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Vacant property in DC must be registered. DC’s Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs (DCRA) has a Vacant Building Enforcement Unit (VBE) whose task is to investigate and classify vacant and blighted buildings in the District.

The goal of the VBE is to bring buildings back to productive use. In order to achieve that mission, they classify buildings as vacant property, which raises property taxes for the owner. Class 3, vacant property, is taxed at a rate of $5 per $100 of assessed value, and Class 4, blighted property, is taxed at $10 per $100 of accessed value. On the other hand, Class 1, residential real property, is taxed at the much lower rate of $0.85 per $100, and Class 2 property, which includes commercial property such as hotels, is taxed…

The U Street Trader Joe’s is coming to 14th and U Streets in Northwest DC. Trader Joe’s is a privately held grocery store chained based in California where employees don Hawaiian shirts on a daily basis. The chain is dislikes public address systems and uses a bell instead. Trader Joe’s is known for inexpensive, but delicious prepared frozen foods, as well as inexpensive wine. The U Street Trader Joe’s is only the second Trader Joe’s store in the District, with the first DC store in Foggy Bottom.

The U Street Trader Joe’s will be part of a new mixed-use development called Louis at 14th that will preserve the facades of the neighboring historic buildings. Louis at 14th will have nine stories, 267 luxury apartment units, a rooftop pool, underground…

In addition to the redevelopment of the West Heating Plant, more new condo projects are coming to Georgetown.  Some of the new developments are planned and others are already under construction. The West Heating Plant will have the most new condos with 80 units, while others will have only eight residences.

Adams Mason House is coming to 1072 Thomas Jefferson Street in Northwest DC. The condo project is in the planning stages at this point with a delivery date of late 2013. The Adams Mason House will contain 10 new condos, plus 3,500 square feet of retail or office space. The residences will be one or two-bedroom units, with the potential for three-bedroom condos.

The Exxon gas station at the end of Key Bridge in Georgetown will be replaced by a new…

New condos in Georgetown will be built on the site of the World War II-era West Heating Plant at 29th and K Streets in Northwest DC. The site is adjacent to the Four Seasons Hotel, Rock Creek, and the C&O Canal. The plans call for about 80 high-end condominium units -- Four Seasons Private Residences.

The plant is a 93,000-square-foot building with eight floors, six above ground and two below, and sits on more than two acres of land.  The former General Services Administration (GSA) plant previously served as a heating source for government facilities, but was decommissioned in 2000 and vacated in 2012.

The Georgetown Heating Plant fetched $19.5 million in an online auction with a starting bid of $500,0001 and weeks of bidding by five groups. The…

Earlier this year, Chancellor Kaya Henderson announced the closure of DC public schools due to budget pressure and low enrollment. The final list includes 15 schools, which is more than one in 10 public schools in the District. 

The elementary schools that will be closed for the next school year are Marshall Elementary School (Ward 5), Davis Elementary School (Ward 7), Kenilworth Elementary School (Ward 7), Ferebee-Hope Elementary School (Ward 8), and MC Terrell Elementary School (Ward 8). One school currently serving students through Grade 8, Winston Education Campus (Ward 7), is also slated to close. The closing middle schools include Shaw Middle School (Ward 1), MacFarland Middle School (Ward 4), and Ron Brown Middle School (Ward 7). The only high…

There are a few dog parks in the Adams Morgan area of DC. The Walter Pierce Dog Park is located at 20th Street and Calvert Street, NW. This dog park was the District’s first official fenced dog exercise area. Just down the road at 2501 Calvert Street in Northwest, you will find an unofficial dog park without a fence. There is also another official dog park in the southern area of Adams Morgan -- S Street Dog Park at 17th Street and New Hampshire Avenue in Northwest.

Walter Pierce Community Park is a mixed-use facility including a playing field, basketball court, community garden, playground, chess tables, and picnic tables in addition to the dog park. The park is a partnership between the DC Department of Parks and Recreation and Friends of Walter…

Upshur Dog Park is located at 4300 Arkansas Avenue, NW. It’s a public-private partnership between the DC Department of Parks and Recreation (DPR) and Friends of 16th Street Heights Parks. The park encompasses 9,500 square feet of off-leash space where dogs can roam, socialize, and run freely.

The plans for the Upshur Dog Park were approved in February 2009, and the park was completed the following year in October at a cost of $286,000. Thus, the first official dog park in Ward 4 was created. The dog park includes fencing, double gates (to prevent accidental escapes), landscaping, a tool shed, benches, picnic tables, a dog fountain, and water bowls.

The dog park is free and available to all DC residents during the hours of 7 AM and 9 PM on weekdays and…

DC Business Improvement District (BID) tax revenues provide services and programs within a specific commercial area. The District has eight BIDs -- Adams Morgan Partnership, Capitol Hill Business Improvement District, Capitol Riverfront Business Improvement District, Downtown DC Business Improvement District, Georgetown Business Improvement District, Golden Triangle Business Improvement District, Mount Vernon Triangle Community Improvement District, and NoMA Business Improvement District. 

BID expenditures supplement city services to support cleanliness, safety, economic development, and other business issues. This can include maintaining commercial corridors with litter and graffiti removal, as well as landscaping. Some BIDs also opt to increase…

The Shaw Dog Park is a free dog park near Logan Circle. It’s just a few blocks away from the circle at 1673 11th Street in Northwest. The dog park is maintained by the DC Department of Parks and Recreation in partnership with the public. 

Shaw Dog Park opened in 2008 and consists of a 15,000-square-foot public park where dogs are free to play and socialize off-leash.  The park has two fenced enclosures for different speeds of dogs. The smaller enclosure, which holds up to five dogs, is for dogs under 25 pounds, physically challenged dogs, and senior dogs. The larger enclosure is for active play like ball tossing and running with a maximum of 28 dogs. The dog park near Logan Circle is open from 7 AM to 10 PM on weekdays and opens an hour later on…

A Trinidad neighborhood home sold for a record high in January. Lots of DC homes seem to be setting neighborhood highs lately, like the ones in Petworth and Brightwood that also set records this year. All three of these record setting sales prices closed above list price, signaling that times are good for sellers and bidding wars may become the norm again.

The record setting Trinidad neighborhood home is located on Neal Street in Northeast Washington, DC just east of Gallaudet University and close to shopping on H Street. After just seven days on the market, the home sold for $552K -- $3K above the listing price.

The 1,223-square-foot Trinidad neighborhood row home is a three-story colonial built in 1925. The home was renovated in 2012 and includes…