Let's believe it when we see it, hey? (Lydia DePillis)

Could the third time be the charm for Brian Brown?

The NextGen construction executive has been after the firehouse on North Capitol street and Quincy since 2003, submitting an unsolicited proposal before the city was even ready to dispose of the property. The District awarded him the building in 2006, and the future looked bright: Café Saint-Ex owner Mike Benson was to turn it into a brick-oven pizzeria in partnership with XM radio. Alas, Benson pulled out, saying the anticipated cost had doubled.

Two years later, Brown secured another tenant: Twyla Garrett of Cleveland-based Garrett Entertainment Corp., who planned a sleek bar called 2020 Martini, with a Mocha Fusion Coffee Lounge on the top floor. But her investment partner had been Lehman Brothers, and the restaurant concept died with the firm. In the mean time, Brown has spent tens of thousands of dollars of taxes on the building, which still lies vacant and boarded up.

Now, finally, Brown says he has another live one. A new tenant has signed a lease, subject to financing, and plans a sit-down Asian and Indian tapas restaurant called EC12—at 10,000 square feet and over 300 seating capacity, it’ll be the biggest place for miles. He’s optimistic that his bank will sign off, but considering the disappointments he’s has already, there’s no certainty in anything. Even the frustration of a community that’s been waiting for years to see the place developed counts for nothing when it comes to getting a loan.

“In the boom times it did,” Brown tells Housing Complex. “Right now, it's just straight economics. They don't care what your network is.”

Meanwhile, ever since the news of the lease leaked out on a neighborhood listserv, Brown says he’s been getting calls from politicians wanting to position themselves in the middle of EC12’s eventual opening. (Witness Sala Thai, the mini-chain in Petworth that brought out Mayor Adrian Fenty and Councilmembers Jim Graham and Muriel Bowser).

Who’s been calling?

“Everybody. Anybody who's running right now,” Brown says. “Everybody wants to be part of it, because if it's successful, they want to be part of that success.”

Yesterday, on my way back from Big Chair Coffee 'n Grill, I stopped by Eckington to check out construction on the St. Martin's Apartments, which I reported on last year (two years ago! This 2010 thing hasn't sunk in yet.)

Certain neighbors tried to block the project—an affordable housing complex with 178 units at my last count—by claiming the convent on the hill was too historically significant to destroy and that the project plans should be altered (diminishing density and poor people).

Developer Catholic Charities found a compromise: Keep the density and keep the number of tenants (roughly) and keep the convent—just move it down the hill and incorporate it into the overall building. Here's what they've created (pictures below):

When I reported the story in Dec. 2008, construction crews expected the project to be completed by the end of 2010.

Top photo by Darrow Montgomery. Other photos by Ruth Samuelson.

Adrian M. Fenty is the closest D.C. has ever come to an imperial mayor. He refuses to answer questions about various business and personal trips. He hogs baseball tickets. He snaps his fingers and people get fired.

On April 23, the mayor appeared to be at it again. On a walk-through of Eckington, Fenty fixated on a “once beautiful, but very dangerous Victorian house,” as described in an e-mail from Alice Thompson, the mayor’s outreach coordinator for Ward 5.

The home at 1811 3rd St. NE was a dilapidated gray house with a spacious front porch, a sizable lawn, and a serious problem with squatters. According to the e-mail, it was “by far the worst property he had seen.”

And so the mayor acted. “He told [Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs] to have it razed immediately,” she wrote in the note, sent to a Ward 5 Listserv and Sarah Latterner, director of community relations and services in the mayor’s office.

Roughly two weeks later, on May 6, that’s exactly what happened. The building was scheduled for demolition. Even in the ever-more-efficient District of Columbia, that’s epic turnaround.

So is this just another Fenty power move?

Nah. What Thompson failed to mention in her adulating note was that the Board of Condemnation and Insanitary Buildings had already ordered the building condemned and razed a long time ago. Not earlier that month. Not earlier this year. Not even the year before. In late 2006.

“It was brought to the board in August 2005,” says Mike Rupert, spokesperson for the DCRA. It was condemned by the following October. The city then took a variety of ultimately unsuccessful steps to force the owners to improve their property. Roughly a year later, on Nov. 15, 2006, 1811 3rd St. was ordered demolished.

“It should have been razed a long time ago, but for one reason or another, it wasn’t,” says Rupert.

Not surprisingly, there are violations going back to at least 2005—as far back as Rupert could see on his computer—for trash and debris, for lack of maintenance, and for the building being “open and accessible.”

A lien is on the property, which was purchased in 2004 by “NEXUS 1811 LLC,” which is registered by Joy Fulgham and Greshaun Fulgham, according to Rupert. Now, if the two want to sell the land, they’ll have to pay for the cost of demolition, Rupert confirmed, even though “essentially, [the city] could have gone back out there and razed it any time in the past two years.”

