Beauregard Residents Fear Displacement, Housing Loss

It's early Saturday evening at the the apartments known as the Hamlets on Beauregard Street near Mark Center. Children play soccer or ride bikes. Men grill outdoors. Women walk by in headscarves.

The Hamlets—a network of long, three-story apartment complexes under tall oaks surrounding William Ramsay Elementary School—will soon be no more. They’re part of 2,475 residential units slated to be demolished as part of the Beauregard Small Area Plan and replaced with higher-end apartments and condominiums with a new shopping center. A town center is to be developed over the next 30 years.

The city has plans to subsidize 800 housing units—32 perent of what is to be demolished—as committed affordable housing and already has the funds to do so.

Alexandria officials are trumpeting the success of securing so much affordable housing in the new development, but residents involved in the Beauregard Tenants Association say it’s not enough.

“Life in general’s just difficult enough to not know where you’re going to live next year, or the year after that, or the year after that,” said Kelly Merrill, a resident of Meadow Creek Apartments who has pushed for greater tenant rights in the face of rent and utility increases by property owner JBG Cos. “It’s this interminable stress, not just on individuals, but on the families.

“ ... It’s just really hard. You feel really powerless, and it’s one of the things that I really fought for, to have a voice at the table, have an active voice at the planning table, instead of just always being outside the loop. Because we are Alexandria.”

Residents with similar concerns are planning to attend an Alexandria Planning Commission public hearing at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday to discuss rezoning the Beauregard corridor.

Tenant Troubles on Beauregard

Merrill, 41, lives with her husband, a chef at Clyde’s at Mark Center, and their 10-year-old son, who attends Ramsay Elementary. She has a degenerative disease, is unable to work and is in the process of getting Social Security disability. Rent for their two-bedroom apartment is $1,370 per month.

Merrill is a former restaurant manager, journalist and paralegal who also found success as a sculptress before her health failed. She learned the art at Old Town’s Torpedo Factory, and her sculptures—nude women, a Neptune, an old man with gnarled hands—sit in private collections in France, London and New York City.

When her health was better, Merrill attended up to three meetings a week of the Beauregard Tenants Association and has represented tenants in meetings with city officials and council members and at the Beauregard Small Area Plan group. She has the advantage of being a native English speaker who knows the history of the community.

“There’s no other affordable housing here,’ Merrill told Patch. “And this has the benefit of having some green area nearby, there’s a little creek nearby, they can’t build on that. It’s next to a park.

“I know what it’s like to move around a lot. As a kid, I had to move, and I know how disruptive it is and how hard it is on children, and that’s what I’m really most worried about."

Also living at Meadow Creek are 31-year-old Hector Pineda—a native of El Salvador—his wife Veronica and sons Edwin, 11, and Adrian, 5. The boys are also students at Ramsay. Pineda and his wife work as house cleaners for private homes. Together, they bring home about $2,000 every month. Rent is $1,500.

“Our family has decided to stay here (for now), even if our rent’s too high, because of family, because of kids, our schools,” Pineda told Patch. “It’s very hard for them to get to adapt to another environment. We’ve all been here. My son (Edwin) here has friends from the pre-K, he’s still in touch with them, and this is going to have a big effect on my kids.”

Pineda was a member of the Beauregard Rezoning Advisory Group but was disenchanted by the group’s process and mandate, which didn’t include preserving affordable housing.

“I don’t really like how they’re working, because my focus is housing and issues that are really affecting my community,” he said.

Edwin, a fifth-grader, said he’s worried about having to move. He likes living in the neighborhood “a lot,” he said. “I have many friends here, and this school is a good school.”

Alexandria and Affordable Housing

Tenants have directed their anger in large part toward JBG, which owns much of the property in the Beauregard plan area.

But Helen McIlvaine, deputy director of the city's Office of Housing, said JBG is donating 100 apartments valued at $14.3 million in the Lynbrook and Hillwood developments to the city. The city then plans to transfer them to a nonprofit or the Alexandria Redevelopment and Housing Authority.

Also, tenants living in the affected buildings at the time they are to be demolished and who are current on rent will receive a cash payout to help cover transition costs. The pay will be between $750 and $1,550 per unit, depending on the apartment size, and that amount will be doubled for the very low-income and elderly, McIlvaine said.

The city, for its part, has pledged $167 million for affordable housing in the plan area. Some units will be subsidized to be available for families making only 40 percent of the area's median income.

“That level of subsidy is without parallel,” McIlvaine said. “If you compare us to, say, what is being done in the Columbia Pike area, they have a plan there, but it’s a much smaller percent of affordable units, and it’s not funded. Not to say it’s bad or they won’t do it, but the city’s plan has real dollars behind it.”

Tenants’ rent will continue to increase, regardless of the plan, she said. Virginia has no rent controls, and there’s no requirement that displaced residents be assisted. Of the 2,300 current units that were deemed market-affordable in 2010, according to the city, only 829 were still affordable in 2011 due to increased rents.

“The property owners have the right to demolish what’s there and build townhomes, and there would be no affordable housing, and they would not have to provide assistance,” McIlvaine said. “So, what’s going on now is phenomenal. I don’t want to overlook the fact that when it comes to people’s lives, I completely understand, it’s going to be inconvenient. They’re fearful.

“There’s a lot of concern about how this will roll out. But the city’s plan to to offer as much assistance as it can in the long- and short-term for those who need it the most, who have the fewest choices on the open market.”

A spokesman for JBG issued the following statement, noting that JBG has sent regular monthly letters to Beauregard residents:

“The JBG Companies is currently exploring implementation of the first phase of the City’s Beauregard plan, which represents a small portion of the overall, 30-year redevelopment. No redevelopment will occur before 2015, and any resident affected will be offered another apartment and paid moving expenses.

“The Plan, which has been extensively reviewed and approved, includes funding of $120 million towards affordable housing, which the City projects will buy 800 committed affordable housing units, including the dedication of 100 existing units to the City.

“Without the City’s Plan, there is no guarantee that apartments in the Beauregard area will remain affordable as rents will continue to rise to reflect market forces. As each block gets closer to becoming developed, a more detailed plan will be generated and will be subject to Alexandria’s public review process.”

Pineda, for one, remains unimpressed.

“You have all colors of people here,” he said. “I mean, you can see. It’s a lot of diversity, and this is going to disappear. I can tell you that. Maybe from now to 10 years, we’re not going to be here. … Shame on Alexandria city. They say, ‘We welcome diversity,’ and they’re not trying to do anything for these people. Nothing.”

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