Login

Eccentric former entertainment venue in DC hits the auction block

Bidding on colorful property in Ivy City opens April 21 on LoopNet

A former entertainment venue in the Ivy City neighborhood of Northeast Washington, D.C., is going up for auction.

Originally built in 1939 and renovated in 2001, the four-story, nearly 37,000-square-foot property owned by Douglas Development previously was home to City Winery, part of a chain of performance venues across the country. The Washington location closed on Jan. 1, 2023, but the building they left behind is still a landmark with a mural of grape vines painted on the white-bricked facade.

Bidding on the property at 1350 Okie St. NE opens April 21 on CoStar Group’s Ten-X platform on LoopNet and is set to start at $1.8 million.

The property last sold in May 2014 for $5 million, according to CoStar data. Representatives from Douglas and KLNB, the brokerage advising the owner on the sale, did not immediately respond to CoStar News' email requests for comment.

The building at 1350 Okie St. NE features covered rooftop patio space. (CoStar)
The building at 1350 Okie St. NE features covered rooftop patio space. (CoStar)

"The eccentric property has favorable unobstructed signage visibility from New York Avenue/US Route 50 front and center to 71,121 vehicles per day," according to the LoopNet listing. "The highly recognizable building also benefits from its positioning encircled by similar businesses while being close to nationally known businesses Target, McDonald’s, and Planet Fitness."

Inside the building, there's a full commercial kitchen and high-end finishes including marble flooring, mahogany paneling and granite countertops.

The retail vacancy rate in the Northeast submarket that includes Ivy City is 5.7%, according to a CoStar Market Analytics report. For the past five years, the area’s vacancy rate averaged 5.6%.

Over the past year, just over two dozen retail properties traded in the area, according to the report. The average sales price for retail properties there is $428 per square foot, higher than the Washington market's overall average of $346 per square foot, CoStar data shows.

For the record

Joseph Fleischmann, Victor Salcido and Michael Pratt from KLNB are listed as property contacts.

IN THIS ARTICLE