Story

Located in Arlington, VA, The Terraces at Arlington View is a new 77-unit affordable housing community that replaced an aging garden-style community that was spread among seven apartment buildings. The new community consists of four stories of wood frame with a partially below-grade parking garage and a cast-in-place concrete second level. The community includes a multitude of amenities, featuring a community room, fitness room, elevated central courtyard, leasing office, and an on-site resident services space. Sustainability elements of the project consist of a 190-panel solar system, making it the client’s second solar project in Arlington, and a green roof to support stormwater management. The community features 15 three-bedroom apartments, 47 two-bedrooms, 14 one-bedrooms, and one studio apartment for families earning between 30% and 60% of the Area Median Income (AMI). Eight apartments are fully ADA accessible, and all the homes meet Universal Design standards. Harkins became involved with the project in May 2019 when our preconstruction process began to generate the initial budget, an aggressive schedule, and early constructability comments. It quickly became apparent that an even more intensive overview of the project would be required based on the site and program constraints of the new building, along with the market complexities associated with the COVID-19 pandemic. From the beginning stages, design was a challenge. The community was cut into the side of a large hill that divided the site, requiring extensive time and resources to design a solution. More than a dozen partners came together to plan the development of a large retaining wall that would go along the east and southeast property lines. These partners were key in securing a notice to proceed nearly ten months later, ensuring that the project would be successful for construction. Harkins received notice to proceed on June 28, 2021, making it one of Harkins’ first projects budgeted and constructed during the new volatile escalation and supply chain obstacles following COVID-19. Several strategies were utilized to maintain the budget and keep the project on schedule. Key building material costs were identified early, and monetary contingencies were allocated to ensure that products were available on time and at reasonable costs. Products for the project were procured in time for November 2021 and were significantly under the established contingency, which built trust among the project team and their ability to monitor costs. The extra budget allowed for more flexibility when managing other material procurement challenges later on. While there were many challenges to managing the project, the foundation of its success was the team-based atmosphere and the relentless communication between Harkins and all other parties from start to finish. As a result of this true partnership, the project was successfully completed during an unprecedented construction environment, with shared savings, and achieved substantial completion two days ahead of the baseline schedule on March 31, 2023.