Wheaton arts center, affordable housing project slated to break ground this fall
Montgomery Housing Partnership project received $1M in federal funding secured by Van Hollen, Alsobrooks
By
Elia GriffinApril 28, 2026 11:03 a.m.
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Construction on an affordable housing development in downtown Wheaton that will also include Montgomery County’s future Wheaton Arts and Cultural Center is anticipated to begin in the fall, according to Robert Goldman, president of Silver Spring developer Montgomery Housing Partnership.
“We’re very excited about the project,” Goldman told Bethesda Today on Friday. “It’ll be a signature project for Wheaton.”
Montgomery Housing Partnership (MHP), a nonprofit developer focused on building and preserving affordable housing in Montgomery and Prince George’s counties and Washington, D.C., will construct the development and the arts and cultural center. The project is anticipated to cost $150 million, according to Goldman. That total does not include the cost of building the $46.4 million arts and cultural center, which will be financed by the county and built by MHP.
The development is centered on an undeveloped parcel at 11507 Georgia Ave. and an MHP-owned garden-style apartment complex along Elkin Street called Amherst Square Apartments. The complex, built in the early 1960s, will be demolished and redeveloped as part of the project.
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Plans call for 39 townhomes and 272 apartments, which will be affordable and serve varying income levels, according to planning documents. In addition, 25% – or 68 – of the development’s units will be moderately priced dwelling units (MPDU), double the county’s 12.5% MPDU requirement for new housing developments.
According to the county Department of Housing and Community Affairs, MPDU units are available for “renters and first-time home buyers with incomes up to 70 percent of the Washington Metro Area Median Income, which is approximately $79,500 for a family of two or $99,500 for a family of four.”
Two multifamily buildings, one of which will house the arts and cultural center, will be mostly constructed on an undeveloped parcel next to the AVA Wheaton apartments, according to planning documents. The townhomes will be built on a parcel where a portion of MHP’s Amherst Square Apartments is located. According to Goldman, the existing apartment complex is aging and at “the end of its useful life.”
Goldman noted that MHP has been slowly moving residents from the first section of the Amherst Square Apartments that are slated for demolition into the complex’s buildings across the street and other MHP-owned apartments nearby. When the development’s two multi-family buildings are complete, the plan is for former Amherst Square residents to move into the new apartments, according to Goldman.
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The future arts center is expected to host theater and musical performances, visual arts classes, gallery exhibits and community events. The 40,000-square-foot center will house two performance spaces, classrooms, a gallery, back-of-house support space and administrative offices.
The development will be less than half a mile from the Wheaton Library and Recreation Center on Georgia Avenue and roughly half a mile from the Wheaton Metro station.
As county leaders sought a location for the project, some opponents argued that the center would be better placed in Wheaton’s central business district. However, county officials said the Georgia Avenue and Elkin Street site would provide a better opportunity for the county to partner with MHP on the affordable housing portion of the project.
“It’s going to provide such a wonderful opportunity … by taking the current buildings and being able to provide a new building that provides residents with just wonderful, quality affordable housing and makes sure that they live in dignity and a place they’re proud to call home,” Goldman said.
Federal funding
MHP announced in a March 31 press release that it received $1 million in federal funding for the project. Plans were approved by the county Planning Board in June 2025 and Goldman said Friday that receiving such government funding helps push the developer toward financing goals for the project.
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“When we talk about developing affordable housing, it can’t be done with traditional market-rate financing where you get equity financing and loans because if you did that, the rents would be astronomical and low-income people would not be able to afford that,” Goldman said Friday.
Maryland Sens. Chris Van Hollen (D) and Angela Alsobrooks (D) secured the $1 million in federal funding in Congress’s fiscal year 2026 minibus spending bill, according to the release. The bill was signed into law by President Donald Trump in early February.
Van Hollen, a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, said in the release that the $1 million is a “win for our entire community” and would help families in the county find stable housing and economic security.
“The rising cost of housing continues to weigh heavily on far too many Maryland families. That’s why we fought to secure $1 million in federal funding to support more affordable, accessible options in Wheaton that better meet growing needs,” Van Hollen said.
Project plans call for the development’s 39 townhomes to be sold, an aspect of the project that was key to Alsobrooks’ support.
“Right now, the cost of rent is way too high and homeownership is far out of reach for most Americans,” Alsobrooks said in the release. “Homeownership is one of the clearest pathways to building generational wealth, so I am doing everything in my power to make the dream of homeownership and access to affordable housing a reality for more Marylanders.”
According to the release, the federal funds will help with “pre-development costs” such as preparing design and construction documents and securing building permits and land-use entitlements.
Goldman said MHP hopes to close on the financing for the project in the fall and to begin construction soon after. If all goes to plan, the entire project could be completed by early 2029, he said.
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Originally published at Bethesdamagazine