231-unit affordable housing development coming to McLean

Construction will begin immediately on the 231-unit first phase of an affordable housing development in McLean backed by Amazon.com, SCG Development announced Wednesday.

Located at 1750 Old Meadow Road, Somos at McLean Metro will be developed in two phases. In the first phase, Tysons-based SCG Development will demolish an abandoned office building on the property and build 231 units, a mix of studio and one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments. The units will be rented to households earning between 30% and 60% of the area’s median income.

The second phase of the development will include 225 units, according to Steve Wilson, SCG Development’s president. The total development cost is about $108 million for the first phase and about $107 million for the second phase, he said.

The property is located within a 10-minute walk to the McLean Metrorail station and less than 10 minutes from Tysons’ new pedestrian bridge.

“Somos at McLean Metro Phase A will bring high quality affordable housing options to families and individuals in a very high barrier to entry market,” Wilson said in a statement.

Amazon.com provided a $28.97 million low-rate loan to the project from the Amazon Housing Equity Fund, a $2 billion commitment to create or preserve more than 20,000 affordable homes for low- to moderate-income families in the Arlington-Washington, D.C., area, Washington state’s Puget Sound region and the Nashville, Tennessee, region, locations where Amazon has offices.

HQ2, Amazon’s East Coast headquarters in Arlington County, began a phased opening in June 2023. Since January 2021, Amazon has committed over $1 billion in loans and grants to create or preserve 7,000 affordable homes in the region, according to the ecommerce giant’s website.

“We embrace opportunities to work in partnership with innovative organizations dedicated to creating much-needed affordable housing that connects individuals and families to transit, employment and other resources across the DMV,” Senthil Sankaran, managing principal of the Amazon Housing Equity Fund, said in a statement.

Virginia Housing, Virginia’s state housing finance agency, committed over $54.5 million in financing and 4% Low Income Housing Tax Credits, which the federal government uses to subsidize the acquisition and construction of affordable rental housing, to the project.

“Our investment towards Somos at McLean provides much needed increased affordable inventory in the Northern Virginia area,” Virginia Housing CEO Tammy Neale said in a statement.

In 2022, the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors approved $33.3 million to acquire the property and support the development of Somos at McLean Metro. The Fairfax County Redevelopment and Housing Authority will own the land and lease the property to affiliates of SCG Development.

“Innovative partnership has enabled us to leverage private equity to convert an unused office building site into hundreds of affordable homes in the Providence District,” Dalia Palchik, a member of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors, said in a statement.