(Photo by Tyrone Turner / WAMU)

Nook’s Barbershop in Deanwood, one of the businesses suing the new owner of its building. (Photo by Tyrone Turner / WAMU)

A group of businesses in Deanwood are suing the new owner of their buildings after they were abruptly locked out and told they would need to relocate.

Earlier this month, a string of Deanwood businesses on a popular strip in the neighborhood were padlocked by new owner Neighborhood Development Company overnight. Nook’s Barbershop, Sunny’s Carryout, Little Jewels daycare, and Uncle Lee’s Liquors were among the establishments suddenly told that soil on the property (where some of them have been doing business for more than 20 years) contained a medley of toxic chemicals, stemming from the area’s previous use as a gas station and a dry cleaners. The next day, they all woke up to padlocks on their storefronts.

The lockout spurred outrage among residents of the neighborhood, who viewed it as part of a pattern of developers trying to push out legacy businesses across the city. The area ANC commissioner, Anthony Lorenzo Green, told DCist at the time that the incident confirmed neighbors’ fears that the new owner of the strip, 1100 Eastern LLC, was not committed to keeping legacy businesses there. The company—a subsidiary of the Neighborhood Development Company—had recently won an $11 million loan from the District to redevelop that strip. It plans to build a 63-unit affordable housing project and 5,500 square feet of retail.

Now, a lawyer representing all of the businesses except Little Jewel has filed suit against 1100 Eastern and NDC in D.C. Superior Court. In response, the new owner—who just closed the sale on the buildings on October 1—is apologizing for locking people out so suddenly, but maintaining that there is an environmental hazard at the site and that the lawsuit is ‘baseless.’

In a statement provided to DCist, the company says that Eastern LLC sat down with the business tenants on October 11 to discuss the lockout and the environmental hazards at the site.

“At that meeting we apologized to each tenant for the disrespectful manner in which they had been treated and acknowledged that our actions were badly communicated and poorly planned. We understand the anger, frustration, and mistrust that our actions have created,” the statement says.

The company says it offered the tenants immediate temporary access to their businesses to retrieve belongings; relocation assistance to find new locations; financial compensation for lost business until they’re in a new location; and priority to become new tenants at discounted rates when the new development is finished.

“At the conclusion of our meeting the tenants’ attorney, Johnny Barnes, committed to considering our offer and promised to get back to us by 10 a.m. the next morning with a proposal from the tenants. That did not occur. Instead, to our dismay, we were informed by email this morning that he was filing a lawsuit,” the statement reads.

Barnes has been representing Nook’s Barbershop since shortly after the lockout first occurred. Now, Barnes is also representing the owners of Uncle Lee’s Liquors, Sunny’s Chicken and Fish, and Prayer Base Christian Training Center, another business on the block. He says he has advised all of his clients on the strip to cut the padlocks and open up for business.

“It would appear that the lockout, supposedly based on a health emergency, was a ruse to get the merchants out while hurrying to get their development plans underway,” Barnes says.

“All of this has been done without a real basis. Only the government can condemn or shut down property. A private owner cannot convict a tenant without going to court,” Barnes says. “I dare the new owner to challenge my advice [to open the businesses back up]. They have no basis to challenge it.”

Barnes says NDC did share the results of its soil tests at the property, but he’s still not convinced there’s any danger to tenants or customers.

“Based on what they provided and what we have independently learned, we concluded there is no immediate health hazard, no imminent threat to merchants or the public,” he says.

Barnes claims that the soil testing showed chemicals in the soil 20-25 feet underground, but no danger at the surface. That means that tenants would not have been at risk for contaminants until the company started digging up soil for its redevelopment, according to Barnes. He says the city reached a similar conclusion when it tested the soil after the gas station left the site years ago (DCist has reached out to the District Department of Energy and Environment to confirm this, and will update the post when it hears back).

In the lawsuit, Barnes claims that NDC committed an unlawful eviction of the tenants, as well as a breach of contract of their lease. The suit asks for relief in monetary amounts to be proven at trial for a variety of transgressions, including unlawful eviction and emotional distress.

NDC, for its part, insists that the property is dangerous, and Barnes is putting his clients at risk by advising them to continue operating there. The company is also pushing back against community concerns that it is trying to push businesses out.

“This is not gentrification—this is the exact opposite,” the company says in its statement. “We’re not building some swanky condo for yuppies—we are replacing the current one story commercial structure with a brand new, six-story building that will provide 63 units of housing that will be home to low and moderate income residents, including grandparents and extended families, provide permanent supportive housing to formerly homeless families, and, on the ground floor, provide neighborhood-serving retail to the Deanwood community—including a right to return for the existing commercial tenants if they wish. And as part of the construction process we will fully remediate the severe environmental contamination that has existed in the neighborhood for decades.”

It’s possible that NDC and the tenants may reach an agreement outside of court. Barnes says that “we are not hell-bent on litigating this matter—the merchants remain open to reasonable and fair discussions.” But for that to happen, he says, “the owner needs to address harm caused by this illegal lockout.”


Previously:
Nook’s Barbershop Is Fighting Eviction After New Landlord Padlocked The Store Overnight
Deanwood Businesses Padlocked By New Owner With Just One Day’s Notice

Filed Under: deanwood, Nooks Barbershop,