Big, Ugly Empty Lot on 4th Street NE

Last year I wrote about the development of the Rhode Island Avenue Shopping Center and its future. While writing that piece I was informed that the big, ugly fenced off empty lot on 4th Street is not part of the shopping center. I thought that was great news because the shopping center will not be redeveloped for 8-10 more years due to leases. Here is a large empty lot close to the metro station on 4th Street NE near Rhode Island Ave that is just waiting for a transformation.

From there I have spent many hours trying to figure out who owns the lot and what they are going to be doing with it. Finding out who owns it was easy with a few google searches and looking in the DC property database I had more than enough information. From the property database I learned that the address is 2321 4th Street NE and it is owned by the H Street Community Development Corporation. I thought that was weird since all their projects are in the H Street area and Edgewood is a bit out of their range. Also, when I first looked at their website the land was listed, but now it is not. Then if you look at the property record the sales price is not listed and the recordation date is 2/10/2004. The group has owned the land for almost seven years now and if you look at the amount of taxes paid each year it is an extremely different number from a couple thousand to a couple hundred thousand. I am not an expert on these matters so anyone who can help me make sense of it please do!

Now getting the property owners to talk to me was another issue. I was told that they would only talk to the ANC. So, I waited out the election and contacted the new ANC for that area, Jioni Palmer. He had to contact them multiple times before getting a response. He was told by the director that they are considering the site for ground floor retail and either offices or residences above them, but they have been having a hard time getting financing. He promised to send a formal letter to Jioni. Jioni stated that he will be setting up meeting about the property with the owner after he receives the letter. I am hoping with our new Edgewood ANC and the new attention the community gives to this empty lot we can fill it with something great for the community.