New owner of Coralain Gardens plans to keep it affordable
Enterprise Community Development, a nonprofit developer of affordable housing, has acquired Coralain Gardens, an apartment complex in the Falls Church area.
The company plans to rehabilitate the community and keep rents affordable. Work is expected to start in the first quarter of 2025. The total cost of acquisition is $21.7 million.
Coralain Gardens, located at 7435 Arlington Blvd., has 106 units in 10 three-story garden-style buildings. It was built in 1964.
Coralain Gardens has 46 two-bedroom, 43 one-bedroom, and 17 studio apartments serving residents earning at or below 60 percent of the area median income (AMI). Twenty-two units will be reserved for residents earning 50 percent of AMI and below with the remaining 84 units serving residents earning up to 60 percent of AMI. The property includes an outdoor swimming pool and playground.
The acquisition of Coralain Gardens is the first facilitated through Fairfax County’s Right of First Refusal (ROFR) assignment process.
Enterprise Community Development was designated as a qualified affordable developer in the County’s Preservation Partner Pool following a request for qualifications that was issued in 2022.
In 2023, Fairfax County sent a Notice of Opportunity for Housing Preservation to the pool of qualified affordable housing developers to select a developer to assign the ROFR for the acquisition of Coralain Gardens.
Enterprise Community Development submitted a proposal, and Fairfax County selected the company as the preferred housing provider and it assigned it ROFR rights. As part of its proposal, Enterprise committed to preserving affordability at the property.
“The Preservation Partner Pool enables Fairfax County to quickly act on preservation opportunities that arise, such as this opportunity to purchase Coralain Gardens,” said Anna Shapiro, deputy director of real estate development and finance at the Fairfax County Redevelopment and Housing Authority.
Enterprise was selected to assume the agency’s ROFR “because of their commitment to extend the existing affordability and invest in physical improvements to the property,” Shapiro said. “The benefits of this acquisition will be realized for years to come for current and future residents.”
Acquisition financing was provided through a senior mortgage loan from a Low Income Investment Fund (LIIF) and Capital Impact Partners partnership, as well as the assumption of an existing Fairfax County Redevelopment and Housing Authority loan on the property.
LIIF serves as the primary lender for the bridge loan used to acquire Coralain Gardens. Additionally, Enterprise Community Loan Fund provided a supplemental acquisition loan. Enterprise Community Development plans to use 4 percent Low-Income Housing Tax Credits for a full-scale rehabilitation of the property.
“LIIF and Capital Impact Partners have closed a $15.2 million secured acquisition loan which will help Enterprise Community Development preserve 106 units of affordable housing at Coralain Gardens Apartments,” said Geoffrey Shepard, a loan officer at LIIF.
“Without Enterprise Community Development rising to the occasion, it is likely the property would have lost its affordability restrictions,” Shepard said. “The good news is that Coralain Gardens will now remain income restricted through 2087.”