The ParcView II Problem

ParcView Apartments is a 48 year old, 14 story high-rise building that lies in the middle of Holmes Run Parkway between Claridge House and Pavilion on the Park.  It contains 149 units, most of which affordable housing that is subsidized at some level of AMI.  Soon it will include two more nine-story buildings containing 227 additional housing units and a two-story underground garage below these new buildings.  Contained in these buildings will be a commercial daycare center on part of the first and possibly second floor of at least one of these new buildings.  Together, all this will comprise what is being called ParcView II (5+ in map below). 

Making all the proposed changes to ParcView will require “the heavy lifting of pile driving, excavation, sheeting and shoring, and kind of big construction” Monday through Friday “for the first 18 months”, sending loud noise and unsettling vibrations throughout the Holmes Run Area.  These activities may jeopardize the structural stability of all the buildings in the neighborhood, and concomitantly, the safety of its residents, as most of the buildings are over 45 years old (marked in turquoise on map above).  In addition, at least one building in half the housing complexes in the neighborhood  – 2, 5+, 6, 8, 10 and 12 – is 14 or 15 stories tall (noted by black dots on map above), making it even more vulnerable to vibratory damage from nearby construction, including building collapse.  In short, the proposed ParcView Project will threaten the safety of the vast majority of people now living in the Holmes Run neighborhood. (Quotes from Ms. Puskar, Attorney for owner of ParcView, Wesley Housing, Community Meeting (Webinar) on April 27, 2021.)

“There are several ways that harmful vibration levels due to construction activities can cause damage to neighboring properties and structures.  The most common include: damage to a structure directly from the energy of the vibration source, resonant structure response (i.e., the natural frequency of the building and soil matches the frequency of the ground movement causing uncontrollable shaking) and/or the densification of soils supporting a building structure resulting in settlement.  All of these vibrational effects can result in cosmetic damage and/or irreparable structural damage.”  (Structural Damage from Adjacent Construction Projects – Expert Article)

More specifically,

While the footprint of the existing [ParcView] building is on largely stable Cameron Valley sand (Potomac Formation, basal unit), the proposed siting of 2 additional buildings [on the ParcView lot] upslope puts them closer to the Lincolnia silty clay unit where slope stability and landslide risk can be a problem owing to instability at the crown of ravines.  Undermining the toe slope many tens of feet for building footers, parking garages, and the like greatly exacerbates this issue and increases the existing potential for landslides, as does pile driving. Burying or regrading natural ravines and swales and paving them over seriously confounds this problem, i.e., concerns for existing sinkholes.  (Understanding Geologic Conditions at ParcView)

The City  is more interested in adding 227 affordable housing units to its inventory of such housing than the safety of the current residents of the Holmes Run neighborhood, so on February 12, 2022, City Council voted to build ParcView II despite the loud opposition of the residents in the Holmes Run Area.

Find the full background on the project and the affordable housing situation in Alexandria here.