EYA celebrates first move-ins at Riggs Park Place with DC Mayor Bowser

Last week, we were honored to host DC Mayor Muriel Bowser and other local dignitaries at our Riggs Park Place community in celebration of EYA's partnership with the City to create this brand new neighborhood. The ribbon cutting event not only celebrated our first homeowner move-ins, but also the successful transformation of an underutilized piece of land into a vibrant new residential neighborhood. 

Mayor Bowser warmly welcomed two of our first homeowners to move into the neighborhood, Nyanda and Jimmy.  

Speaking to the guests, Nyanda said, "I am a DC metropolitan area native. I was born and raised in Prince George's County, Maryland. And I spent a lot of time in DC proper growing up, whether I was going to the children's museums, Smithsonian, monuments or dinners. We also had a lot of family in the city. There's just a lot of nostalgia here for me...and after I graduated, it was definitely a huge goal of mine to come back into the city, but more specifically come back as a homeowner. So we're just so excited to be here."

Jimmy added, "Being a young couple, the journey of home ownership has been something that's difficult. I am first generation in this country, my parents are from Haiti, so that process from getting from childhood to here is a great one. And beyond that, just the process of going through acquiring a home is tough as well...It's something that folks all around face...One thing that we look forward to with this new home is building generational wealth, starting a family and having a place to pass down."

Riggs Park Place is an example of how developers can effectively and thoughtfully work with the City and local community members to take underutilized land and not only create attainably priced housing, but also shared social and economic incomes that benefit the broader community. 

EYA Chief Acquisitions Officer Aakash Thakkar stated, "There are many reasons to celebrate this important milestone for this project. Our first homeowners are moving in after years and years of hard work. The ground that we stand on now today used to be private land with an additional parcel that the City controlled. We worked closely together with this community to build what you see before you today, which will include 90 new townhomes, and in the next phase, 100 new senior units, retail spaces and, maybe most importantly, be part of a renewed center of this community. This is the type of project that EYA loves to work on. We're able to provide new attainably priced housing and collaborate with the community in really important ways." 

Photo: EYA Homes

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