W.B. Hopke Awarded New Sanitary and Storm Project at the Crystal House in Crystal City, VA

The Crystal House project is largely financed by Amazon who contributed $381.9 million to the Washington Housing Conservancy, a DC area non-profit and financing partner for the purchase of the 16-acre site in 2020. The effort will help stabilize rising rents at the luxury apartment building, a move that will create and preserve 1,300 affordable housing units at Crystal House.

Crystal House is comprised of two, 13 story buildings built in 1960, currently totaling 828 units and 765 parking spaces. 75% of the new units will be affordable units, and 25% will include rental and ownership opportunities.

Housing and rental costs in the area have skyrocketed in recent years making affordable housing unobtainable for mid and lower income families. The contribution by Amazon is part of a $2 billion new Housing Equity Fund commitment by the tech giant, to create and preserve more than 20,000 affordable units in Arlington, Seattle and Nashville.

The Crystal House project, located at 1900 Eads Street in Crystal City, was awarded to W.B. Hopke on May 2024 and will begin soon. The general contractor for the project is CBG Building Company.

Hopke project manager Svetla Todorova, is assigned to oversee the project and said, “The project includes relocating the main sanitary and storm water from an existing parking lot which will become the site of the new building. Trucks similar to cement trucks will be used to pump grout into the cavities where the existing lines and manholes are now. Upon filling in the existing manholes and pipes, new lines will be installed in various other locations within the perimeter of the property for the utilities.”

Charlie McClellan is the lead estimator for this project and indicated that it will take approximately 6 months to complete the project and will require multiple crews. More details and photos will become available as the project unfolds.

W.B. Hopke is a fourth generation, family-run construction business focused on building high quality utility infrastructure and lifelong careers. Hopke is located in Alexandria, VA and works throughout DC, Maryland, and Virginia. With almost 70 years of experience, Hopke prides itself on repeat customers across all kinds of market segments – schools, churches, data centers, distribution facilities, multi-family, mixed use, residential subdivisions, senior living, self storage, heavy highway, retail, commercial office, automotive, stream restoration, and parks.

Contact W.B. Hopke about a career in utility installation and site work at 703-971-0404 or info@wbhopke.com.

References

“Amazon Funds Purchase Crystal City Apartment Building for Conversion to Affordable Housing,” ARLnow, https://www.arlnow.com/2021/01/07/amazon-funds-purchase-crystal-city-apartment-building-for-conversion-to-affordable-housing/, Accessed July 2024.

“County seeks developer for Amazon-funded affordable housing project in Crystal City,” ARLnow,
https://www.arlnow.com/2021/11/05/county-seeks-developer-for-amazon-funded-affordable-housing-project/, Accessed July 2024.

“Crystal City apartments dedicated to affordable housing,” The Associated Press,
https://apnews.com/general-news-337aab8e9c0ce6e8dfea486bc15f5afb, Accessed July 2024.

Cover image – Crystal House (staff photo by Jay Westcott)