Jair Lynch Real Estate Partners has broken ground on a 288-unit apartment building at 535 S. Alfred Street in Alexandria, part of Phase 1 of a sprawling redevelopment that is replacing an aging affordable housing complex in Old Town with new construction. The building will include 48 studios, 184 one-bedroom apartments and 56 two-bedroom apartments, with 52 of those units set aside as affordable housing.
The project is the second phase of a three-phase redevelopment, according to multihousingnews.com. Of the 52 affordable apartments, 51 will be reserved for households earning up to 40% of area median income, while one unit will serve a household earning up to 60% of AMI, the outlet reports. A HUD Housing Assistance Payments contract covers 51 of the units, and the project also secured 4% low-income housing tax credits from Virginia Housing, backed by private activity bonds.
The building rises on a site that previously held a 244-unit property built as affordable housing in the 1970s, according to The Alexandria Brief. Jair Lynch purchased the fully entitled development plans for the Heritage at Old Town site in December 2021, per jairlynch.com, setting the stage for a multi-year effort to rebuild the block with a mix of market-rate and affordable units.
Officials Turn Dirt at the Ceremony
Mayor Alyia Gaskins attended the groundbreaking ceremony, according to The Alexandria Brief's reporting. Also on hand were Virginia Secretary of Commerce and Trade Carrie Chenery, Virginia Housing Chief of Programs Monique Johnson, and U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Field Director Jill Yu, the outlet reports.
The new building is slated for completion in 2029, the developer says. The project also includes work on the eastern portion of Wilkes Street Park, part of a broader redevelopment plan that, per jairlynch.com, includes below-grade parking, enhanced public spaces, improved pedestrian connections, streetscape enhancements and upgrades to Wilkes Street Linear Park.
First Phase Includes Two Buildings; Second Phase Still to Come
This building is part of Phase 1, which also includes Block 4, the redevelopment's first phase to break ground. Block 4 broke ground in June 2025 and is delivering 310 apartments. That building includes 210 market-rate units and 100 affordable units, according to the same multihousingnews.com account. In the third phase, Jair Lynch is expected to complete Block 2 and add a community park, the outlet notes.
Accounts of the redevelopment's total scale differ. Jair Lynch's own project page states that Phase 1 alone calls for 598 new apartment homes in two buildings, while alxnow.com has described the full three-phase redevelopment as totaling 598 apartments. The two descriptions assign 598 apartments to different scopes.
Part of a Broader Affordable Housing Push
The Heritage at Old Town pairs new construction with affordable housing commitments. Other recent Alexandria groundbreakings include a 377-unit affordable housing development at Victory Center and a 257-unit senior housing project from Goodwin Living that broke ground earlier this month, according to alxnow.com.
Nearby, several other multifamily projects are in the pipeline within roughly two miles of the Heritage at Old Town site, including Insight Property Group's 187-unit development at 2051 Jamieson Ave., MRP Realty's 802-unit Eisenhower Avenue project and ZM Zell Partners' 100-unit Carlyle Park Towers, according to multihousingnews.com's reporting. Together, the projects point to a wave of residential construction reshaping Alexandria's Eisenhower East and Old Town corridors over the next several years.
