(Washington, DC) – Mayor Vincent C. Gray, DC Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) Director John E. Hall, Ward 5 Councilman Harry Thomas, Jr. and others celebrated the grand opening of Brookland Artspace Lofts.
Located at 3305 8th Street, NE in Ward 5, Brookland Artspace Lofts provides 41 units of affordable live/work housing units for artists and their families. This site also includes gallery and studio space for tenants pursuing entrepreneurial enterprises. The units will be affordable to households earning less than 60 percent of the Area Median Income. DancePlace and Artspace partnered to serve as the developer for this unique project.
“This project allowed DHCD to provide affordable housing for a targeted and underserved community,” said DHCD Director Hall. “Artists and other members of the creative class tend to be active in their communities. It was great to see the creativity and entrepreneurial spirit of the residents.”
The event also included a dedication ceremony for its community space, The Victor L. Selman Community Gallery, which was named in honor of former DHCD Chief Operating Officer who was instrumental in the project that passed away last year. Following the ceremony, the residents held an open house, where they opened their homes and displayed their work.
DHCD provided $657,000 in Community Development Block Grant funding and $3.1 million in Tax Credit Assistance Program funding from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) toward this project.
About DHCD
The mission of the Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) is to create and preserve opportunities for affordable housing and economic development and to revitalize underserved communities in the District of Columbia. DHCD fulfills its mission by providing gap financing; increasing first-time homeownership opportunities; providing funding to rehabilitate single-family and multi-family homes; supporting communities through neighborhood based activities; providing funding for homelessness prevention; addressing vacant and abandoned properties; and overseeing the administration of rental housing laws.