The First Baptist Church of Clarendon sits on valuable real estate just a couple of blocks from Clarendon Metro. In 2004 the church proposed a cool idea, to build apartments above and behind the sanctuary. Land would be used efficiently, the neighborhood would get some affordable housing, and the church would get some cash. Everybody wins. Except there were procedural problems, and the proposal got tied up in court for a few years. Now, the only thing lacking is money. Hopefully it will all be sorted out, and we’ll have a nice model of vertical mixed-use on our hands.

By the way, if the residential addition is built, it would become at least the second mixed-use church in Arlington’s Rosslyn-Ballston corridor. The other? Take a look below. It can only be described as both hilarious and awesome.

“Views at Clarendon”, the current proposal for apartments atop an existing church.

“Arlington Methodist Temple”, the church in Rosslyn with a – you’re reading this right – gas station on the ground floor. BDC likes to call it “Our Lady of Blessed Acceleration”.