The Decommissioning of Georgetown

With the listing for sale of the old Fillmore School, it occurred to GM that we are in the midst of a rather dramatic, and long lasting, trend that GM is calling the decommissioning of Georgetown. What he means by that is the conversion of major properties that are used for institutional or commercial purposes into residential uses.

Of course, it’s not certain that the Fillmore School will be converted to condos, but given the fact that just five years ago Eastbanc was under contract to do just that, it seems likely that that will be the ultimate use for the building.

But even setting aside the Fillmore School, consider these projects that have been completed or announced in the last several years:

Hurt Home:

This major property across from Montrose Park was once a home for the blind. The city purchased the property from the institute in 1987 and used the building for housing of emotionally disturbed foster children. It was used for this purpose until about 2005. In 2010 the city sold it to a developer who restored the main part of the building and sold it as 15 condos. The building is now called The Montrose.

Alexander Memorial Baptist Church:

This historic church, built by Georgetown’s mostly departed African American population, was sold last year. The purchaser received approval to convert the church into a multi-unit condo. Construction has not begun yet.

West Heating Plant:

This monumental building on 29th St. was used by the federal government as (you guessed it) a heating plant for decades after it was built in 1933. Following years of disuse, the federal government sold the building to the Levy Group in 2013. The developer proposed demolishing most of the building and constructing 80 extremely expensive condos in a new building essentially the same size and shape. The approval process for the razing is still under review with various engineers weighing in on whether the existing building can be saved.

Cameroon Embassy:

The Cameroon Embassy, which once occupied the office building on the northwest corner of R St. and Wisconsin Ave. was kicked out in 2011. The new owner of the building, Harvard University, then converted the building into housing for fellows of Dumarton Oaks, which it also owns.

Wormley Row:

This one is a bit older, but it was only in 2008 when the Wormley Row condos were delivered. The townhouses were constructed and sold more recently. This former schoolhouse was sold by the city to Georgetown University in 1998. After running into community opposition to the school’s plans for using the building, GU sold it to the a developer in 2005.

Key Bridge Exxon:

Eastbanc has received design approval to construct a condominium building on the site of the Key Bridge Exxon. Obviously no construction has begun, but look for progress in the next year or so.

Four Season’s Gas Station:

The gas station across from the Four Seasons has also been purchased by Eastbanc. While no plans have been made public, Eastbanc principle, Anthony Lanier, has hinted at radical designs for the property.

Post Office:

This one doesn’t really count, but Eastbanc also purchased the Georgetown Post Office building. While it ultimately converted the non-post office parts of the building into office space, several of the proposals their submitted for review contemplated residential conversion.

So What?

Adaptive reuse,-which is what these conversions are generally called-is hardly new. Lower Georgetown is full of previously industrial buildings that were converted either to residential or commercial uses. But what seems to characterize this latest flurry is that many of them represent some of the last major non-residential properties deep in Georgetown’s residential blocks.

What buildings remain? Well there are the churches of course, several of which have congregations that, like Alexander Memorial, for the most part don’t live in Georgetown anymore. There’s the Jackson School on R st., which is owned by the city and rented out to a group of artists. There’s the Volta Bureau. Could any of these follow the path of the Hurt Home or the Fillmore School? It seems unlikely, but time will tell.