234 Florida Ave NW- 1/2 occupied

So there is a commercial property that a landlord is holding on to and seems to have little interest in actually having a commercial tenant. That place is 234 Florida Ave NW, in Truxton Circle. I've reviewed it before, and today I'm taking it off the list, even though there still isn't a tenant in the commercial space.

Why?

Kitty in the upstairs window.

Across the street from 234 FL Ave on 3rd St NW is a lovely establishment called ANXO. It was a warm day, and I was in the mood to sit out on the patio with my infant. While I was there I observed the landlord with a gentleman. They may have just reviewed the space. Then my eyes gazed upward to the upstairs, where there was a black and white cat doing what cats do. That looks occupied enough for me.

As far as I know he could be Airbnb'ing the place as a unique space, with cat. I've seen that kind of ad when we were staying in San Francisco. We could have stayed at this gal's Mission District studio apartment but we'd have to take care of her cats during our stay. I support Airbnb, I've used that platform as a guest and as a host, but mainly as a guest.

However, I digress.

It is unclear to me how the vacant thing works with commercial properties. And even more unclear as to how occupied a building needs to be. I'll have to stay beyond Happy Hour to see if the lights come on and there is more than a cat living upstairs.

1530 3rd St NW on BACA agenda for zoning variance

On TONIGHT (11/7/16)

At the Bates Area Civic Associating meeting tonight there is an agenda item regarding this vacant property.
As of this time there is no rear on the back of this property. That is due to the developers. Several years ago there was a fire in the house and it became vacant. Then the bank sat on it. Then last year it sold to a developer. Before that sale I'm sure there was a rear wall.

I have no idea what the developer is asking for.

It might be a reasonable request to modernize something that was a problem.

It might be something stupid and ugly or something that will hurt current and future neighbors.

Won't know until the meeting.

Why no Vacant Sticker for 234 Florida Avenue NW?

First, I do not mean to pick on Mr. Behzad Hosseinkhan. I say this because I have criticized him before regarding another property (1721 4th St NW) when I was doing the Inshaw.com/blog blog. He seems to be a nice enough person.... So I feel sorta bad, but not bad enough to make an observation.
His property at 234 Florida Avenue has sat vacant long enough without paying the vacant tax rate. Don't let the sign outside fool you, in practice, it is not available. Back in 2012 two ladies thought of opening a wine bar at this location and they were to call it Snitcheye. But they were having difficulties with the owner, and the deal fell through. Word was the owner (I guess Mr. Hosseinkhani) was difficult. Residents were sad. We were sad because we wanted a wine bar and not have to cross Florida Avenue.
Okay fast forward to 2014 or accurately, 2015. A couple of people, mainly a brother and sister team and their gang of foodie friends (who already had a restaurant on H St NE) feasted their eyes upon the corner of 3rd and Florida. First they approached the owner of 234 FL Ave. That fell through, then they decided that the crumbly disaster of a building across the street at 300 Florida Avenue was a much better deal. The rumor with this was he wanted too much money for the space.
And lastly, I walked by a space on North Capitol where I knew the upper apartment space was occasionally occupied and the lower space was dealing with some ABRA/ permitting limbo issues, and it was slapped with one of those pretty yellow vacant stickers. So why not do the same with 234 Florida?
Okay the particulars. The owner used to live or still lives in DC, has owned the property for a while and the tax bill goes to a P.O. Box in 20009. PIVs says there are three permits associated with this address. The first one was issued in 2010 to repair windows and brick walls. The second in 2013 to make adjustments and dig out the basement. And the last one was a year later in 2014 for plumbing and gas.
To my knowledge nothing has been in that location since my residence in the Truxton Circle neighborhood. So let's say a little less than 15 years. It's been vacant long enough.

Update: 1530 3rd St NW

Still vacant but it has been sold.

According to Redfin, it was sold on January 15th for $257K.

1530 3rd St NW- still vacant

1530 3rd St NW has been vacant with plywood in the windows for some time. It has been owned by John K Jones since 2003 who lists his address as 1530 3rd St NW.
From 2011-2013 the property was taxed at a higher rate, possibly the vacant and blighted rate since the taxes ranged from $14K to $30K. It was also taxed $33,839.00 in 2009, for all other years between 2005 and 2010 less than $3,000 was owed for those tax years. For the first half of 2014, this year, the property is being taxed at the lower residential rate, not the vacant rate.
Checking DCRA's PIV, the last permit issued was back in 2006. Under "Residential Cases" it appears that it was checked 2/19/2014 and found to be vacant (ID # SVP1400061). But there is a line "Compliance/Housing/Open and Accessible" and "Abated" for 2/6/2014. There doesn't seem to be any logical reason why this is not being taxed at the vacant rate.
John Jones is a very common name, but with the middle initial I looked up the name in the Social Security Death Index. A John K. Jones whose last known residence was Washington, DC 20001, SS#***-52-6003, died September 14, 2004. I gather a bank is paying the taxes. If so the bank, the estate, whomever, is better off selling the shell to a developer.

Extra- Previous blog posts about 1530 3rd St NW
1530 3rd St NW-After the Fire
1530 3rd St NW- Work being done

1530 3rd St NW - Work being done

Just an update. I passed by 1530 3rd St NW. I have noticed work is being done. There appears to be a permit on the door. Thing is, DCRA's PIVS has no permits listed for this year and the owner is still dead. But for a dead guy he's throwing up framing pretty quickly.
Since we're in a hot-hot prosecco-bubbly real estate market I predict that this will sell quickly for an ungodly amount of money regardless if the right permits or any inspections occur.

1530 3rd St NW- After the Fire

Crossposted with InShaw Blog.
My own memory of 1530 3rd St NW is that there was a house fire, and the story I had heard was that the woman who lived there was out for Bible Study and came home to find it ablaze. I also heard she was a hoarder, which may or may not have been true but that was the story I heard at that time. The fire was on April 9, 2008 according to DCFire. They have pictures of the fire, where you can see the top floor aflame. DC Fire also says that there was a report of people being trapped, they don't say if that report was confirmed, just that there were no injuries.
I also thought a bank took control of the property. But like another property I know of, where the bank has taken physical control but hasn't bothered to tell the city, this remains in the old owner's name. It is in the name of John K. Jones, a name common enough I'm not going to bother trying to hunt down, and the owner's mailing address is 1530 3rd St NW. Not only vacant but abandoned. However, somebody has been paying the taxes. There were big tens of thousands sized tax bills for 2009, 2011 and 2012. The Tax Assessment database shows information about the taxes and also that in 2012 there was a water and sewer lein placed on the property. This appears to be an off year where the house get's charged at the normal non-blighted rate. DCRA's PIVS system doesn't show any permits for the house since the fire. There have been 2 BCIB inspections, one being last year, and is on the Vacant and Blighted list.
It has been about 5 years since the fire, this property needs to be sold so a developer could put it to good use. There is a lot of square footage in the building and it is very tall, the shell should be worth a lot.