.

She was thrilled to move. "I was really excited. We're pretty much low-income, so I was excited to qualify for something brand new. So much space," she said of her three-bedroom, 2 1/2 -bathroom unit.

She also likes the nearby park, Rocky Run Park, along North Barton Street, which has a soccer field, basketball court, playground and picnic area with grills. "We can have a grill over there. It's really huge and convenient," she said.

Zanab Farooq, 8, is also a fan of the park. "The playground is really good. And close," she said. Zanab lives with her sister, Aisha, and their father, Mohammad, who came from Pakistan 15 years ago. They moved into the Frederick in October.

Mohammad Farooq said: "I like this [building's] maintenance. They give you excellent service. The staff is very excellent. I'm very satisfied. It's very clean -- the whole building."