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From YouTube: County Board Wrap-Up: Crystal Houses project
Description
Arlington County Board approved another mixed-use redevelopment, Crystal Houses, in Crystal City.
A
B
This
is
exciting.
This
project
arseny
this
site,
is
pretty
massive
by
arlington
county
standards.
It's
17
acres
and
this
has
historically
been
developed
under
I.
Think
what
would
planners
would
describe
as
the
towers
in
the
park
model
the
the
sort
of
form
of
development.
We
saw
a
lot
of
a
few
decades
ago,
and
so
this
project
proposes
to
keep
the
two
existing
12
story,
apartment
towers,
but
add
four
new
apartment
buildings
and
three
rows
of
townhouses
in
for
a
total
of
819
housing
units,
I,
again
kind
of
contextualizing
this
in
our
plans
for
Arlington.
B
This
is
exciting:
we're
adding
more
housing
units,
more
opportunities
for
people
to
live,
close
to
Metro
close
to
jobs,
as
we've
been
talking
about
so
being
able
to
really
develop
in
ways
that
are
consistent
with
our
goals
of
adding
growth
in
the
places
where
the
infrastructure
can
support
it.
What
is
also
exciting?
B
We've
talked
over
and
over
again
about
how
we
can
make
sure
that
Amazon's
arrival
or
the
arrival
of
other
major
office
tenants
can
avoid
spiking
rent
prices
and
adding
enough
supply
to
keep
up
with
the
demand
is
one
of
the
top
ways
that
we
do
that
so
to
see
these
opportunities
for
four
homes
coming
in
in
Arlington
County,
those
819
units
are
generally
going
to
be
market
rate,
they're
not
committed
affordable,
but
another
really
exciting.
Element
of
this
proposal
is
a
new
model
of
achieving
affordability
during
the
site
plan
process.
So.
C
This
is
actually
you
know,
while
we
were
talking
in
the
first
piece
about
an
unprecedented
level
above
and
beyond
the
expected
contribution,
we
are
realizing
that
in
a
different
way
here,
where,
instead
of
getting
either
on-site
units
or
cash,
we
are
having
the
developer,
provide
a
parcel
on
the
site
that
they
had
planned
for
a
standalone
building
and
that's
going
to
be
conveyed
to
the
county
for
nothing
and
on
that
we
can
use
the
full
development
potential
of
that
parcel
for
the
purposes
of
affordable
housing.
The.
C
B
In
the
meantime,
we'll
be
starting
our
planning
for
how
we
turn
this
acreage
into
actual
homes
and
apartment
buildings
for
low-income
neighbors
and
what
is
really
exciting,
I
think
about
this
model
of
getting
land
rather
than
cash.
Is
that
we
know
the
cost
of
acquiring
property
is
one
of
the
biggest
barriers
to
nonprofit
housing
developers
were
for-profit
housing
developers
that
want
to
commit
their
apartments
as
affordable,
they're
competing
in
the
open
market,
and
particularly
in
the
hot
market
of
Crystal
City.
B
That
land
is
really
expensive,
so
the
opportunity
to
say
to
a
potential
partner
whomever
that
may
be,
and
that's
what
our
County
staff
will
be
working
on
figuring
out
over
the
coming
months
to
be
able
to
say
to
them
your
your
costs
of
development
are
the
cost
of
building
and
operating
the
site,
rather
than
the
incredibly
high
land
acquisition.
It's
really
an
exciting
opportunity.
We.
A
B
B
Really
an
exciting
product,
for
you
know,
perhaps
young
families
we're
looking
to
buy
their
first
home
in
Arlington
for
seniors,
who
would
like
to
downsize
slightly
from
a
single-family
house,
but
want
to
stay
in
the
neighborhood
they
love,
and
so
this
is
a
great
example.
We
sometimes
talk
about
the
the
forms
of
housing
that
are
missing
and
these
sort
of
midsize,
our
middle
density
and
so
to
see
this
project
realized.
That
is
an
exciting
addition
to
the
neighborhood
as
well.