FIRE STATION WITH AFFORDABLE HOUSING

WEST END SQUARE 50
Washington, D.C.
2010–2017

TEN Arquitectos / Enrique Norten

Piggybacking Tactic
Inhabit a Niche

WEST END SQUARE 50 is a unique mixed-use building that piggybacks three different programs atop each other—fire station, squash courts, and housing—to increase housing affordability in an expensive neighborhood of Washington, D.C. The project was realized through a public-private partnership between the D.C. government and the developer EastBanc that leveraged the untapped potential of an underutilized site. Instead of merely replacing the previous, aging fire house with another standalone station, the project dramatically increased the value of this publicly owned lot by stacking six stories of affordable housing above the fire station. Included are 52 units for households at or below 60 percent of the area median income, and three permanent supportive housing units for households at or below 30 percent of area median income.  Similar approaches are being explored in other cities as property values escalate and local governments look to leverage the untapped value of their land holdings. In 2018, for example, Boston’s Housing Innovation Lab initiated a public conversation to explore the potential of what it termed “Housing with Public Assets,” targeting a similar piggybacking tactic to enhance the redevelopment of its aging municipal facilities. It remains to be seen whether or not this emerging trend will serve the public good as tangibly and effectively as West End 50.