Gales School Exchange Information Sheet
The property exchange of the Gales School site for Central Union Mission’s Georgia Avenue properties is mutually beneficial to both parties.
The property exchange of the District of Columbia’s Gales School (“the school”) site, located at 65 Massachusetts Avenue, NW, for three adjacent parcels – 3510 Georgia Avenue, 3512 Georgia Avenue, and 714 Newton Place, NW – owned by Central Union Mission (“the Mission”) benefits both the District and the Mission. In allowing the Mission to redevelop the site and operate its services out of a restored Gales School building, the District relieves itself of the responsibility of directing and subsidizing the operations of the shelter while providing a vehicle for the District to achieve its goal of sponsoring mixed-income housing along the Georgia Avenue corridor. Likewise, the Mission values a location that would place its services in greater proximity to the sizable homeless population that would benefit immensely from the Mission’s comprehensive services, as many homeless individuals are still centralized in the downtown area.
The value of the Gales School property is discounted by restrictions governing redevelopment of the site and restoration of the structure.
The Gales School site is 12,000 square feet on which sits the historically designated 25,000 square-foot school building. The $9 million quoted value of the property is misleading, as the historic designation of the school prohibits demolition of the existing structure. The renovation costs that the Mission will incur to restore the building to preservation standards are substantial and would exceed the cost of new construction of a comparably sized facility on the Mission’s Georgia Avenue property.
The assessed value of Central Union Mission’s Georgia Avenue properties exceeds $6 million.
The oft-quoted value of the Mission’s Georgia Avenue properties is the composite of individual 2006 tax assessments for each of the three parcels. This sum is not reflective of a 2008 valuation of the three merged parcels into one 18,500 square-foot plot, the current value of which likely exceeds $6 million. The professional appraisal of 3510 Georgia Avenue alone, obtained last year by the Mission, was $4.9 million. However, the assessed value of the properties is secondary to the tremendous development potential of a large parcel with an appealing floor-to-area ratio (“FAR”) located on a rapidly emerging commercial corridor. Whereas the historic status of the Gales School structure constrains the potential for development on site, no such designation would encumber the demolition of existing structures on the Mission’s Georgia Avenue properties and further redevelopment of the site.
Central Union Mission will invest more than twice the planned District expenditure in restoring the Gales School property.
The $7 million budgeted by the District to renovate the Gales School would have been a minimal investment to construct a facility that meets the needs of the city’s homeless population. Central Union Mission will invest twice that amount to transform the school into a comprehensive service facility that will double the number of beds originally programmed by the District. Despite this significant investment of private capital into the site, the Mission will not profit from the value of the Gales School property for decades, if ever. The real estate contract to be executed between the District and Central Union Mission requires the Mission to operate a shelter at the site for a term of no less than 40 years and proscribes sale of the property by the Mission during this period.
Central Union Mission’s plans for renovation of the Gales School will preserve the architectural integrity of the historic structure.
At considerable cost to itself, the Mission will preserve the historic Gales School structure more authentically than was originally planned by the District. The character of the architecture will be honored through the historically accurate restoration of the building’s façade.
Central Union Mission will offer expanded programs and services to serve the homeless.
The District intended to operate an emergency overnight shelter from the Gales School. In contrast, services provided by Central Union Mission will include on-site counseling and interventions, clothing distribution, medical services, and long-term support programs. The Mission would consider future expansion of its programs and services in the downtown area beyond the Gales School and surrounding NoMA community as part of an overall effort to end homelessness and serve the poor of the District.
Operation of the Gales School shelter by Central Union Mission saves taxpayer dollars.
The District would have subsidized or paid in full a contractor to operate the Gales School shelter at a minimum of $1.5 million annually. The Mission will neither request nor receive operating subsidies from the District, saving taxpayers a minimum of $60 million (in 2008 dollars) over the 40-year term of the contract. Furthermore, no taxpayer dollars will fund the Mission’s programs or services.
