We’ve been following the fate of the 9th St. NW Shiloh Baptist Church properties since they were condemned in mid-May. No visible repairwork has since been performed on the buildings, despite an order from the District to fix the roof, gutters, masonry and generally clean up and make the buildings safe. Yesterday at a meeting of the D.C. Board for the Condemnation of Insanitary Buildings, the board ordered DCRA to either perform the repairs or knock the condemned Shiloh Baptist Church properties down, and then place a lien on the properties for the cost.

The Examiner has more about what took place at the meeting, but we’re still waiting for a DCRA spokesperson to call us back to clarify a few details, like exactly when this work might begin and whether Mayor Fenty, who has said he’d like to see the properties developed into usable housing, will get involved. Three more Shiloh-owned town houses on Eighth and Ninth streets NW, each in various stages of disrepair, were also condemned during the meeting.

It’s also unclear whether razing the buildings, as the board suggests as one option, is actually possible. As commenters have pointed out, these buildings are within the historic district, and actually tearing them down would require approval from the Historic Preservation Review Board — never an easy thing to achieve. In any event, we’re still working on getting a fuller picture of next steps, but we wanted to at least report on the Condemnation Board’s decision yesterday. As soon as we learn more, we’ll update again.