Two more off the list

I want to get rid of properties on the list no longer vacant so here are two more:
1006 M St NW, was featured here back in 2007. It was in the process of becoming something else, but it was vacant. Now it is 4 units, two are at least owner occupied.
1225 10th St NW is also occupied receiving the homestead deduction. It was last sold in 2011 for $815K.

Bunch of occupied properties that were once vacant

These are all properties reported on the DC Vacant Properties blog that are now all occupied. I just want to take them off the list.

 1227 1st St NW- It was featured on the InShaw blog on December 20, 2007. Where it was reported that an owner acquired the property in 2007 for an unknown amount. Work was done in 2009 resulting in a stop work order or two. This was prior to the current owner who is receiving a homestead deduction, buying the property that same year. There is no record in the DC PIVS of a certificate of occupancy, though it appears occupied enough.

312 P St NW- This was also featured on the the InShaw blog in 2008 with the title "Crap House 1/2 Off". There was some minor drama about a private lender dying and the work couldn't be completed, blah, blah, blah. There were several permits issued for work late 2009 and in 2010, about the time when the current owner bought the property. It looks occupied.

219 P St NW- Is from a December 15th 2007 InShaw post. It was a mess, broken windows, and plywood doors. Now it is a occupied two unit residence. I guessed that from the young lady on the stairs on the phone. It was a nice evening to be out. When the 12/17/07 post was written the first permit was only a few months old, followed by a second permit for electrical work. There is no occupancy permit, not a big deal for the other P St house (which doesn't have one per PIVS) and the 1st St property, 'cause when it is your house and you're living in it forget the CofO dammit. But these are two units, rental units I gather from the owner living in Dun Loring. Just a little thing the owner may want to fix, this being a super tenant friendly (landlord hostile) city and all.

226 N St NW- The Mt. Vernon Square Neighborhood Association post for this is no longer, but it's 7/11/2008 title was "Hole for Sale." It is occupied. The permits are interesting. There are a few for 2003-2005, then three for February 2010. If I were to guess, work was done between 2003-2005, then undone afterwards, leaving a hole in the ground in 2008, work was done creating a new building in 2010, then sold as 2 condos in 2011. There is an old post on Greater Greater Washington with a before picture of 226 N St, showing it as a vacant lot surrounded by jersey walls.

508 M St NW- Occupied but odd tax thing

There was a lot of back and forth on the 3D MPD listserv back in September 2007 about a shooting that had occurred near 508 M St NW. There is a photo of a bullet hole that pierced a window at the address.
Looking at the DC PIVS, the building was at one time condemned and had been vacant up until 2011. Between 2009-2011 there were permits issued. The DC Tax database for the address looks, weird. The entry for 0482 0071, 508 M St NW is in the name of International Group LLC, the owners mentioned back in 2007. They have not paid any taxes since 2009, but have been credited after that and currently have a negative balance. Maybe the unit was broken up into condos? It is several units as there are a few different electrical meters. however a look at the block reveals, no other 508 M Streets NW unit anything.
This is the DC Vacant Properties blog, not the DC Property Tax Watchdog blog, so the only thing I'm going to say is this is occupied.

438 N St NW- occupied

The old link for 438 N St is no longer active. Walking by 438 N St NW, the place looks fine.
The property was last sold 2013 to an owner claiming the homestead deduction. According to the DC PIVS permits were issued in 2010 and 2011 for work done, which I'll gather was the work that took the property from vacant to occupied.
So moving on, nothing to see here folks.

1256 New Jersey Avenue NW- Occupied

This is just a quickie post. Back on June 20, 2008 this building was a vacant building according to a page that is no longer on the MVSNA.org site. I can't find the address on the DC tax website, but since it is occupied, it's not a biggie.
The property photographed was once an empty building, but not for very long. I have memories of seeing a guy come out from this building's vicinity to beat up another guy with a 2x4 in front of the firehouse across the street. I called 911, because I remember telling a dispatcher that a housing police cruiser showed up to break up the fight. Somewhere there is a fuzzy picture of this.
The building has gotten upscale since this event. 

1417 5th St NW- occupied

Back in 2007 blogger DaddyFiveOh posted "Buy Me", a look at the shell that was 1417 5th St NW.  It had been one of many problem properties in the area, but now it is occupied.
According to the DC Tax website, the property was bought in November 2007, by someone who lists an address several doors down. In early 2007 the house was on the market, as a shell, and it appears that there was a complete renovation. Looking at the old photo taken by DaddyFiveOh, the job done to bring the house back looks amazing.

420 Warner St NW- Occupied

The list to the right of vacant properties is a little out dated. Some problem and vacant properties are now occupied and part of the positive neighborhood fabric. In 2007, back when the ANC Kevin Chappel had a website, one of the October posts was titled "Vacant and nuisance property on Warner". I can only gather that 420 Warner was once that vacant property.
It isn't vacant any longer. It was most recently sold a few years ago to its current owner and resident.

