Aerial view of Arna Valley
The construction of the Pentagon in Arlington during World War II required affordable housing for the thousands of defense workers and their families. President Roosevelt declared that Arlington County’s housing shortage would “impede war activities.” As a result, a 537-unit community built in the early 1940s by developer Paul P. Stone in South Arlington became one of the region’s most affordable housing projects for the next five decades.
It was called Arna Valley, taking its name from Army Navy (Army NAvy) Drive, bordering it to the west and north when the units were built. Located at Glebe Road and Interstate 395, the apartments became popular with immigrant families arriving in Arlington. By the late 1980s, Arna Valley was facing a host of problems, including high crime, poor building maintenance, and gang violence. A bridge near Arna Valley had the spray-painted words “La Mara Loco Intocables”- “the crazy untouchables,” marking a youth gang operating in Arna Valley.
Arna Valley apartment
In the late 1990s, Arlington County sought to redevelop the area, but the primarily Latino community organized to fight its eviction from the valley. The Arna Valley Tenants Association and the Save Arna Valley Coalition, a collaboration of community and religious leaders, initiated a very public “David vs. Goliath” fight against the buyer, Alexandria-based Avalon Bay Communities Inc. The struggle demonstrated the need in Arlington for new programs to support the development of low-income housing. By 1999, the property had been sold, and the tenants were forced to relocate.
Sanborn Fire Insurance Map of Arna Valley
Demolished in 2000, the apartments were replaced by The Avalon at Arlington Square condominium/apartment/stores development, The Park at Arlington Ridge apartments, Arna Valley View apartments (2001, 101 units), joining the nearby Olde Factory condominiums (1984, 32 units). The area is now a quiet, 20-acre bedroom community with a collection of newly constructed, multi-story townhouses, apartments, and condominiums. Residents mostly commute to the Pentagon and Washington, DC, jobs.
The redevelopment of Arna Valley resulted in a net loss of 535 units of affordable housing. However, the public advocacy effort empowered the community to ensure such a loss would not happen again. Arlington’s County Board responded by appointing an Affordable Housing Task Force, which issued a report that became the basis of the new Affordable Housing Principles and Goals.
