The District is in the midst of a $6 million renovation the Old Naval Hospital on Pennsylvania Avenue in Southeast, but with the building’s future use yet to be determined, incoming Ward 6 Council Member Tommy Wells said he would like to see it used for the neighborhood’s benefit.
The 6,000-square-foot building, which from 1866 to 1906 was used as a 50-bed Navy hospital, has been vacant for about 10 years with the exception of its use for Advisory Neighborhood Commission meetings.
The District this fall completed a $400,000 renovation of the building’s main entrance, located off E Street Southeast. An architect has been chosen to begin renovating the building’s original wrought iron fence, Office of Property Management spokeswoman Aimee Occhetti said.
When its last official tenant moved out, homeless people took up residence on its porch, said Greg Richey, who lives across the street and is president of Friends of the Old Naval Hospital. The group does not take a position on what the building’s future use should be.
Wells, who served as a board member for the Friends group, said he supports the building’s use as a community center rather than allowing it to be used by a government agency.
“I support it being a contributory asset to the neighborhood,” Wells said.
The District issued a request for proposals for the building in 2005, but only two bids came in, Occhetti said. One would have turned it into a community center and library and would have required significant expansion; the other would have turned it into a holistic wellness center. Mayor Anthony Williams rejected both.
Some community activists have suggested the building, which is located less than 2 miles from the White House on Capitol Hill and was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1974, be used to house the District’s mayor.
That’s an unlikely scenario under the incoming administration of Mayor-elect Adrian Fenty, who said he prefers his Crestwood home.
