Photo by rockcreek
Of all of D.C.’s transforming areas, few are changing as rapidly as the neighborhoods in Ward 1. In the past decade, Adams Morgan, Mount Pleasant, Columbia Heights, and Petworth have become increasingly enviable addresses. And considering the trajectory of monthly rents and condominium prices—or, simply the bulging existence of condominiums—it feels as though that trend won’t be slowing any time soon.
Still, not every block has experienced its share of D.C.’s current boom years. Many properties remain vacant or blighted. Untended properties aren’t just eyesores though, they can be dangerous, especially as magnets for fire. The former C and K Hotel, an unoccupied set of row houses on the 3700 block of 14th Street NW—technically in Ward 4—was gutted in a March blaze.
And the house that formerly stood at 1327 Girard Street NW before it was completely destroyed in a fire last May had a history of citations on the District government’s list of decaying properties. That house, an 1870 brownstone owned by the civic activists Dorothy Brizill and Gary Imhoff, had once been included on the city’s list of vacant and abandoned properties.
But you can see where all the vacant and blighted properties are thanks to data provided by the Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs. In total, DCRA’s registry of vacant properties for the first half of the 2013 fiscal year includes 255 listings in Ward 1.
Andrew Wiseman, a DCist contributor who runs the New Columbia Heights neighborhood blog, downloaded DCRA’s listings for Ward 1 and plotted the data using a Google Fusion table. Some properties listed are blighted, some are vacant, and some are in real-estate transition. Here’s how Wiseman categorizes the mapped properties:
- Big red icons: blighted and unregistered
- Big yellow icons: vacant and unregistered
- Big purple: in blight, being appealed
- Big blue: vacant, being appealed
- Small red: registered as blighted
- Small yellow: registered as vacant
- Small green: exempt from being classified vacant or blighted because it’s for sale or due to zoning
- Small blue: exempt from being classified vacant or blighted because it’s under construction
- Small pink: status pending, which means it was vacant last year but hasn’t been determined for this fiscal year
All of these properties come at costs to their listed owners. Vacant lots are taxed at $5 per $100 of assessed value, while blighted properties are hit with double that. Vacant properties are also required to be registered with the city; property owners who are found to skip this process can be hit with penalties of up to $2,000 per lot.
If there are discrepancies, DCRA’s data and Wiseman’s map cover October 2012 through March 2013. Some properties included are currently in the process of being renovated and put on market, such as 616 Irving Street NW, which is currently for sale at $649,900.
