BETHESDA, Md.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--JBG SMITH (NYSE: JBGS), a leading owner and developer of high-quality, mixed-use properties in the Washington, DC market, today announced that it closed the Washington Housing Initiative Impact Pool at year-end 2020 with $114.5 million in investor commitments. The final closing of the Impact Pool admitted MainStreet Bank and other investors. Prior to year-end, the Impact Pool provided a $6.7 million subordinate loan to the Washington Housing Conservancy (WHC), a nonprofit housing provider, for the purchase of Crystal House, an 825-unit apartment complex in Arlington, Virginia. To date, the Impact Pool has deployed $21.8 million to preserve 1,151 units of affordable workforce housing.
The Impact Pool provides capital for the preservation or development of affordable workforce housing in high-opportunity neighborhoods, leveraging JBG SMITH’s experience and expertise to prevent displacement and preserve affordability in communities that are particularly vulnerable to rapidly rising housing costs.
“One of the biggest challenges to preserving affordability in high-growth locations is getting the funding together quickly enough to compete with other potential buyers,” said AJ Jackson, EVP of Social Impact Investing. “By combining Impact Pool capital with JBG SMITH’s real estate expertise and senior financing from Amazon’s new Housing Equity Fund, we were able to help the Washington Housing Conservancy execute the purchase of Crystal House in less than two months. We hope that the Impact Pool can serve as the foundation of a replicable model to preserve affordable workforce housing locally and in other jurisdictions.”
Crystal House, located at 1900 S. Eads Street, Arlington, is near Amazon’s HQ2 development in National Landing. The acquisition included a 99-year affordability covenant, which will ensure that 75 percent of units will be available for residents earning 80 percent of the area median income or less (roughly $90,000), including 20 percent of units that will be reserved for residents earning 50 percent of the area median income or less. JBG SMITH will serve as property manager for the Washington Housing Conservancy.
About JBG SMITH
JBG SMITH is an S&P 400 company that owns, operates, invests in and develops a dynamic portfolio of high-growth mixed-use properties in and around Washington, DC. Through an intense focus on placemaking, JBG SMITH cultivates vibrant, amenity-rich, walkable neighborhoods throughout the Capital region, including National Landing where it serves as the exclusive developer for Amazon's new headquarters. JBG SMITH's portfolio currently comprises 16.7 million square feet of high-growth office, multifamily and retail assets at share, 98% at share of which are Metro-served. It also maintains a development pipeline encompassing 17.6 million square feet of mixed-use development opportunities. For more information on JBG SMITH please visit www.jbgsmith.com.