9th and Q- no vacancy

This image is a chestnut from 2008, showcasing guerrilla citizenry or guerrilla government. Ray, an oldtimer who lives near the intersection of 9th and Q, is credited with painting this abandoned. Not just slapping a random coat of paint on, no, he painted on the wishes and dreams of the neighborhood. A wish for a nice cafe, with chairs and a white table cloth and maybe Starbucks like coffee being served would appear where a rotting corpse of a building sits. If you can read French, which I can't, there is some humor in the words painted.
Well fast forward to today and there is no cafe but rather nice looking residence. On the list on right there was a link to a now defunct blog Off Seventh about the problem area that was the intersection of Q and 9th Streets NW.
Around the mid-00's this area was an intersection of vacancy. Even across the street, opposite of 821 Q NW, was a hole of despair. Ray or some others called it "Lake Woodson", as it would fill up with rainwater. It was not a pretty sight, but if you want to see what it looked like visit https://flic.kr/p/8GNn4 and https://flic.kr/p/7xiSW . Now that former hole in the ground is a residential building with a couple of units, as seen in the image below.


The area has gentrified and there are still vacant holes along 9th Street needing to be filled, which displaces nobody, unless you count homeless squatters and rats. Just around the corner are vacant and possibly vacant properties, those I will deal with next week.

1314 and 1316 9th St NW- No Vacancy

Yesterday I wrote about what a great location 1316 8th St NW was, being steps from really cool places, such as a bar. Former vacant spots featured here were 1316 9th St NW and 1314 9th St NW over at Renew Shaw. My predecessor Ed described 1316 as such in 2008:

This former barbershop was bought by a developer on 09/13/2007 for $300,000. The developer's presentation at the ANC2f meeting on 1/9/2008 was very encouraging and I wish them luck.

It should be noted that the building is in horrible condition due to the negligence of the previous owners and the city government's inaction. Remarkably, it is not listed as vacant by OTR or DCRA. The current owner is entitled to an exemption though.  

Renew Shaw wrote of 1314 in 2007, "Between be bar and Long View Gallery and adjacent to an alley of Naylor Court, it seems to sit a prime lower 9th location. Sadly, it appears to be falling into disrepair and largely vacant."
Today 1314 is the A& D bar and 1316 is the Thally Restaurant. In between them at 1314 1/2 is the innovative Seasonal Pantry. And around the corner and in the alley, in possibly the same building as A&D is Sundevich. All of these commercial enterprises make this area a concentrated spot of foodie heaven.
A&D Neighborhood Bar opened in 2012 on Repeal Day. I, myself have been in once. It's a Shaw bar with pretty decent Yelp reviews. I'm sure everyone is happy it is open and a viable business.
Around the alley is Sundevich. It is a fancy sandwich shop. The sandwiches are fancy, not the shop, which can get crowded. It opened in 2011.
At 1314 1/4 is Seasonal Pantry, which is part special foods store part supper club and the minds behind this shop brought forth Sundevich. This also opened around 2011, but was engaging in a CSA like business before that. The Supper club is quite popular and seating is VERY limited. Looking at April's supper club availability, there is only one seat available. It is very popular.
1316 9th St NW is a regular sit down restaurant with wait service. Thally opened in 2013 and got decent reviews. I've eaten there once, and had an enjoyable meal once the waitress acknowledged our existence. It does get a bit loud once the crowd comes, but it is the same with other new restaurants that have come along 9th St (Table/ Baby Wale).
Back in 2007-2008 none of us could have imagined what a wonderful tasty corner this has become. Life has been shot back into a section of 9th St NW. It is more attractive and makes the neighborhood more desirable. So with that I remove 1314 and 1316 9th St NW from the list on the right of vacant properties.

1209 4th St NW -not vacant

I was very happy to see that I can take a property off the vacant list with a nice "Under Contract" sign in front of 1209 4th St NW.
The Mount Vernon Square Neighborhood Association once had a 2008 posting about this property titled "1209 4th Going Down". Don't know what that was about. But the street has seen some new properties popping up since 2008.
It appears that 1209 are two condos and according to the DC Office of Tax and Revenue page, they were last sold in 2013 for well over 1/2 a mill each. And according to my very quick calculations collected about $4575 in property taxes from this plot of dirt in 2013 and received $4362 so far for the 1st half of 2014. With at least one resident I can guess the DC government is also getting income taxes.

Follow-up: 1002 M St NW

This blog was started sometime back in 2007 by Ed. I inherited it in 2010 and so far have done very little since then. There are some links and posts regarding some properties that were blights and eyesores at one point in history, that are now a part of the fabric of the neighborhood. In the right column there are addresses that I'll take a quick look-see to discover if those properties have joined the ranks of the normal properties or remain blights of the street.

Today I looked at 1002 M St., NW. It was featured by Ed May 23, 2007. It was a Class 3 then later Class 1, vacant property in 2007. Today it is a set of 4 condo units with 3 of those owners receiving the homestead deduction. What this means is this former vacant property has become a home to about four households, who in addition to paying property tax add to the income tax rolls as well.

According to Redfin, the first unit was listed in July and sold in August 2012 for $529,999. Looking at the other units, they were sold either in July or September in 2012 between $449.9K and $630K. The building was converted to condos in 2011, which I'll guess the building was renovated in 2011-2012 and made available for sale.

This is what I hope can happen to many units featured here. That the vacant rate taxes or other incentives will get owners of vacant properties get inspired to make them occupied dwellings once again. So with this I remove "1002 M St, NW" from the column and add the tag 'occupied' to this address.