As some longtime readers may have noticed, I like to take photos of this building. I have at least 14 of them, which is kind of a lot for a random vacant building. FYI, this is at the corner of Morse and Montello. Though the building has changed since I first bought my house almost seven years ago, it has always been vacant and, um, "for sale."
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UPDATE
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And kudos to Matthew for digging up these cool old photos of the store.
Feb 2010
March 2006
January 2006
January 2006
January 2006
October 2005
July 2005
July 2005
March 2005
12 comments:
What's the history of the building? Was it a home? It doesn't quite look like one, but it doesn't quite look like a shop either.
The opening on Montello leads me to believe it was a shop at one time. It's been vacant a very long time. I've heard that it is/was owned by a doctor at Howard who lives in the suburbs, but that is just a rumor. I do know that it is consistently listed at prices that indicate to me that the owner does not really want to sell. The building has an odd footprint, so I expect that it might be a teardown at some point in the future. You can see from the old pipes in the back that there was once a structure out there as well. It is, unsurprisingly, a shell (I've seen the inside). A couple of years back it got a new roof, and was repointed. It isn't a bad building. Obviously I kind of like it.
maybe we can buy it and convert it to condos! LOL
the tropics has a nice ring to it :-)
This store was once owned by Harry Jaffe. Here is the link in the JHSGW database http://www.jhsgw.org/exhibitions/online/momandpop/database/store.php?id=358 Sheldon Cohen (who is the baby in the photo) was the IRS commissioner under LBJ and lives in Maryland.
Is it on DCRA's vacant property list? If not, you should report it.
That property has actually been reported several times, and DCRA has also had to show up to resecure the place.
If it is not listed as vacant someone should report it again. Unfortunately there is no "vacant property tax rate" under current law as the Council unthinkingly did away with the rate recently. There are some efforts to reinstate the incentives for occupying vacant properties, but to the best of my knowlege Councilmember Thomas has not joined those efforts or proposed his own more serious ones despite the fact that Ward 5 has a high number of them. The new law applies the vacant rate only to "blighted properties." Unfortunately, very few (think less than 10%) of properties that were previously considered vacant (and taxed accordingly) have been labelled blighted, which means they are escaping without the higher tax rate under the current messed up state of that law. Nonetheless, someone should get it classified as vacant, ask DCRA to consider whether it is blighted (boarded up windows are a factor, past DCRA repairs would count too), and folks should also tell Harry Thomas that they want to see incentives to inhabit vacant properties put back into place. The targetting of "blighted properties" has proved to be a joke and Council needs to do something about it. There was a hearing recently on a bill from Councilmember Bowser to that effect, but that bills incentives look weak and need to be strengthened.
This confirms it. Inked is a shitty photographer
Since inked is working with such a "shitty" subject matter, I think the pics are fine.
The former higher tax rates forced many developers or other people sitting on vacant properties to do something with them. It was a good process and one guy in the Cap Hill NE neighborhood association did a lot of work to get a lot of vacant properties in that neighborhood on the list. He may be able to help you get the property listed. I forgot his name, but any of the reps there will know who he is.
Our neighborhoods won't turn around fully until we put people in these homes. As of now, you have an eyesore, rat haven, or, possibly worse, a place where criminal activity may take place where a home should be.
Those old JHSGW images are fantastic! And be a sport... inked's images aren't bad. January '06 are particular favorites.
I was kind of assuming that 10:57 was just making a joke about my shots all being of the building when it was vacant, whereas it looked much better in 1928.
I hope we haven't gotten that mean.
I just checked the real estate assessment and it is being taxed as residential. The tax office and the DCRA don't talk. The tax office needs to be contacted about this property.
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