WASHINGTON, DC–Jair Lynch Development Partners recently closed on the sale of Brookland Place, an 80-unit apartment complex located in the Brookland submarket at 617 Hamlin St., NE, for $6.6 million. The buyer was Wesley Housing Development Corp., a non-profit affordable housing developer located in Alexandria, Va.

Wesley was one of ten companies that made initial bids for the property and among the remaining four or so invited to make final offers. It began its purchasing journey, along with 24 or so other bidders, at the start of 2015 when Jair Lynch began marketing the property.

But while Wesley meets the profile of the most likely type of entity to acquire Brookland Place — that is, a non profit affordable housing developer — there were companies of all types vying for the property, according to Alicia Orkisz of Greysteel, who along with colleagues Ari Firoozabadi, W. Kyle Tangney, Rawles M. Wilcox and Herbert Schwat represented Jair Lynch in the transaction.

Bidders ranged from for-profit national affordable housing developers to developers that were looking to renovate the building and rent it out at market rates, she told GlobeSt.com.

Ultimately, though, what gave Wesley and other nonprofits the edge was the expected benefits of recycling the affordable housing tax credits, she said. “There were a number of capital items that the new buyer would have to address to improve the units in order to increase the rents to the maximum allowable level,” she said.

Another edge, for Wesley at least, was that it underwrote the property as an individual asset and not as part of a portfolio, as it was underwritten by Jair Lynch. Wesley plans to put a dedicated onsite team in place, Orkisz said, which should deliver more upside.

Brookland Place's location also factored into the bid. Even though the property was built in 1950, it is near Catholic University in the heart of the submarket. It is within walking distance of two Metro stations and close to the mixed-use Monroe Street Market, home to &pizza, Barnes & Noble, and Brookland Pint.

Wesley acquired Brookland Place with the tenant association through the District's Tenant Opportunity to Purchase Act. It acquired the property using a loan from the Enterprise Community Loan Fund, under the DC Department of Housing and Community Development's Site Acquisition Funding Initiative (SAFI) program, as well as a secondary loan from Enterprise Community Partners.

This was Wesley's first purchase in the District.

Bidders ranged from for-profit national affordable housing developers to developers that were looking to renovate the building and rent it out at market rates, she told GlobeSt.com.

This was Wesley's first purchase in the District.

Instant Insights /

Tax Credits Give Affordable Housing Bidders the Edge in Brookland Place

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