For sale: Eastern Market building once home to unique DC department store

The 65,000-square-foot building at 801 Pennsylvania Ave. in Southeast D.C. was built in 1892 as a department store by successful D.C. businesswoman Elizabeth Haines. (Courtesy Avision Young)

A prominent Eastern Market building with a place in the history of women in business, is for sale.

The 65,000-square-foot building at 801 Pennsylvania Ave. in Southeast D.C. is located directly across from the Eastern Market Metro stop. It now houses a Baskin Robbins-Dunkin Donuts.

The building is being marketed by Toronto-based Avision Young’s Capital Markets Group and is expected to sell for about $30 million.

The building was built in 1892 as a department store by successful D.C. businesswoman and store owner Elizabeth Haines and, at the time, was advertised as the largest store in the world that was built, owned and operated by a woman.

Despite the building’s history, it is not a historically designated building, so it is being marketed as a prime candidate for redevelopment into residential, retail, office or coworking space.

There is more on the history of Haines and the building online at The Hill is Home.

Jeff Clabaugh

Jeff Clabaugh has spent 20 years covering the Washington region's economy and financial markets for WTOP as part of a partnership with the Washington Business Journal, and officially joined the WTOP newsroom staff in January 2016.

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