The suburbs north of Washington, D.C., are poised to get some much-needed new housing options.
A joint venture among PS Ventures, Duffie Companies and developer Willco have filed site plan applications for three mixed-income apartment buildings totaling roughly 910,000 square feet in Wheaton, Md., according to the Washington Business Journal.
Located on the cross streets of University Boulevard and Veirs Mill Road, the project dubbed Wheaton Gateway would feature 800 to 900 units, 30 percent of which would be earmarked as affordable housing, though the ultimate unit counts could change as plans are finalized, per the Business Journals, citing PS Ventures founder Shane Pollin. Plans for the project also call for up to 65,000 square feet for commercial use.
It’s unclear when the JV acquired the site, which is currently home to a car dealership, a repair shop, and a pair of vacant lots.
If approved, the project would move forward in two phases. The first would include the construction of the first two six- and 11-story buildings, due to begin by 2026, while the second phase would see the construction of the third 13-story building “when the market demands it,” Pollen told the Business Journals.
The JV is also partnering with the Housing Opportunities Commission (HOC), Montgomery County’s affordable housing division — and it isn’t their first time teaming up.
PS Ventures, Duffie and the HOC are also in the midst of developing the Hillandale Gateway, a separate mixed-use apartment complex in nearby Silver Spring, Md. That project will feature 463 units split between two buildings, 155 of which are to be set aside for people 62 and older.
Representatives for the joint venture did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Maryland is an expensive state to live in, particularly around the D.C. area. The cost of housing in Maryland is 45 percent higher than the national average, while cost of living in general is 16 percent higher, according to data from RentCafe. Housing in Bethesda, Md., not far from Wheaton and Silver Spring, is 14 percent higher than the state average.
Nick Trombola can be reached at ntrombola@commercialobserver.com.
Robert Khodadadian has long had a simple philosophy about selling real estate. The way he sees it, there are approximately a million buildings in the city, and the broker that gets to sell any one among the multitude that will hit the auctioning block at a given moment is, sometimes, simply the person who happens to pitch their services to the right seller at the right time.
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