916 H Street when it held a pop-up gallery for Mumbo Sauce
The harm-reduction based non-profit HIPS has held many fundraisers along H Street over the years, so it comes as no surprise that they would choose to relocate over our way. They just signed a five year $120,000 (annually) lease for 906 H Street. One notable thing about 906 H Street is that it was actually acquired in 2013 using money crowdfunded by 355 individual investors under Fundrise.
Here's some information about HIPS from their website:
HIPS promotes the health, rights, and dignity of individuals and communities impacted by sexual exchange and/or drug use due to choice, coercion, or circumstance. HIPS provides compassionate harm reduction services, advocacy, and community engagement that is respectful, non-judgmental, and affirms and honors individual power and agency.
We believe that those engaged in sex work, sex trade, and drug use should be able to live healthy, self-determined, and self-sufficient lives free from stigma, violence, criminalization or oppression. We will achieve this through engaging sex workers, drug users and our communities in challenging structural barriers to health, safety, and prosperity.
Here is more on 906 H Street and the lease (from a Fundrise press release):
The acquisition of 906 H Street NE was publicly crowdfunded through Fundrise in 2013 by 355 individual investors from Washington, DC and Virginia who invested anywhere from $100 to $10,000. They are projected to receive a 7 percent gross annual return on their seven-year equity investment.
“WestMill’s rental agreement with HIPS demonstrates the positive effect crowdfunding can have on a project. The tenant became interested in the property after speaking with members of the local community who had invested in the offering,” explained Ben Miller, Co-Founder and CEO of Fundrise and Managing Partner of WestMill Capital.
26 comments:
Any news on how they plan to use the space?
brothel
I heard they are going to turn it into a gluten-free pop-up Porkpie Hat and Unnecessary Bicycle Lighting shop, with locally-sourced Mexican-style vegetarian taco ramen and artisan home-brined pickle pizzas produced by a 100-year old Guatemalan woman who is a civil rights activist and political blogger in her home country. They will employ only the recently-released from prison, will maintain a no-kill cat shelter in the basement, and on the side will provide ironic facial hair counseling and provide affordable housing for qualified artists as well as those gentrified out of their homes.
All proceeds will go to fund a meth lab and under-counter bong shop at their liquor store elsewhere in Trinidad.
10k a month? That's absurd. I assume fundrise is then fronting the renovations?
Agreed that it seems like 10k/month is a crazy amount for a non-profit to pay. I wonder what they are paying for their current space on Rhode Island Ave., and what the incentive is to relocate to a "hot" commercial corridor.
this is one way to clean up drug use in our neighborhood.
it adds more diverse use of space on the corridor. hopefully other non profits will follow, but that is some expensive rent.
Are their clients really the sort of population this neighborhood should welcome? I thought H Street was on it's way. Guess not.
10:13,
I believe it's going to be their new headquarters.
Glad to see HIPS coming to the neighborhood! I've always respected their work and approach. And their "client population" deserve consideration and respect just like any other people.
11:31,
I realize that number sounds big, but the space is big. It's 6,510sqft. That's actually a good deal on rent when you look at what places go for on H St.
Anon 11:35 here...
I get that it's a big building, but it would seem to me (and I am admittedly ill-informed on how non-profits work), that one would want to maximize value. So while the space is big, it's also in a "hot" area where rents are going to be higher than they would be otherwise.
Is there a logistical reason for relocating to H St. NE? Does the potentially increased visibility of having a storefront in an area with mainly bars and restaurants help them in some way?
11:57,
That population is already around here. Plus, a lot of HIPS outreach is done via vans that can drive anywhere.
Yes, $18 and some change a sq ft is below "market value." But, what is market value for H ST? Right now, we still have a lot of blighted and vacant space for rent at $30.00-35.00 a sq foot on average. The market is speaking that the $30 is inflated...So I wonder if $20 is on point.
How can you respect their client population when they leave their underwear, used condoms and empty lube containers etc all over our neighborhood?
It's disgusting, against the law and after they saw me on the phone calling the cops they vandalized my home.
2:35,
While I'm sure a ton of aspiring business owners would love for the going rent to be $20, it's generally more like $35-45/sqft on HStNE.
Any way we can put a stop this? This is depressing news for families with children. Do we really need a place that services prostitutes and drug users? Hopefully their tenure on H street will be short lived. Alternatively, perhaps they'll just use the space for admin purposes while providing services elsewhere. I mean, we just got rid of the Family Liquor cancer, we don't need a another one.
3:45,
I would encourage you to learn a bit more about HIPS before you make up your mind. I think a quick look a the programs link on their website would answer some questions/concerns you might have. This isn't a new organization, and I don't think you need to worry about them causing disruption. Their outreach stuff is (as I wrote above) done out of a van. It's also done overnight. I think much of their daytime stuff is training, education, dealing with District agencies/policies, and manning a help/information hotline.
I also want to point out that some families with children may use the the services provided by HIPS. Minimizing the harms HIPS works to reduce is to EVERYBODY's advantage.
Unnecessary Bicycle Lighting please!
If you have prostitutes working near your home, a light placed in the right place will prevent that.
Inked you never fail to crack me up. Sure I'll walk over to my neighbors and tell them to send their child prostitutes on over to hips for some treatment. Huh?
I wouldn't have as much of a problem with these whores if I ever saw one that was good looking but, as it stands, they are gross.
8:01,
I assume you are joking about the prostitutes, but these guys really do perform an important public health service.
Let's just hope they don't try to compete with the Belgian prostitutes, eh?
http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=e72_1413076983
Shaking my head at Anonymous 3:45:00 PM. Oh no, not an organization that is trying to LOWER incidences and make people safer. Sorry you don't want poor people around you who sometimes have to resort to things like prostitution to survive Maybe you should move yourself and your children out to the suburbs.
the liveleak link about the belgian prostitute
links to a nord press story that seems to
be bad satire.
really bad comedy.
I wrote better stuff when i was 14.
no it was a 15-year-old French prostitute named Chloé with webbed feet
Maybe you should move yourself and your children out to the suburbs.
Or better yet, vote for candidates who will continue the current trend of devoting fewer city resources to consolidating as many of the regional poor in DC as possible.
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