Hyattsville Church Plans Affordable-Housing Project

A Hyattsville church is looking to build affordable housing on a key piece of land.

Located at 6201 Belcrest Rd., next to the Hyattsville Crossing Metro station, the First United Methodist Church of Hyattsville is hoping to capitalize on underused parts of its property.

Called the Sanctuary at Hyattsville Crossing, the development would feature 120 units of affordable housing for families and seniors, with up to 30 percent of the apartments set aside for formerly homeless households.

The church is working with developers at Pennrose and the Virginia-based nonprofit Sanctuary AP3 to build the apartments and has asked the city of Hyattsville to agree to a reduced property tax bill to help make the project financially feasible.

A memo to the city from earlier this year noted that since the church currently pays no taxes on the land anyway, a reduction would not lead to any loss in city revenue.

A similar deal helped the affordable housing development Parkview Manor several years ago.

Under the most recent proposal, the project would have monthly rents ranging from $380 to $2,097 for households with incomes between $20,000 and $80,000. An illustration from Pennrose shows a four-story brick building with a pitched roof and columns meant to give it a more traditional look.