The Alexandria City Council voted to approve a development special use permit for West End Block D, a 275-unit residential building in the Landmark redevelopment area, after a staff presentation and public comment.

City planner Maggie Cooper told the council the project would provide 275 units, request a parking reduction from 327 to 210 spaces and a small crown-coverage modification. "Eighty percent of these units will be rent restricted to 80 to 120 percent AMI," Cooper said, adding that at least half of those restricted units would be affordable to households under 100 percent AMI. Planning staff and the Planning Commission recommended approval (6–0).

The project site sits adjacent to the under-construction Inova hospital and a planned fire station. Staff said the applicant exceeded stormwater requirements, met open-space and public-art commitments and proposed high-quality architecture. The developer and staff emphasized walkability to the hospital and proximity to the new transit center as factors supporting the requested reduction in parking.

A resident speaker, Phoebe Coy, said she supports the project and argued that parking reductions reflect market realities. Council members asked staff and the applicant whether the curb cut for resident access had been aligned with the fire-station curb cut to avoid conflicts and whether the pooled crown-coverage approach would unfairly advantage early projects. Staff said the overall redevelopment CDD (CDD No. 29) anticipated pooling coverage across blocks and that, even with the modification, the full redevelopment would exceed required crown coverage if remaining blocks meet their entitlements.

Councilmembers also pressed staff on enforcement for the rent-restricted units. Planning staff and the applicant said the project does not rely on city housing trust fund dollars, so no standard enforcement mechanism was included; the applicant said it would collaborate on marketing to targeted income bands. Vice Mayor Bagley pointed to conditions in the staff report (conditions 89–91), saying those conditions would provide the council with data: "We will be provided pursuant to these conditions what the rents are and what the incomes are of the actual people living here," he said. Staff confirmed the conditions require reporting and that the Office of Housing could request records.

Vice Mayor Bagley moved to approve the permit with the staff-recommended conditions; Councilman Chapman seconded. The council carried the motion by roll-call vote. The approval will proceed under the conditions set in the staff report, which include annual reporting on rents and tenant incomes for the building and other monitoring obligations.

The project team said it will continue outreach and coordination with the city as the larger Landmark redevelopment proceeds.