• $2.5 million total development cost
• 96 units of low/moderate income housing
• HUD Loan $8,102,112, 202/223f with Section 8
• District of Columbia Department of Environment
  grant $410k
• Rehabilitation improvements: roof, exterior façade, windows, HVAC, sanitary sewer, parking lot, elevator, community room, lobby, management office, common area halls, laundry room, life safety, security, laundry room, appliances, kitchen, bath, carpet, vinyl tile, painting

Owner:
Upper Room Housing Corporation

Sponsor:
Upper Room Baptist Church

Attorney
Carney, Kelehan, Bresler, Bennett & Scherr LLP

Appraiser
Robert Wright

Financing:
Links Mortgage Corporation
Equity Management
U.S. Department of Housing And Urban Development
District of Columbia Department of Environment

Project Manager:
Comprehensive Environmental Assessments

In the late 1980s, the Rev. Willie B. Allen faced a problem that many pastors might envy: His church on Minnesota Avenue, in northeast Washington D.C., was simply too small for his growing congregation. Allen found a parcel of land a block away and built a new church, the Upper Room Baptist Church, for his growing flock. Allen’s new church could seat a thousand worshippers its main hall and feed 200 visitors in its cafeteria.

Looking back across Minnesota Avenue, Allen wondered what to do with the old church. He decided to tear it down and build an apartment complex for senior citizens. Construction crews tore down the old church in 1991. In its place, they built the Allen House Senior Apartments, a six-story, two-elevator building with room for 96 residents.

Allen House serves low-income senior citizens and disabled people. It offers them a safe, clean, and welcoming place to live. An on-site service coordinator connects residents to social service agencies; altogether it provides independent living for our residents for as long as possible.

In 2010, more than 80 people were on the waiting list hoping to move into the building.

Parishioners of the Upper Room Baptist Church have a saying you might hear, from time to time, at their services: “Together, we make ready.” It’s the spirit of coming together to make ready that built Allen House in 1991 and restored it in 2010.