This piece has been edited since its original publishing. It will appear in this week’s newspaper.

I noticed this puzzling e-mail on a listserv this morning:

Subject: [MPD-5D] Mayor Fenty's has ordered the razing of the Property at 1811 3rd St NE — Wednesday, May 6th 9:00AM

Good Morning All,
Last Thursday, April 23rd, Mayor Fenty conducted a Walk-Thru in the Eckington community. Comm Wright had great concerns about a once beautiful, but very dangerous Victorian house. Mayor Fenty stated 'this is by far the worst property he had seen'.  He told DCRA to have it razed immediately. Upon inspection, Chief Groomes determined this property was inhabited by squatters. Thank you Comm. Wright, and Michael Clark, for your determination.  This property will be razed today. Thank you DCRA and DHCE for the tough job of tearing it down!

Best,
Alice [Thompson, Ward 5 outreach coordinator for the Mayor]

What?

So, the mayor just gets to point and say "Tear it down!" and his wish will be fulfilled? I'm sure there is a larger explanation for this e-mail; But at first glance, it is very odd.

Eckingtonians, speak up! Does anyone know what's going on here? I thought—just a wild guess—that building inspectors or structural engineers determined whether homes should be demolished? This note makes it seem that the mayor made the final call. I just left a message for Alice Thompson, asking her to call me back and explain this situation.

But already there is one local resident sounding the alarm about this tear-down:

Dear all -
I'm an active historic preservationist in the Eckington neighborhood and am VERY dissapointed in the way this city handles distressed properties like this one. This raze could have been avoided if the negligent property owners, in this case a now defunct developer based in Maryland, was taken to task by DCRA for demolition by neglect. This, the Granville Lewis home, is one of many cases, including the demolition of the Jesse Baltimore house in Palasades where DCRA and the city council have fallen down completely on preserving our rich architectural heritage SHAME, SHAME, SHAME!
I expect more from my government than this. I wouldn't proudly tear down what could have been restored. Now it'll be a hole in the ground serving no purpose for years and years. If you want to remove squatters and blight – turn up the heat on the negligent property owners or use imminent domain and transfer the properties to developers who see the potential for such structures. Too bad there are more and more instances like this one. I'm an active voter and will keep this incident in mind when selecting future leaders of this city. Can't we be more creative in providing solutions besides tearing things down?
Best regards,
Steve Rynecki [who I quoted in this Eckington article by the way.]

Photo by Darrow Montgomery

Housing Complex has covered such topics as fear and anxiety over affordable housing to joy over the latest neighborhood speed bump. One article featured a man that evoked the KKK when talking about new, white, upwardly mobile residents in the area. Another piece bemoaned the possibility of more cheap chicken joints.

The area's going through growing pains. At the McMillan meeting last week, even Councilmember Harry Thomas Jr. referred to oldies and newbies—with that phrasing exactly, if I'm remembering correctly.

But a group of civic leaders is trying to fix the divide with technology by installing a free wireless system in their area. The group includes Ted McGinn of the Eckington Civic Association, and ANC commissioners John Salatti and Stu Davenport (who is also the owner of Big Bear Cafe.)

I talked to Salatti the other day about the idea, which would hopefully allow residents to better communicate with each other.

"We can't erase all of the things that separate us. That's at least something that can help tie the neighborhood together," he said.

He said the system would have signals in spots across the area, though it would certainly be unrolled slowly. "The ultimate spread" would cover areas including New York Ave., the McMillan Sand Filtration site, LeDroit, McKinely Technology High School, maybe all the way to the XM building in NoMa.

His group would need to coordinate agreements with property owners around the area to set up signals. Organizers would also try to get old computers donated to people in the area that didn't have them already. Naturally, this entire project is still very much in the planning phase.

Image by Wackystuff, Flickr Creative Commons

The project went on.

The building's move occurred in a two-part process. The final downhill slide happened last Thursday and Friday, I'm told. So cheers to my good timing.

The structure now sits at its final destination: The corner of T Street and Summit Place N.E.

Memories of the good 'ole days...

In early December, I wrote about St. Martin's Convent, which ignited a preservation battle in Eckington. When I visited the structure, the basement was still being dug up. But thanks to a link from project superintendent Michael Blalock, I'm happy to post an update-in-images above.

Also, Eckington had its moment in the Washington Post sun this weekend. The author glowingly wrote about Eckington's residents as "a mix of young professionals, government workers, artists and young families who want to live in the city and avoid commuting an hour," who were drawn to the nieghborhood by the "diverse, friendly community."

(Um, tell that to the people who moved a few years ago because they were so upset by the new development at the convent's old site—not to mention being compared to KKK members.)

I also particularly enjoyed this quote: "The thing about rowhouses—you have to meet your neighbors." Rowhouses! How unique! Please elaborate on that uncommon D.C. living environment.