Arlington is looking to buy these central city apartments for $36 million
Continuing on the path of revitalizing Arlington, the City Council is looking for over $36 million to purchase apartments in central Arlington.
Acquiring the Arlington Village Apartments would mark the start of the city’s efforts to redevelop the Fielder Square neighborhood, according to an Arlington staff report. The complex sits north of West Division Street on North Fielder Road.
In 2005, the city identified the central Arlington neighborhood as one that needed attention, citing high poverty and need for concentrated redevelopment and assistance to residents. The Arlington Village Apartments fall squarely within that area.
“The complex is currently 91% occupied and zoned for a Title 1 elementary school, Speer Elementary, in which 89% of students qualify for the free or reduced-price lunch program,” the report said. “Originally constructed in 1973, the property shows signs of wear and limited reinvestment.”
Initially hoping to use grant money from the Arlington Tomorrow Foundation, the city plans to buy the apartment complex, demolish it, and rebuild multifamily housing with a childcare campus on the site.
As the new property owner, the city would wait out the current leases, the last of which end in July 2026. Mindy Cochran, Arlington Housing Authority executive director, said the city would hire a professional relocation specialist for tenants eligible for those services. Once rebuilt, the complex would be sold.
The Arlington Tomorrow Foundation, which many City Council members hoped would be the funder, is a public charity dedicated to serving Arlington. The foundation was created by the city in 2007 with a $100 million endowment and is led by a board of directors made up of the City Council members.
Arlington Tomorrow Foundation has supported 552 projects around the city with over $49 million granted since the organization’s genesis, Executive Director Carolyn Mentesana said.
Usually, grant money comes from money earned off of the investments from the original endowment fund, according to Mentesana. On Tuesday, the board had to decide whether to dip into the permanently endowed funds to give $36 million to the city.
Because it would involve changing the grant agreement between the city and the foundation, the decision required a supermajority of seven votes. In a 6-3 decision, the action failed and the city will have to look elsewhere for funding.
Board Members — who are also City Council members — Raul Gonzalez, Nikkie Hunter and Bowie Hogg opposed the grant proposal.
Gonzalez said the likelihood of the city of Arlington being able to pay that money back was low, but he agrees that the revitalization needs to happen.
He said the city is also looking to redevelop the area along West Division Street and Southeast Arlington.
In the afternoon council meeting, council member Andrew Piel said he hears about substandard apartment complexes from his constituents.
“This particular apartment complex is one year younger than me, and I ain’t no spring chicken,” Piel said. “I remember in the ‘80s, that it already was in bad shape. I think I’ve even heard testimony from prior Arlington police officers that this was one of the major places they used to go to kick in doors to make drug busts. This particular piece of property is like a black hole. It has its own gravity. It sucks in poverty and holds people down.”
Piel said he feels “extremely strongly” that redeveloping the Arlington Village Apartments would be exactly what constituents have been asking of him for the seven years he’s been on council.
“The halo effect of replacing this negative complex with something better will further enhance property values within a quarter mile, a half mile, within a mile,” Piel said. “A neighborhood to the west could see a renaissance once we got rid of this that’s dragging it down.”
This story was originally published August 28, 2025 at 1:24 PM.