DC Tenant Union Organizes to Purchase Apartment Complex Through Local Right of First Refusal Law

Residents at Park East Apartments in Washington, DC are in the process of purchasing their 88-unit apartment complex after the prior owner, CIM Group, put the building up for sale in 2021. After years of organizing that culminated in the formation of the 1845 Summit Place NW Tenants Association, the residents announced their intention to purchase the property through the city’s Tenant Opportunity to Purchase Act (TOPA) in summer 2024. 

Since its inception in 1980, TOPA has given renters in DC the first opportunity to purchase their building when it goes up for sale. Park East is expected to sell for $17.25 million and the total cost for the project, which includes capital costs, renovations, and outside consultants, is estimated at $21 million. 

The residents are currently working with consultants at MFX Ventures and the legal team at Reno and Cavanaugh PLLC to create and execute a financial plan to fund the project costs, which principally rests on securing an insured loan through HUD. With the support of a loan from the National Housing Trust, the residents have already put down $250,000 toward purchasing the building. The residents, while actively seeking additional financial partners, are also working with local Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI) and banks to secure bridge financing to close within the TOPA timeline. 

The long-term plan is for a HUD-insured loan to serve as the sole, 40-year fixed rate mortgage. Residents will pay $1,000 to own their respective units, which they would then be able to sell back to the co-op for $1,000 if and when they move out. Each unit, currently subject to rent control and approximately $500 less than the area market rate, would receive even smaller rent increases than have been standard under rent control, currently projected at 2% per year to keep pace with inflation. The coop fee would immediately go towards servicing the 40-year fixed rate mortgage through the HUD loan, capital expenditures, and a reserve fund for future emergency repairs. 

Residents of Park East say their goal is not just to preserve affordable housing for themselves, but for their community:

“Our building is full of people that work regular jobs and that are both permanent and transitory in DC,” said Alex M., president of the 1845 Summit Place NW Tenants Association. “All of us want to contribute to preserving affordable housing in Adams Morgan and have found through working with each other that we want to continue to build and preserve our community at Park East and with other co-ops in the neighborhood.”

The average aggregate income for the residents of Park East is estimated at around 70% to 80% of the area median income (AMI). In a city that is synonymous with high rental costs, 39% of renter households making 51% to 80% AMI are cost-burdened per NLIHC’s 2025 Gap Report. The percentage of cost-burdened renter households for extremely low-income renters in the city is even more staggering at 87%. 

The efforts to purchase Park East through TOPA, a program consistently lauded for preserving affordable housing in DC, coincides with what advocates say is an effort to severely curtail the program’s scope. In February, Mayor Muriel Bowser introduced the “Rebalancing Expectations for Neighbors, Tenants and Landlords
(RENTAL) Act”, a comprehensive piece of legislation aimed at bolstering DC’s housing market. In addition to returning the process of evictions to its pre-pandemic timeline, the legislation also amends TOPA. Alleging a long TOPA process that leads to disinvestment in the city’s housing infrastructure, Bowser seeks to limit TOPA by exempting market rate buildings from triggering the process. She is also proposing an exemption for buildings built or significantly improved within the last 25 years while creating an eligibility threshold based on the average rents in the building. The exemptions also extend to properties with affordability covenants or those that involve limited partners or are owned by investors. 

While Bowser claims the changes will better target low- and moderate-income renters, advocates and organizers have been rallying to push the DC City Council to reject the proposed language:

“TOPA gives tenants rights to either purchase their building or negotiate with an incoming buyer,” said Damiana Dendy, a housing organizer with DC Jobs with Justice. “These are tools that can be used to preserve affordability and it’s been proven since it’s been passed in 1980, it’s been doing what it’s supposed to be doing.”

The RENTAL Act is currently being debated in the DC City Council as residents at Park East continue to move through the TOPA process to purchase the building they call home, anticipating a closing date this coming October. 

Learn more about the 1845 Summit Place Tenant Union and how to support here.