Thanks to a reader for the heads up on the work going on at 3543 Georgia Ave. across from the EL Haynes charter school. Sadly, there was a bit of a language barrier in my brief chat with the workers out front. They did however confirm that a restaurant was going in. When I asked what type they said American but I’ll be sure to follow up when they open. And in nearby news it was nice to see the new Senior Center rising a half block to the south at Georgia and Newton:
“Dear PoP
This past Saturday afternoon in the 700 block of Gresham Pl. there was an insane amount of police activity. Police cars came speeding down the street as if they were making some sort of huge arrest/bust… there had to be have been about 15 cars all blocking each other in, even a van on the small one-way street. They went into one house and and 5 minutes later went in another a few doors down. After about 15 minutes they began to disperse. I asked an officer who was walking back to his car what was going on and he responded that they had been receiving prank calls that an officer had been shot. When hearing that explained it kind of made me wonder is it really that easy to divert police attention? I would also think that they could do a better job at being able to substantiate a claim of an officer being shot.”
Wow, that’s insane. But I think you have to err on the side of caution in that situation. If there are reports of an officer shot and they can’t confirm they’re pranks then I imagine MPD definitely has to respond in full force. Terrible story though. The fact that people would prank like that and divert necessary resources to crap like this is beyond frustrating. I hope the caught the prank caller.
Thanks to a reader for sending the photo. The reader writes:
“Happened this morning. The store is hardly ever open. It was a matter of time.”
We spoke about Hadiyah Cafe back in April and I have to agree it was truly bizarre the place never seemed to be open (even on weekends). Still, always sad to see destruction like this.
In real life, hipchickindc is licensed as a real estate broker in the District of Columbia and Virginia, and as a real estate salesperson in Maryland. Unless specifically noted, neither she nor the company that she is affiliated with represented any of the parties or were directly involved in the transaction reported below. Unless otherwise noted, the source of information is Metropolitan Regional Information Systems (MRIS), which is the local multiple listing system. Information is deemed reliable but not guaranteed.
Featured Property: 2905 Sherman Ave NW
Original List Price: $345,000.
List Price at Contract: $325,000.
List Date: 06/27/2009
Days on Market: 88
Settled Sales Price: $315,000.
Settlement Date: 10/22/2009
Seller Subsidy: $12,600.
Bank Owned?: No
Type Of Financing: FHA loan with a loan amount of $303,975., so maybe these folks financed the upfront MIP (as noted in comments as a possibility in last week’s GDoN-R)
Original GDoN Post is: Here
Recent Listing is: Here . To see pics, click on the main picture after opening the link.
Perusing the original Good Deal or Not (GDoN) post of this property, it struck me that an overwhelming majority called “good deal”. Frequent GDoN readers know that this, indeed, is a rarity. That was at the original list price of $345,000., so $315,000. plus $12,600. toward closing costs should look pretty sweet. For reference, recently converted condos down the street (the last one I listed at 2608 Sherman, 2BR, nicely upgraded and staged, sold in May 2009 for $299,990. with a $7500. subsidy) are selling in a similar price range.
Some mentioned that Sherman is a busy street to be on, and for sure, that was the major objection I heard when I had my client’s condo on the market. The lot size is a mere 869, but includes a bit of outdoor space. Love it or hate it, as one reader mentioned, the new owners should never have trouble giving directions to their very yellow house. I admire the listing agent’s optimism in noting that one of the conveniences of the property is that it is “close to Schools”.
The recent Seller purchased the property back in January 2009 when it was a foreclosure. The listing from that time period shows that it was priced at $189,000., and settled at $180,000. It was purchased with cash.
This home is located at 734 Rock Creek Church Road, NW:
The flier says:
“Beautifully renovated 1910 townhome on a quiet street just one block from Georgia Ave/Petworth Metro/Shopping Ctr. Main level entry with artfully exposed brick, LR w/ fire-place, elegant dining, btfl kitchen. Second level 3BRs, ldry rm, 3rd level light-flooded master BR-Suite w/sitting area, study, his/hers closets, dbl vanity and jet tub, lwr lvl 2BR aptmt with Cert. of Occupancy,rent $1500/month”
More info and photos found here. I’ve received the most emails requesting a GDoN for this house. It does look pretty nice, but most who’ve written think the price may be a bit high. What do you guys think of the home itself? Do you think $724,900 is realistic?
This weekend I noticed a few of these signs outside laundromats. This seems like a pretty good deal, yeah? Does anyone drop off their laundry and use a service like this? This one is located at 3325 Georgia Ave.
Photos taken by Johnny Casana.
I bumped into some folks (Dan, John, Christen, Johnny and Natty) installing gardening boxes at the newly renovated Cesar Chavez Charter School. I love bumping into projects like this.
One of the participants, John, sent me the following by email:
“This weekend, we installed five large raised beds and filled them with compost; we will be building roughly ten more once we secure funding, and we’ll be painting them all so they look nice. The garden will be an educational garden for the school, which is one of the Cezar Chavez Public Charter Schools for Public Policy.
There will be a community open house that will take place at the school on October 30th, and we hope to have a sign up by then and educate DC council members, other VIPs, teachers and parents about the concept. We (that is, the folks you saw, five of us who are volunteering our time as the Columbia Heights Garden Club) plan to work with school administrators and faculty over the winter to engage the students in the planning and planting for these spaces next spring. Eventually, we hope to assist with incorporating the garden into the curriculum, teaching young people about growing food, native plants, storm water runoff, and more. And we hope to engage the community along the way.”
Details from Park View ANC Rep Cliff Valenti:
“Good news! The Park Morton redevelopment contract was awarded to Landex. Even better news is that they are purchasing the property on Georgia Avenue currently owned by Central Union Mission. This frees the mission up to pursue the Gale School on Mass Avenue for an emergency shelter, and they will no longer be land owners at 3506-3512 Georgia Avenue. We really owe Councilman Graham and Mayor Fenty a round of applause on this. Back in June after Landex, Neighborhood Dev. Corp, and Penrose presented their plans to ANC1A I thought they had the second best deal (I preferred NDC only because it was 50/50 owner/renter), but I think with some of the modifications they have made to the plan sense then Landex really is the best option for the neighborhood. The following are my notes about Landex from the ANC1A meeting back in June:
Landex building design looks great, and they are proposing a 9,000 square foot park at the center of the development. I loved their economic model of 30% low income, 35% work force, and 35% market rate income levels for housing, I do not like that they are developing 100% of the units as rental.
If I understand this correctly, all of the above still applies but 30% of the units built will be owner occupied. Additionally, the 499 units to be built does not include the property they are acquiring from Central Union Mission.”
A rendering can be seen at DC mud. Thanks to all who sent me emails about this. Totally wild. Remember the discussions we had about the Central Union Mission here and here? Nevermind. How do the Landex plans sound?
Press release from Mayor Fenty after the jump. (more…)
“Dear PoP,
I noticed that the house with the fake stick-on bricks that has been discussed now has white vinyl siding!”
Wild. This home is located at 783 Irving Street, NW. It was a GDoN feature back in Dec. 2008. Here’s what it looked like then:
Any idea why they’d switch from brick to vinyl?
Not sure how I missed this one but La Morenita Restaurant has opened up at 3539 Georgia Ave., NW. I was told they’ve been open for about 6 months. Anyone check them out yet? If so how do the pupusas rank?