The Laureate brings an impressive mix of affordable, workforce, and market-rate apartments to Rockville, Maryland.
Of the property’s 268 units, 25% serve residents earning up to 50% of the area median income (AMI), 5% serve residents earning up to 65% of the AMI, and the remainder are market-rate apartments, with all the homes having the same high-quality features and finishes.
The Laureate was made possible by a partnership involving developers EYA, Bozzuto Development Co., and the Housing Opportunities Commission of Montgomery County (HOC), a local government agency. While the developers built the new community, HOC is the controlling owner of the property.
The project comes at a time when Rockville, like other communities across the country, faces an acute shortage of affordable housing, according to McLean Quinn, president and CEO of EYA.
“Our objective in working with HOC was to take a project that was slated to have a more traditional amount of inclusionary zoning affordable housing and increase it dramatically to help address the affordable housing shortage,” he says.
The Laureate is seen as a model for future public-private partnerships.
It is the first to utilize Montgomery County's Housing Production Fund (HPF), a new $100 million revolving million fund to help accelerate affordable housing development.
In addition to being a mixed-income community, The Laureate is a mixed-use property, with more than 7,000 square feet for an HOC service center on the second floor.
The team worked to create an inviting building where the amenity spaces wrap around a courtyard to enjoy views of the pool and outdoor areas. The building also includes 23,000 square feet of ground-floor retail space that’s anchored by a CVS store.
The Laureate is part of EYA’s 45-acre Westside at Shady Grove master plan neighborhood that will eventually have more than 1,500 homes. The new development is spurring EYA and HOC to replicate the strategy on a 413-unit apartment community and public library that they hope to break ground next year.
“The success of The Laureate is helping make that final phase possible,” Quinn says.
