DC Prepares for Another Vacant Property Auction

• April 23rd 2019

by Nena Perry-Brown

As part of DC's Department of Housing and Community Development's (DHCD) commitment to clear its backlog of vacant properties, the agency is preparing for another online auction.

Next month, DHCD and Alex Cooper Auction House will make ten properties available for the public to bid on, all with the intention of putting the unused sites on the path to be developed into workforce housing. Last year, 33 vacant and blighted houses, small buildings and unimproved lots were auctioned, grossing $123 million for the city. 

Each site has an initial deposit of $5,000 and the bidding will open at $20,000. The bidding opens May 10th. The properties are:

• Unimproved Lot(s):
  • 1227 47th Place NE (map)
  • 5033 Meade Street SE (map)
  • 25th Place NE
  • 5308 E Street SE (map)
  • 62-64 Forrester Street SW (map)
• Vacant Houses/Buildings:
  • 635 Emerson Street NE (map)
  • 160 Adams Street NW (map)
  • 36 Channing Street NW (map)
  • 1132 Columbia Road NW (map)
  • 1422 Shepherd Street NW (map)

All of the listings in the Northwest quadrant, and the lots on E Street SE and Forrester Street SW were also included in — and sold during — last year's auction; it is not clear why disposition of those properties was not completed.

Interestingly, each of the vacant houses on Shepherd Street, Channing Street and Adams Street NW have incomplete pop-up additions and prior building permits to convert the properties into two or three units; the Columbia Road property had a previous building permit to repair its three existing units.

Correction: The article previously misidentified the 25th Place NE site as being addressed at 4296; it is at Square 4296, Lot 0041.

This article originally published at https://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/blog/dhcd-prepares-for-another-vacant-property-auction/15297.