Mission First Housing Development Corporation

Construction at the historic Fells Point police station is well underway.

The team found an original jail door that
will be incorporated into the design.

Steel supports have been installed to
support the historic structure while
interior demo takes place.

A former police station built in the 1920s, Fells Point Station is located at 1621 Bank Street in Upper Fells Point, Baltimore's oldest waterfront neighborhood. This urban renewal, residential project involves the rehabilitation of the historic building, with new construction of a four-story wood framed addition with a brick façade to complement the existing structure. The building will provide 47 apartment units above a concrete pedestal with retail space below.

Fells Point Station is a transit-oriented development with public transportation available to the front door. Additionally, there will be indoor parking provided for tenants. Other amenities include a lobby, clubroom, high speed internet access, and an exercise room. An elevated courtyard will provide common space and is also a green roof structure which will cover the parking and hardscape areas.

The project received 9% funding and loan funds from Maryland’s Department of Housing and Community Development. Additional financing sources include historic tax credit equity and funds provided by the City of Baltimore’s Department of Housing.

This beautifully restored historic property is now leasing studio, 1, and 2 bedroom apartments in Washington DC just a short distance from retail shops, CVS Pharmacy, Giant Supermarket, Home Depot, TJ Maxx, Foot Locker, Bank of America and the Rhode Island Metro Station. Dahlgreen Court Apartments are close to the major corridors of Rhode Island Ave (US Route 1), North Capital Ave, South Dakota Ave, Michigan Ave & New York Ave (US Route 50).

Today, Hamel Builders, General Contractor for the House of Lebanon, held a job fair to hire people from the surrounding community to work on the rehabilitation of this historically significant building.

Thirteen subcontractors were on-site, and 22 people who live in the local neighborhood came out for interviews. The job seekers were registered with the District of Columbia Department of Employment Services and qualified as local hires for our job efforts.

Each subcontractor was asked to hire one person, in an effort to create 13 new jobs. Several job offers were made out of this process. The hiring is still in process as the subcontractors will not hire until we reach their part of construction. To date, two hires have been made.

The historic Mary Murray Washington School will get a new life as the
"House of Lebanon Senior Apartments," providing 82 units of affordable
and mixed income senior housing in the historic Shaw neighborhood.

Since 1912, the Mary Murray Washington School has played an important role in shaping the surrounding neighborhood. This year, as the building turns 100 years old, it will get a new life as much-needed affordable housing and community space. Now known as “House of Lebanon,” the project will provide 82 units of affordable and mixed income senior housing in the historic Shaw neighborhood, a rapidly transforming area of the city. Construction on this project is scheduled to begin this month.

The building was originally constructed in 1912 as the O Street Vocational School, designed to encourage training in the mechanical, craft, and domestic skills as workers had to adapt to increasingly mechanized industry and transition to factory work from more traditional apprenticeships. Female students greatly outnumbered males and following a steep decline in the enrollment of male students during World War I, the school shifted its curriculum to “domestic” instruction. In 1926 it was renamed for the late widow of Booker T. Washington, a leader of several African-American feminist organizations.

During World War II, the school expanded its course offerings to include nursing. Its graduates were lauded by the military and the evening nursing program grew in popularity and was soon accredited. As young veterans returned from war, the school re-opened its doors to male students, many of whom participated in the nursing program or concentrated in tailoring and food service. The M.M. Washington School became part of a cluster of five important African-American schools in the Shaw neighborhood. The schools illustrated the evolution of public education and facilities for African-American students in Washington, and were a significant example of vocational schools through much of the twentieth century.

The M.M. Washington School closed in 2008, and Mission First Housing Development Corporation and its partners, Mt. Lebanon CDC and Urban Matters LLC, were awarded the site in 2009 by the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development. The adaptive reuse of the building will preserve its historic integrity while bringing much needed affordable housing and community space to a transforming neighborhood. The project will comply with Enterprise Green Communities and utilize 4% low-income housing tax credits, historic tax credits, and tax-exempt bonds.

Development in the greater area, NOMA (North of Massachusetts Avenue) is booming with numerous new federal government office buildings and a full service Harris Teeter grocery store. According to the NOMA Business Improvement District, NOMA has leased more than three million square feet of commercial office space in the last three years, including three residential buildings. The accessibility to several bus routes, the New York Avenue Metro Station, and North Capitol Street makes this neighborhood a prime area for development. House of Lebanon will further add to the growth of the neighborhood while offering its residents many resources of a re-emerging urban community.

Imagine coming home through a torrential downpour after a long day at work, only to find your living room buried under a pile of soggy plaster... falling from your ceiling! Or think what it would be like to hear rats running through the walls in your apartment at night. Every night... for years. You pay your rent every month on time, and you’ve requested repairs from the management company, but nothing changes. You’d move if you could, but in a city of rising rents, you don’t have a lot of options.

Dahlgreen Courts Apartments were originally
built in the 1920's to provide affordable
housing for federal government workers.

In partnership with the Dahlgreen Courts Tenants Association and with funding from the District of Columbia Office of Housing Finance Agency and Raymond James Tax Credit Funds, MFHDC has been able to preserve long term affordability and avoid displacement of residents in two historic buildings (96 units total) located at 2504 & 2520 10th Street NE in the Brookland neighborhood of Washington DC.

Currently, construction is complete on building 1, with building 2 expected to be complete later this fall. Here are some quick photos of the completed interiors:

Mission First Housing Development Corporation (MFHDC) is working to close on the funding for the rehabilitation of ninety-six units of affordable housing near the red line Rhode Island Avenue Metro Station. In July, MFHDC orchestrated the purchase of Dahlgreen Courts (two buildings, located at 2504 & 2520 10th Street NE) in partnership with the Dahlgreen Courts Tenants Association (DCTA) and the District of Columbia Office of Housing and Community Development. Through these efforts MFHDC is now able to preserve long term affordability and to avoid displacement of residents.

Dahlgreen Courts is an ideal location for affordable housing: it is two blocks from the red line Rhode Island Avenue Metro Station, and one block from the major thoroughfare of Rhode Island Avenue. The two buildings were built in the 1920’s to provide affordable housing for federal government workers. Although they have remained affordable, the buildings are in desperate need of rehabilitation.

MFHDC plans to use low income housing and historic tax credits to help finance the redevelopment of the two buildings. Renovation plans for the building include major upgrades of all systems, including individual HVAC units, new kitchen and bathrooms, energy efficient windows, expanding and adding an elevator, new roofs, and new utilities. This all will occur while preserving and stabilizing the historic elements of the building, including the lobbies, common area travertine floors, unit hardwood floors and molding, and the building façade.