The District government was busy on Grace Street Thursday.
The Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs issued a pair of stop work orders to neighboring, unrelated projects on the narrow Georgetown road — one an interior demolition of a retail space, and the other a seven-unit apartment project.
At least, one, and possibly both, may have been a mistake, the property owners say, though the DCRA inspector was not available for comment Friday.
In the case of 3220 Grace St. NW, for example, the stop work order is for retaining wall construction without a permit, except that the retaining wall permit was issued in March (and it’s posted outside), and the wall is finished. The vacant lot will be transformed by Capital City Real Estate into a seven-unit apartment building. The building permits were issued in August.
Next door, at 3210 Grace, a stop work order was issued for interior demolition, again, without a permit. The work is taking place in the space formerly occupied by the Solar Planet tanning salon. That space is slated to be filled by a stone showroom, George Boosalis, the building’s owner, told me Friday. Boosalis said he wasn’t aware of any demolition in the building, save for some drywall work.
