2024 Fall Issue of Urban Land - 84

fill it up, so it's an important element of housing
affordability-we really need to look across
the spectrum, right? That means unit sizes,
making sure that we're not just creating studios,
that we're focused on larger family-sized
units, as well. That'll be a big push of ours . . . .
One thing that worked really well the
The nonprofit
Washington Housing
Conservancy acquired
the 212-unit Loree
Grand apartment
community to preserve
the affordability of
homes for moderateand
low-income
families and individuals.
empowered so many different things. [That] is
a true equity driver.
UL: Since you have taken over as the head of
the fund, how has it evolved, and what excites
you about its potential?
Sankaran: Since our launch in 2021-and I
joined in [2022]-I feel like I've been a large
part of this creation or presentation of 21,000plus
units, deploying $2.2 billion. That " 21,000
units " is often what gets lost . . . because
these are big numbers we're talking about.
But these are homes. And those homes translate
to families and people. So, those 21,000
units are . . . probably more in the neighborhood
of, like, 46,000-plus residents in those
homes. And when you think about it on that
kind of scale, it's humbling.
UL: Can you talk about the growth and size of
the fund?
Sankaran: I will take this back a little bit to
Amazon's culture, [which] is a culture of testing
and learning, figuring out what works, and
then leaning into that. You can test certain
elements . . . . You're almost encouraged-not
to fail, but you're encouraged to take the risks
. . . to understand, and then you can focus on
what really is working.
So, I think what you've seen, with the additional
capital that Amazon is committing-the
additional $1.4 billion . . . a large amount of
money-[is] I think, a vote of confidence in the
work that we've already done.
We will be continuing our focus on transitoriented
development. We're going to continue
our focus on preservation because you
have to plug a hole in the sink before you can
84
URBAN LAND FALL 202 4
first time around, in the initial $2 billion fund
commitment, was [that] we had partnerships
with transit agencies, where we worked
with WMATA in the Arlington HQ2 region.
We worked with Sound Transit in the Puget
Sound [region]. And both actually have active
joint-development programs, where it's land
that they own and control that they wanted
to promote affordable housing on. And again,
they were already having partners, or they
were in the midst of picking partners, but we
enabled them to move faster to create the
most needed housing in the best locations,
because they control those lands.
WeGo . . . in Nashville . . . is [in contrast]
primarily a bus network, but we focused our
investments [with them] on parcels that are
going to be close to their high-frequency
routes. They don't control the land in the
same way as the other partners, [but] they
were critical in helping us understand where
[commuters] are coming . . . from and what .
. . routes . . . would best foster transit-oriented
development. Those partnerships have been
critical, and we'll continue to work with these
agencies to do so.
UL: What personal stamp would you like to
leave on the fund?
Sankaran: I think there are other nontraditional
landowners that need to enter the space.
I think what you often hear about eds and
meds, whether it be educational institutions,
or large health care groups-they control land
and they have a need for their own constituents.
They are critical pieces of communities,
and they need to serve their broader communities.
You're starting to see more folks being
interested- " I want to be a part of the solution,
but I don't know how " -and that echoes,
too-we have been very open.
The personal stamp I'd like to make is [to]
find ways to forge new partnerships with
other entities that are mission focused and
equally invested in addressing the need for
greater housing affordability.
Sankaran is a 20-year full member of ULI.
He sits on the Public/Private Partnership
Council (Blue Flight) and serves on numerous
committees within ULI Washington. UL
SIBLEY FLEMING is editor in chief of Urban Land.
JOHN MA GOR/W ASHING T ON HOUSING C ONSER V ANCY
2024 Fall Issue of Urban Land

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