Amazon awards $82M in loans for affordable housing near Metro stops

Amazon announced on Tuesday that it would be awarding close to $82 million in loans for affordable housing construction near two Metro stops in the Washington, D.C., area.

The retail giant said it would be providing $25.4 million in low-rate loans for developer Urban Atlantic to create 291 new apartments near the New Carrollton Metro station in Maryland and $56.3 million in low-rate loans to developer Gilbane Development Company to create 451 new apartments near the College Park Metro station.

Amazon noted that the apartment development in College Park, Md., would also include a public park for community event use, including for farmers markets. 

The roughly $82 million in loans announced are part of a larger $124 million effort by the retail giant to create more than 1,000 affordable homes in the Washington, D.C., area and Puget Sound region of Washington state.

More than $1.2 billion has been funneled to preserve or create more than 8,000 affordable homes since January 2021. 

While Amazon’s second headquarters in Virginia will draw employees, county lenders and developers have voiced concern that Amazon HQ2 will displace those already in Virginia’s Arlington County unless new housing is added, Bisnow reported in November.

Those developers and county lenders noted that development of affordable housing and market-rate housing will be needed to help residents remain in the area.

A survey published in July 2019 by Tenants and Workers United and George Washington University found that housing prices around the planned development area had already increased at the time by 17 percent.