Leckey Gardens Apartments

Leckey Gardens is located on North Woodrow Street in the heart of the Langston Boulevard corridor. The apartment complex opened in 1949 as the Lorcom Arms Apartments. It was initially built as a two-building complex in the garden apartment style. In 1980, the Lorcom Arms underwent a major renovation funded by a Community Development Block Grant. As part of the requirements for the funding, Lorcom Arms, for the first time, included affordable housing for the community. In 2002, Lorcom Arms was purchased by the nonprofit Arlington Partnership for Affordable Housing (APAH), recently renamed True Ground Housing Partners. Upon purchasing the property, they started another renovation began, ensuring its continued use for affordable housing in our community. In 2004, Lorcom Arms was renamed Leckey Gardens Apartments in honor of Tom Leckey, a founder and first president of APAH.

The apartments along the boulevard have long provided housing for essential workers in the community, working in transportation, construction, retail, and services. Skyrocketing rents throughout Arlington are making it harder for these neighbors to find housing. If we want there to be retail, shops, and restaurants along Langston Boulevard, then we need housing for the people who work there so they and their families can join in the community. Lecky Gardens has been part of the solution for affordable housing, and it is about to do even more.

At two acres, Leckey Gardens is True Ground’s largest complex along the corridor, providing a great opportunity for community growth in affordable housing. True Ground has been working with Langston Boulevard Alliance, Arlington County, and the community to come up with a future vision for Leckey Gardens. Plans are underway to redevelop the site into a 249-unit affordable housing complex. The new apartments will be ten stories at their highest point, tapering down to four stories streetside to better fit into the vision of a walkable neighborhood. The apartments will include one, two, and three-bedroom apartments along with a two-level parking garage, guaranteeing housing for both individuals and families.

Carmen Romero is president and CEO of True Ground Housing Partners, the local affordable housing group that owns Leckey Gardens. She deeply understands the importance of Leckey Gardens and True Ground’s other properties in our community. She says it is crucial to provide housing for all of our community members, especially our essential workers, so that they can be part of the community, contribute to our diversity, and raise their families in a safe neighborhood with good schools. We are all better off when this happens. She credits the vision of past True Ground leadership for bringing a larger complex like Leckey Gardens into their portfolio so they can offer affordable housing to more Arlingtonians. She is excited to lead True Ground’s efforts at Lecky Gardens, bringing our community one of the most significant affordable housing projects in the area.

Read about the big plans for Leckey Gardens.