Will it ever be Home Again?

Posted By Cary Silverman, 07/15/09 9:04 AM

As I walked by 454 N Street NW this morning, viewing the torn facade that is all that is left of the historic 1900 row house, I wondered what is ever going to become of it. It's been in the "Home Again" program for years, which is supposed to bundle up groups of vacant property owned by the D.C. government and sell them to private developers, who would rehabilitate and place a certain portion of them into affordable home ownership opportunities and others into market rate housing.

At a hearing before Mary Cheh's then-Consumer Affairs Committee on vacant property a few years ago, I testified about properties owned by the Distrist that it has allowed to fall into disrepair and contribute to neighborhood blight. Councilmember Cheh asked me to follow up with the addresses of those properties, one of which was 454 N Street NW. A few weeks later, the D.C. government responded. Not by moving forward with the rehabiliatation or sale of the property, mind you, but by installing a chain link fence on both the front and rear of the property and re-boarding the windows and door. Your D.C. government at work. Fast forward about 2 or so years... nothing has changed.

So I threw the 454 N address in google this morning and found this D.C. government document. It provides the plans for the Home Again program, including which vacant D.C.-government owned properties are bundled up to go to which developer and their status. There are a few in the immediate area of Mount Vernon Square (in bold) and a several others in Shaw and nearby. I believe "pre-development" is a code word for "someday."

Allegre Group LLC, 6856 Eastern Avenue, Suite 286, WDC 20012

454 N Street, NW - Predevelopment

Mi Casa, Inc., 6230 3rd Street NW, WDC 20011, 202-722-7423

1134 6th Street, NW - Sold to Homebuyer

Castle Development, 3040 Stanton Road SE, Suite 101, WDC 20020, 202-610-2032

1031 4th Street, NW – Predevelopment

445 S Street, NW - Under Construction

Manna Inc., 828 Evarts St., NE, WDC 20018, 202-832-1845

460 Ridge St NW - Predevelopment

1713 NJ Ave NW - Predevelopment

475 Florida Ave. NW – Predevelopment

57 Bryant St NW – Predevelopment

Harrison Malone Development LLC, 1327 14th St. NW, Suite 300, WDC 20005, 202-588-1438

307 R ST NW – Under Construction

909 S ST NW - Under Construction

932 S Street NW - Under Construction

920 French Street NW - Under Construction

Case Capitol Corp., 10230 New Hampshire Ave NW, Suite 100, Silver Spring MD 20903, 202-359-3286

4-14 Q St NW - Predevelopment

14-16 Florida Ave NW - Predevelopment

Neighborhood Development Co., 4110 Kansas Avenue NW, WDC 20011

1818 6th Street NW Predevelopment

1915 6th Street NW – Predevelopment

1735 10^th Street, N.W. - Predevelopment

1737 10^th Street, N.W. - Predevelopment

910-912 S Street, NW - Predevelopment

902-904 T Street, NW - Predevelopment

917 T St NW - Predevelopment

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Comments

fwiw, 902-904 T Street is under construction now. The Neighborhood Development Co. website says deliver will be this year.

Posted By shaw rez / At 7/15/09 11:42 AM

I followed up with Manna and found out that they made a bid on a bundle of properties that included 460 Ridge Street NW, but they did not receive it. Seems it still sits in DC hands. Perhaps it is worth asking someone from Home Again to come to a future meeting.

Posted By Cary Silverman / At 7/16/09 2:32 PM

1134 6th street NW was one of the worst burnt out shells in the neighborhood. MiCasa did a great job reconstructing the ornate cornice at the top. It was a featured renovation on the show This Old House.

Posted By Si Kailian / At 7/16/09 2:52 PM

Sad and pathetic that the District's Home Again website does not appear to have been updated since April 2004, reflecting the speed at which the program operates. http://app.dcbiz.dc.gov/services/vacant_housing.shtm

I tried to find out the status of the properties in the Home Again program the old fashioned way -- calling. The phone number provided (202-727-3774) immediately goes to a messaging system that appears to be a wrong number. There's no e-mail contact listed on the website, nor is there even so much as the name of a person to contact. Finally, I found a number for Home Again on a 2006 press release that led to the Department of Housing and Community Development's Property Aquisition Disposition Division (202-478-1355) (try saying that fast!). On the third try, I reached someone. First, I learned from the staff member who answered the phone that "There really isn’t a Home Again program." Interesting. Responsibility for the program now is through the Aquisition Disposition Division. I then briefly spoke with one of the project managers who is going to check into the status of 454 N, 460 Ridge, and 1031 4th. One tidbit he was able to tell me offhand was that althrough 1031 4th was awarded to Castle Development, DC is in the process of taking it back since so much time has gone by without work. Stay tuned for more information on the Home Again properties next week.

Posted By Cary Silverman / At 7/17/09 1:07 PM

hmm i wonder if DC will take back the land they gave to Bible Way for a DOLLAR since they havent done any work to it.

Posted By Si Kailian / At 7/17/09 1:29 PM

For 902-904 T ST NW; We (who live directly across) the property have been working on this one for years -- since 2003 to be exact. First had to get the district to buy the property form the parasite owners for $875k in 2005; then it got rolled up in that joke Home Again and bundled with those other properties -- which still are no going NO WHERE. Home Again did absolutely nothing with them. It then took many complaints directly to our Councilmember who had to introduce "Emergency Legislation" to actually dispose (transfer title) to NDC. From that point NDC has held title since February of 2008 we finally saw some progress about April of this year. The point is; if you don't constantly complain you are looking at a indefinite vacant building. Good luck; you'll absolutely need it. Unfortunately the previous neighbors, ANC commissioners and neighborhood associations did little to help the progress along with this building as it had been vacant for nearly 15 years until us "newcomers" got involved.

Posted By Davester / At 7/20/09 1:14 PM