Friendship House SOLD!

Photo by Elizabeth Festa

Altus Realty Partners purchased Friendship House early Tuesday, according to Terry Hindermann, one of several partners at Altus Realty.  The purchase price is still under wraps,  but is sure to be under the $3.2 million initially offered by the winning bidder back in the  fall.  The other big question — future use — is answered though. Friendship House will be, “residential,” Hindermann said. Altus had signed a letter of intent in January giving the Arlington-based firm time to review the property before they moved forward with a purchase.

However, the strictures of bankruptcy court  moved things ahead a little more quickly than anticipated.

“First, we will try to stabilize the building some,” Hindermann said. “It is in bad repair.  We are going to get the right architects, work with the historical review people, not only because we have to but because we want to do the things that appeal to everybody and make it make sense financially,” he said.

In  the near term, Friendship House is still using the property, or its people are, so Altus signed a licensed agreement allowing this. The realty company will also be  preparing all manner of reports, studies, structural investigations and plans, and compiling them before any ground is broken for new construction.

The facade will stay intact, and the historic parts will be rehabilitated, according to Hindermann. The non-historic parts will likely give way to the architect’s ruler or computer module.  There will be no “mass demolition,” he said.

Altus, based in Arlington, is still determining the components of the deal, because it had to, “step up and just close,” because of bankruptcy court rules or court pressure, Hindermann suggested.

“It is probably one of the stranger real estate transactions we have done,” Hindermann acknowledged.

Back  in January, he had noted the property requires a lot of cleanup, and although Altus looked at it a year and a half ago, they just came back to it recently after the previous two bidders fell through or bowed out.

Friendship House is Zoned R-4, which permits matter-of-right development of single-family residential uses (including detached, semi-detached, row dwellings, and flats), churches and public schools with a minimum lot width of 18 feet, a minimum lot area of 1,800 square feet and a maximum lot occupancy of 60% for row dwellings, churches and flats.

Sonja Sweek was the highest bidder for the property back in September.  She and her family had wanted to provide daycare services, a primary care physician’s office  and also make it an extended family residence.  However, she was unable to fully package her finances within the 45 days required to close on the property, and the option to buy Friendship House then passed onto the next bidder, PETA, which finally declined to buy it.

There were originally six bidders on Friendship House, also known around the Hill as The Maples. The circa 1798 property, which is on the National Register of Historic Places, was before a bankruptcy judge after the Friendship House organization vacated the property in 2008, after more than 70 years providing childcare and social services  to  families in need. It is now boarded up, and has multiple maintenance issues and will require costly repairs and renovations, especially since work must be in accordance with historic preservation guidelines.

The nonprofit DC Preservation League announced June 2 that the property, once owned (but not inhabited) by Francis Scott Key, has joined its 2009 “most endangered places.”