Jemal to Buy Georgetown's Car Barn by Douglas Fruehling, Staff Reporter
Developer Doug Jemal has contracted to buy the historic
Car Barn in Georgetown.
The deal is expected to close in the next two weeks,
Jemal said. He declined to disclose the purchase price.
The building, 3600 M St., NW is currently owned by Minneapolis-based
Lutheran Brotherhood, which took possession of the property
in 1992 when it foreclosed against O. Roy Chalk. Chalk
at one time owned the city's transit system.
Jemal, president of Rockville-based Douglas Development
Corp said his firm will manage the building, which contains
100,000 square feet of office space and a 10,000-square-foot
catering facility.
He plans a cosmetic renovation of the building, which
is 45 percent leased. Jemal said the remaining space
should lease for $30 to $35 a-square foot.
"I think it's going to go rather quickly,"
he said.
The original structure was built in 1761 and used as
a tobacco warehouse. It earned its name in the 19th
century, when it became the first building in the city
to house horse-drawn trolley cars. A transit station
was later designed around the structure.
Chalk acquired and renovated the building when he bought
several street-car lines in the 1950s. "It's a
phenomenal building," said Jemal, who has gained
a reputation for buying properties at high-profile-locations
and improving them. He currently has plans to renovate
rowhouses near MCI Center.
