Victory Court: Majority of Senior Apartments Leased Prior to Opening

Though Victory Court won’t open in Rockville Town Center for several months, most of its apartments have already been leased, a spokeswoman with Victory Court tells Patch.

The affordable housing community for seniors is set to open in Rockville this fall. City leaders welcomed it as an option amid growing demand for senior housing.

Victory Court is a community of one- and two-bedroom apartments for people 62 and older. Sixty-five of Victory’s 86 apartments will be offered at below-market rents.

Spokeswoman Alli Parmenter said that 73 percent of the apartments were leased as of June 21.

She said there were 18 income-restricted apartments left.

Victory Court, at 74 Maryland Ave., was built on county-owned land using tax-exempt Housing Opportunities Commission bonds purchased by Capital One bank. Montgomery County also is providing a loan, Patch has reported.

Developers and city leaders broke ground on the site in September 2012, though construction came after years of legal wrangling.

Concerns that the building’s size and scope would not fit in with the neighborhood character—and an argument that it was inconsistent with the city’s master plan—led to a lawsuit by a group of Rockville residents.

In January 2012, the Maryland Court of Special Appeals affirmed an October 2010 decision by the Montgomery County Circuit Court that upheld the city's zoning exception for the project.

The city argued that the exception was warranted because of the need for affordable housing.

Older residents make up a greater proportion of the city’s population, going from 6 percent in 1980, to 12 percent in 2010, according to city records.

Also, the poverty rate among Rockville residents 65 and older is 6 percent, higher that the city’s rate of 4 percent.