A lot of people who live in single family homes think no one with a family would live in an apartment, but we know many, many families that do. And they are market rate apartments. These are people that could buy a single family further out, but choose to live in Arlington in an apartment. |
Interesting. I don't believe APS factors market rate apartments and condos into their enrollment projections. In the past, few if any families with kids lived in those buildings, since they were not developed nor marketed for families. And, many townhouse developments along the Orange Line have 2 bedrooms (the large ones have 3) and were never marketed for families. |
We were a middle class family living in a market rate apartment, and we were the oddballs at our Arlington school. And no one wanted to come over for playdates because parking was a nightmare and logistics were just so complicated. Plus no outdoor space to play. Family orientated apartments would at least have an onsite playground and green space, usually a community room for foul weather play, etc -- these are common in Europe but don't exist in the US except maybe NYC. The vast vast majority of families in apartments in Arlington are there because they have housing assistance and those units qualify. |
They did several years back for a new building going up near VA Square. |
I think it's an untapped market here--condos and apartments for middle class and upper middle class families. Even townhomes should be designed and marketed to families and not just empty nesters or young professionals. Families are drawn to Arlington for various reasons, not just for the single family homes and subsidized apartments. |
| South Arlington is full of families living in market- rate townhouses/townhouse condos. My family is one, and we were able to buy a 3-bedroom for around $600k after renting a 3-bedroom for $2,400/month. The missing middle discussion was so frustrating because there are already great examples of this type of housing in the county. Developers don't want to build the smaller townhomes anymore, though. They prefer the large 4-5-bedroom because they can earn more and charge over $1 million. |
I’m a SFH owner in Arlington (bought a smaller, older place pre-COVID that we’ve renovated). I would love for duplexes and triplexes to be allowed. It’s kind of depressing that the new families who move in all make big law level salaries (FWIW I couldn’t afford my own neighborhood today as a dual fed GS-14 couple). Also a duplex or triplex can’t possibly be worse than the giant box houses being put up now. 6000k + sq ft for a family of 4 in a zip code with limited land close to transit and under-enrolled schools is just stupid. Sure our property value has gone up a ton over the past decade, which is nice, but I’d rather not pull up the ladder behind me. Also it makes me sad my kids will unlikely be able to buy a home nearby if they decide to stay. |
I believe they use a percentage for multifamily that is much lower than single family home neighborhoods. It’s a funny mismatch bc the County pushes multi family at all costs and the school district likes to pretend that it’s all single family homes. |
The county pushes high density apartments and condos, but they are not developed as multi-family housing. |
There are very few families living in these high rises being built. It is packed the brim with DINKS and 25 year olds living with roommates. |
False, a lot of families live in apartments |
Yes, absolutely, it’s the County Board and staff that are subsidizing builders to add thousands of units. Just today another two high rises were announced. I’m aware of at least 6 projects announced over the last few months. It’s always funny when they say; only 20 units intended for families or something like that - that is just not reality, and they are doing NOTHING to enforce only seniors moving in there or the like. The county does not have school space for even a few 100 additional families let alone several thousand over next years. There is no infrastructure for these units coming online. None. Irresponsible. |
Yes, so many live in apartments. For some elementary schools it’s a large portion of their population! And the schools are overcrowded. Don’t believe their line about “flat enrollment” - they are smoking something when they come up with these numbers… perhaps flat for Nottingham, not for schools near and south of Langston. They base their projections on in-county birth rates. Total joke. Families are moving into the County young kids. Moving into the County with teens. So even if in-county births are flat, Arlington is putting 300 - 500-unit large new apartment buildings all over. Then they cry they have not enough money for the schools, and zero space. They are years, in some cases decades, behind of upkeep and maintenance of existing schools. One of the richest counties in America is run by idiots. |
We know about 20 families who live in nice apartment buildings in the Clarendon corridor with 2 kids at least that are marketed to singles supposedly. Arlington does not care or even know. They are bad planners and worse projectors. Completely out of touch with reality. |
If the developers only knew this, they would plan for and design more family-oriented apartments/condos in all these high rise projects popping up. It’s crazy that middle class families are squeezing into one bedroom apartments marketed to 20-somethings. |