The federal real estate sale continues

First Up

The WWI-era Liberty Loan building has been sold to a little-known Virginia buyer, Bisnow reported last week. Originally built as a “tempo” building — one of the boxy structures that sprang up during the wars to house a rapidly expanding government — the building was home to the wartime bond program. It most recently housed a minor Treasury office.

Now it’s being deaccessioned as part of a real-estate sell-off that has gathered steam under the Donald Trump administration. It’s not clear what the new owner, Satvik "Vinny" Raj, intends to do with the place. According to the Washington Business Journal, the property was marketed as a candidate for residential or hotel conversion, or as a trophy office.

Trophy sure seems like the right word: Considering that the building is just steps from the Tidal Basin, the $17 million sale price is quite a bargain — especially since the deal includes a slice of the National Mall.

Americans worried about their tax dollars might look at the news and ask whether they’re getting good value in return for their properties. D.C.ers should ask another, related question: So long as our government is selling off local real estate, shouldn’t we maybe have some idea what it’ll be used for?

A building like Liberty Loan could become something really cool. Or it could be part of another generation of dreary, lifeless buildings on the south side of the Mall. Watch the progress closely: Obscure real estate deals like this one can shape a city for years to come.

What D.C.'s Talking About

Next Best Thing to a Game. The decrepit state of Northwest Stadium may have kept the World Cup away from Washington, but D.C. is getting a Fan Zone on the Mall, organizers announced yesterday, according to Axios. The programming, run by FIFA and America250, links the World Cup with the MAHA-fueled Great American State Fair that will take over the Mall as part of the America 250 celebrations. The Fan Zone will be between 3rd and 4th Streets from June 11 to July 19. In other words: A lot more time than the two viewing parties the D.C. government has helped organize in city parks.

Delegate Math. A Washington Post piece on the delegate race notes the essential challenge for campaigns: “With everyone agreeing on the larger problem (Trump) and the solution (D.C. statehood),” candidates must “go out of their way to distinguish themselves.” For candidate Robert White, the trick is to remind everyone that he’s a fifth-generation D.C.-er. We were more impressed with how he shows that off, according to reporter Paul Schwartzman: He likes name-checking Shrimp Boat, a carry-out landmark in Northeast D.C. Hey, whatever works!

Area Publication Seeks Boarders. The Washington Post, having laid off nearly half its staff, is now moving to sublease just over half of its K Street office space. Would-be tenants can take over 134 offices, 717 workstations and 61 conference or “huddle” rooms, plus an event center with professional broadcast infrastructure, according to the Business Journal. Leadership said it was all about cost savings; critics saw it as yet another sign of retreat away from its once-dominant role in Washington life.

Cedar Hill Gang. A major re-organization at George Washington University Hospital could help stabilize troubled Cedar Hill Medical Center, according to WJLA. Cedar Hill has endured dire headlines about quality and staffing since it opened last year as the only hospital east of the river, enraging residents and creating a PR problem for GW, which owned the center. Under the re-org, GW will shift hospital services to a for-profit national firm, while moving its physician program — and Cedar Hill — to a new nonprofit.

Finally: Lizzo a Go-Go. Pop star Lizzo is recording a go-go track with D.C.’s Uncalled 4 Band. It’s a cover of their 2005 song “Sexy Lady.” Though Lizzo made her name in Minneapolis, this is the second time she’s made a splash repurposing a D.C. music classic: In 2022, she famously played James Madison’s 200-year-old crystal flute onstage following a visit to the Library of Congress.

Know Your Namesakes!

Welcome to City Cast’s occasional series introducing Washington to the namesakes behind all those alphabetized streets that crisscross D.C.. Today’s request comes from newsletter reader Elliott B. of Sigsbee Place, NE.

A tiny little road running between 10th and 12th Streets NE in Brookland, Sigsby Place is named after someone associated with an epochal event in U.S. History. Charles Dwight Sigsbee is best known for having been the captain of the U.S.S. Maine, which blew up in Havana harbor in 1898, killing 268 sailors and marines.

American media blamed the Spaniards, though many historians eventually disagreed. By then, it was too late: Fury over the explosion caused the Spanish-American war, which in turn led to the U.S. conquest of Puerto Rico and the Philippines. As for Sigsbee, he survived the calamity, went on to command a couple other ships in the war, and was later exonerated for the Maine’s sinking.

He died in 1923, just as houses were being laid out on a quiet new D.C. street that needed a name starting in “S.”

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