Housing Partnership Equity Trust (HPET) and AHC have partnered to buy the 228-unit Woodleaf Apartments in Silver Spring, Md.
The $33.5 million purchase will preserve the affordability of the rental property, which is adjacent to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration headquarters. In addition, the building is near downtown Silver Spring and approximately 12 miles from Washington, D.C.
The Woodleaf acquisition expands HPET’s portfolio of affordable rental homes to more than 1,100 units.
HPET is a real estate investment trust (REIT) created by the Housing Partnership Network, a collaborative of leading nonprofit affordable housing and community development organizations, and 12 nonprofit housing developers to preserve affordable rental housing.
Members are able to better compete with for-profit developers for properties. Specifically, HPET invests long-term, low-cost equity alongside its nonprofit partners, enabling them to acquire rental properties quickly and efficiently. In addition, HPET's structure creates a vehicle for impact investors to balance financial risk and return with social outcomes.
The REIT launched in 2013 with initial investment capital from Prudential Financial, Citi, Morgan Stanley, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the Ford Foundation, HPN, and its nonprofit members.
Headquartered in Arlington, Va., AHC is one of the 12 nonprofits involved in the REIT. Since 1975, AHC has developed and preserved nearly 50 affordable rental apartment communities that provide quality homes for 6,500 households.
The other HPET members are BRIDGE Housing Corp., Chicanos Por La Causa, Community Preservation and Development Corp., Eden Housing, Hispanic Housing Development Corp., Homes for America, LINC Housing Corp., Mercy Housing; Nevada HAND, The NHP Foundation, and National Housing Trust/Enterprise Preservation Corp.
