D.C. Moves To Buy Georgia Avenue Properties After NDC Foreclosure
The D.C. government is preparing to acquire and redevelop a row of commercial properties on Georgia Avenue that went into foreclosure after Neighborhood Development Co. shut down.
Mayor Muriel Bowser proposed emergency legislation that the D.C. Council passed last week to acquire the six lots directly to the north of the city's Engine Co. 22 fire station.
The properties are expected to cost $2.8M to acquire, and the city would use its Contingency Cash Reserve Fund for the purchase, D.C. Chief Financial Officer Glen Lee wrote in a memo accompanying the bill. The bill was first reported by The 51st's Martin Austermuhle on social media platform X.
The low-rise buildings' tenants include Papa Johns Pizza, Simple Bar and Grill, an Ethiopian restaurant and a mattress store, and the strip includes an undeveloped lot operated by a used car business.
The properties have mixed-use zoning that allows for 119K SF of development, and Bowser said the District should ensure they are put to "an economically advantageous purpose."
"It is in the best interest of the redevelopment of these properties for the District to acquire them and ensure a cohesive development process," Bowser wrote in a letter to the council.
The mayor added that these properties are especially important to the District because they are adjacent to the fire station, which D.C. spent $12M to build in 2017. Directly to the north of the properties sits Soapstone Apartments, a new 49-unit multifamily project from Petra Development.
While the bill to acquire the properties received unanimous support from the council, two lawmakers voiced concern about the lack of engagement from the Bowser administration prior to proposing the emergency legislation.
Ward 4 Council Member Janeese Lewis George, whose jurisdiction includes the properties, said she supports the city's revitalization efforts on Georgia Avenue but is worried about what it will mean for small businesses like Simple Bar and Grill, which she described as a neighborhood hub where people sing karaoke.
"When we found out about this we were excited, but we also felt we didn’t have enough time to talk about what this would mean," she said at a June 17 council meeting. "There are several small businesses that are located in the current location that have leases ... these are local small business owners who are part of the community."
Neighborhood Development Co. acquired the properties in 2015 for almost $1.9M, deed records show. It obtained a $1.4M loan from Bank of Georgetown, which was later acquired by United Bank.
United Bank filed to foreclose on the properties in March, stating that NDC had a $1.1M remaining balance on the loan, records show. A foreclosure auction was scheduled for May 1 with Alex Cooper Auctioneers, but its website says the auction was canceled.
NDC founder Adrian Washington shut down his company in September, citing an "untenable" operating environment. The development firm built more than 1.1M SF of projects over its 25 years in business, including more than 1,900 housing units, and its website said in August it had a pipeline of future development totaling 860K SF.
Washington didn't respond to Bisnow's request for comment on the Georgia Avenue properties. United Bank also didn't respond to a request for comment.
Another former NDC property, the 36-unit Arbor at Takoma, sold last week to a joint venture of July Residential Group and Matador Capital Management for $13M, the Washington Business Journal reported. NDC's lender on that property, Forbright Bank, had taken control of it through a foreclosure auction late last year.
Dantes Partners reached agreements in October to take over a pair of other NDC properties, the Parcel 13 development site at the St. Elizabeths East campus and the 72-unit building at 4100 Georgia Ave. NW.
