Home to guerrilla art exhibits as well as the city’s most famous art guerrilla, the Bobby Fisher Memorial Building at 1644 North Capitol Street NW is coming to a close, after tenants and landlord failed to renegotiate a lease.

The dozen-member collective known as the Borf Brigade that runs the DIY community arts center, as well as their regent, John Tsombikos (aka Borf), have been unable to negotiate a lease renewal with Joe Scheve, the property’s owner. Until now, the group has enjoyed a free stay in exchange for renovations and repairs. But when it came time to renew the one-year lease on the building, the group encountered some unexpected hurdles — such as a demand that they pay up.

“[The landlord]’s decided to charge rent while we’re trying to get $20,000 worth of repairs done,” says Marissa Botelho, a member of the Borf Brigade. Sheve did not return phone calls for this story.

The last event that the group has planned for the space, a feminist art show called “Girlish Ways”, opens Saturday and runs through the weekend — possibly longer.

“We don’t have a final exit date,” says Botelho. “We’ll rent a generator for the weekend and that will be that.”

Photo by dbking