“The LINE DC and our more than 300 employees are grateful to the DC Council for keeping the hotel’s real estate tax abatement in place”

1780 Columbia Road, NW

From a press release:

“The following is a statement from Crawford Sherman, managing director of The LINE DC, on behalf of the hotels more than 300 employees:

The LINE DC and our more than 300 employees are grateful to the DC Council for keeping the hotel’s real estate tax abatement in place for future years, including eligibility for future reimbursement of 2019 & 2020 taxes which were misappropriated by the Council’s FY20 budget amendment. We are pleased to be granted due process and that the rules set forth by the Department of Employment Services will prevail. While compliance with 5 of the 7 provisions of our tax abatement have long been certified, we are eager for resolution of the remaining provisions overseen by DOES, with whom we have worked closely for the past four years. We are confident that the conclusion of this audit will show what we have said from the outset, that we have met all required provisions of the real estate tax abatement.

This positive move forward today would not have been possible without the vocal support and hard work of our more than 300 employees who rallied this week and took to the streets of DC to canvass and garner neighborhood support for their jobs. Our employees stood up and articulated beautifully what their jobs and this hotel means to the Adams Morgan community, and we are very proud of them for their hard work.

We have made evidence of our compliance with the real estate tax abatement public and therefore we have no objections to the amendment by the Council calling on DOES to release their audit materials. We have met all reporting requirements established by DOES and are confident they will reach a determination of compliance, as did the independent audit that was required by the abatement legislation. As we have said before, we are confident that when DOES completes their audit using the standards established at the onset of the project, which captures all construction jobs created by The LINE DC, they will agree with the independent audit conclusion that indeed The LINE DC more than met the compliance requirements of the real estate tax abatement.

The LINE DC and our employees will remain vigilant in our effort to ensure that Councilmembers fully understand the true facts around our compliance and are not again mislead by falsehoods about the status of the hotel and its abatement or again caught up in the broader political agenda of certain Councilmembers.”