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A new retail bay window has been installed in one of Shiloh Baptist Church's properties on 9th Street NW.
Renovation work began late last week on the exteriors of several long-vacant properties owned by Shiloh Baptist Church in the 1500 block of 9th Street NW.
Workers could be seen on Friday afternoon and again on Monday installing new windows and frames on the dilapidated structures, which have been the source of contention within the neighborhood for decades.
DCist was the first to report back in July that Shiloh had at last decided to sell two of its properties in order to renovate its remaining vacants. Those two properties, at 1600 8th Street NW and 1543 8th Street NW, are currently for sale by a D.C.-based Long and Foster agent, listed for $450,000 each.
Residents have long complained that the church had reneged on repeated promises to return its properties to some useful purpose, instead allowing them to go to seed, attracting drug users, rodents and trash.
In 2007, six of Shiloh's properties were condemned by the city, forcing the church to perform cursory repairs to bring them up to code.
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Thanks for the update! I drove down 9th St this morning and assumed that workers were painting the buildings to cover up some more graffiti.
not to nitpick....
...scratch that, it's shiloh we're talking about here. heck yeah i'm going to nitpick!
those buildings are in the shaw historic district. i know there are restrictions on windows in historic districts, so i have to questions how they can have that many different "styles" of window on one building. unless it's just an interim look until the work is done (i'll reserve final judgment until then).
noticed the same thing. and reported it to HPO .. chances are everythings fine, but I'll leave that up to them.
Once the Harrison Square properties on 13th were completed, Historic Preservation found that they'd used the wrong kind of windows for a historic district. Rather than replace a couple hundred vinyl windows, they just fined the developer a per window fee.
and EYA had the money to pay. you know shiloh doesn't, and even if they did, they'd plead poverty. fine=notgonnahappen.
But it could affect their status re "clean hands". Also the lien could be converted to a tax assessment.
sure, it could, but it still seems that shiloh is too well politically connected to have anything like that happen to them.
Oh, yea of little faith. They were slapped with condemnation, class 3 tax rates, and are now selling properties. So those connections can't be omnipotent.
Is it me or does $450K seem like a lot for a run down structure in Shaw that will need another $450K in renovations?
nah, there are big houses in nice shape in that area that are worth a million, so i don't think their asking price is too far out there.
450k ain't bad at all considering what 9th street will look like in a few years.
Forget 9th, the O Street market between 7th and 8th will be the big change.
if it ever actually gets moving. i'll believe it when i see it. roadside has been promising the moon for years now.
Just another economic casualty. But all approvals are in- and that took years. It's just wanting the lending markets to come back.
About time, those "proper-ites" have been misbehavin'
At least the Deaf Child next door won't be bothered by the noise.
Nice catch!!
I'm not against churches per se, but the "wall of church buildings" effect is just deadening and anathema to the concept of mixed use and vibrant neighborhoods. It's bad enough having the concrete bunker of the Family Life Center (what I call a "ghetto-maker" structure) attached to what is a very attractive church. Definitely let's add another row of buildings that will be vacant and lifeless except when church is on.