Dear PoPville,

I’d like to nominate a property for the Horse’s Ass Award This building on the 700 block of Morton has had a checkered past after being shut down in 2009 for illegal construction. Somebody else (seemingly related) reinstated the project in the summer of 2011. After some very poor exterior upgrades including mismatching windows, it now once again sits vacant with no activity with a large dumpster and littered unkept front yard.

Best case for this is to knock it down and build two nice townhouses to fit the zoning regulations and surrounding neighborhood but now it sits completely vacant (though it may be squatted in at the moment).

Last week a reader nominated 624 8th St NE for a horse’s ass award. Thanks to another alert reader for sending an update:

“April 10th @ 11:00AM
Substitute Trustees’ Sale: Buildings Under Construction near the H Street Corridor in NE Washington, DC
624 8th Street, NE, Washington, DC 20002
Auction to be held at: The Office of Alex Cooper Auctioneers”

Stay tuned.

Dear PoPville,

I live in the 700 block of 8th St NE and have for about 20 months. There is what appears to be a halted-construction condo building at 624 8th St NE. This shows a church that was sold in 2005 (and obviously razed), and the Google maps street view shows the new construction.

Any clue what is going on here? It’s pretty prime real estate these days, which makes it all the more odd that nothing seems to have happened there in the entire time I have lived there. They look mostly finished.

I’ve said it before and I’ll, sadly likely, say it again – this building is so awesome. Makes me weep every time I pass it in its current condition.

A reader nominates the building home to the former Goins restaurant at the corner of Shepherd and Georgia Ave, NW. They write:

“The building at the SW corner of Shepherd and Georgia. Who even owns that thing? One of the large, metal gutters actually came off the building at one point– looked like a pretty big safety hazard. Someone broke a window a while back and it took a week for it to get plywooded up.”

A reader recently nominated the lot at 1443 Chapin St, NW for a horse’s ass award. Another reader sends word that the lot has just been sold at auction.

They write:

“This morning there was a sign posted on the fence that said “this property sold at tax sale.”
That sounds like potentially great news for the former home of the Privado.”

Anyone happen to know who bought it?

Dear PoP,

Can you please give a horse’s ass award to the empty lot on the north side of the 1400 block of Chapin St NW? It once promised the “Privado Condos” but has been sitting accumulating garbage for at least two years. The fence, and accompanying weeds and trash, has also been encroaching on the sidewalk making it difficult to pass. Ruins what is otherwise one of my favorite blocks in DC.

Interestingly their Website is still live (thought the phone number listed is out of service):

And here’s the rendering of what could have been:

Dear PoPville,

Hey there – just heard from a friend walking to work that they saw a liquour license application for that vacant building between the new art gallery and Room and Board at Swann and 14th for “Local 14” a spin – off of Local 16. May be worth investigating – I know lots of people have been wondering what would happen to that seemingly forgotten space!

Unfortunately, Local 14 applied for a liquor license back in June 2009 and there has been zero visible progress on the space since. So I’m gonna take this opportunity to nominate 1832 14th Street, NW for a retail space horse’s ass award.

Of course if a new restaurant, Local 14 or someone else, does come to the space I think that would be great. It’s a super prime location.

The retail space formerly home to Bemmi Hardware at 12th and Florida Ave, NW has been locked up for ages. While it would be awesome to get a hardware store back in business at this point I’d be happy to see anyone open. Or, hell, even convert it to an apartment/living space.