The Silver Spring Penguin

Updated plans for the Falkland Chase apartment complex revealed high-rise buildings and a remodelled courtyard. But some Silver Spring residents worried about the costs, financial and otherwise.

At Thursday night’s meeting in the crowded regional center, Falkland Chase’s owners described their plans for the northeast corner of 16th Street and East-West Highway.

Don Hague, with Home Properties, said the proposed brick buildings would have 1,020 apartments, underground parking and a 50,000 square-foot Harris Teeter supermarket. The property also would have a 1.5-acre courtyard, roughly the size of a baseball field, said Home Properties’ Nelson Leenhouts. (See related post.)

Monthly rents were estimated to begin around $1,500 for a studio or small one-bedroom apartment. Larger apartments could cost about $2,200 a month. However, Leenhouts and Hague cautioned that the rates were hypothetical.

“I’m concerned about how the middle-class family figures into your pricing,” Ralph Cole, of the Woodside Manor Tenants Association, told Hague and Leenhouts. “I’m worried that you’re pricing familes out of this development.”

Christine Ulbricht, a Falkland Chase resident, also worried that rental rates for the new apartments could affect rates for older units on the remaining two parcels. Ulbricht’s 600 square-foot one-bedroom apartment on the west parcel costs her $1,100 monthly, she said.

“I don’t have any insulation in my apartment right now. Also, my windows leak water, and mildew is a problem,” Ulbricht said.

“The rents keep going up every year, but I’m scared this is going to squeeze out a lot of people who can barely afford to live there now,” she added.

Home Properties’ Leenhouts said rents on the east and west parcels would rise with inflation. However, most of the development’s mandated moderately priced units would be located on the other two parcels, he explained.

Home Properties also will spend $13,000 for every unit to preserve the buildings’ historic exteriors, Leenhouts announced.

According to the Silver Spring Historical Society, the current Falkland Chase complex was built in 1937 as a New Deal project. The buildings were designed in the garden-city style by the architect of the Longworth House Office Building in Washington.

“Civic activists have defended Falkland for years,” said Mary Reardon, of the historical society. “I’m in favor of smart growth, but it doesn’t mean you have to cover every last inch of the downtown area.”

Leenhouts defended Home Properties’ decision to build on the north parcel but not on the east and west parcels. “I feel we’re being very generous,” he said.

Falkland Chase currently has 182 apartments and surface parking on the north parcel, according to Home Properties’ Hague. There are no retailers on any of the parcels.

Image courtesy of Home Properties. Photo by Jennifer Deseo for The Silver Spring Penguin.