Olde City Farm And Garden is packing in its plants and garden tools—at least for the time being.

The longtime Shaw nursery closed on short notice yesterday and is looking for a new home as D.C. prepares to use the site for the new home of Banneker High School.

“We’re going to start a new chapter of Olde City Farm,” says owner Pat Patterson. “We can do that. We’re a pop-up garden center, so we can adapt.” 

Olde City started in 2008 on a vacant plot at 9th and N streets before relocating in 2013 to the lot at 925 Rhode Island Avenue NW—home to the empty Shaw Junior High school building (Compost Cab also has a drop-off location there, and a nearby nonprofit uses it for parking).

The future of the site was perhaps the most contested part of this year’s budget cycle, with the D.C. Council divided over Mayor Muriel Bowser’s plan to use it to relocate and expand Banneker. Many Shaw residents opposed the idea, arguing that it had been long promised as a new middle school. Banneker families, meanwhile, said that they urgently need a modernized facility.

After hours of debate over the course of two budget votes, lawmakers eventually sided with Bowser (they also agreed to study using the current Banneker site for the new middle school).

Department of General Services spokesperson John Stokes says they gave the businesses notice months ago that they would not renew the lease past May 31. Still, Olde City held out hope that, if the D.C. Council overturned Bowser’s plan, DGS might be willing to extend the lease for a few more months as the debate continued.

“If the vote had gone the way of the Shaw neighborhood, then we would possibly have an opportunity to stay longer,” Patterson says. “The thought was that would delay the beginning of any kind of work there.” 

But with the issue settled legislatively, DGS will begin work surveying the land next week, according to Stokes. “As soon as June comes, they’re going to start mobilizing. There might not be construction forks and stuff digging on June 5, but there’s work that’s going to be done on the land prior to that happening.” 

So Olde City is clearing out and looking for a new space. The hope is to go somewhere close, according to business operations manager Tom Henry.

“We’ve got a few irons in the fire, but nothing yet,” he says. “We’d love to stay in Shaw or at least close by … We’ve been adopted into the community here. But it really just depends on what space is available.”

They hope to be able to find something in the next few weeks, before it gets too late into the summer, and would like to be able to continue to host events and pop-up markets.

“If you know of any vacant lots that can be improved and occupied … we can fill in the cracks in the city with green. We’re like the weeds that grow up in the concrete,” Patterson says. “We can move into a space and make it nicer for as long as we’re there, sell some plants, and then move on whenever it’s time. That’s the culture of Olde City Farm.”