Construction on the Monsignor Romero (Deauville) Building at 3145 Mt Pleasant Street Expected to Begin in March 2013

Council Member Jim Graham updates the community on the future Monsignor Romero building in Mt. Pleasant:

Excellent news. The DC gov has approved the tax credit application for the Monsignor Romero building at 3145 Mt Pleasant Street. It has been a very long haul, but this tenant owned building is soon on its way to rehabilitation in service to very low income people. A victory for the tenants, the National Housing Trust and everyone who had faith that this could and would work.

A reader asked him when construction was slated to begin and he replied:

The city gets to allocate Federal resources (Low Income Housing Tax Credits or LIHTC) to help build or redevelop affordable housing. Those federal tax credits allow organizations (in this case, the National Housing Trust) to attract private investors to invest money so that they can rebuild the Monsignor Romero building. For about every dollar in tax credits, a project such as this is able to generate about $10 in private funding.

Almost equally important, without these credits, this project would not have been feasible.

To answer your question as to when the work will start, NHT has to work through the Department of Housing and Community Development’s normal processes, but expect construction to begin in March 2013.