A D.C. developer plans to breathe new life into a shuttered North Columbia Heights* funeral parlor.
S2 Development LLC acquired the Austin Royster Funeral Home at 3821 14th St. NW at a November foreclosure auction for $1.285 million. The developer recently applied for permits to convert the building into nine two-bedroom, two-bath condos plus one for-sale commercial unit, said Philip Simon, S2’s managing member.
The commercial unit will be a white shell, Simon said, until somebody buys it.
Simon said the project will take about nine months to build out. He is using S2’s Facebook page to poll for a name for the new condo building. In the spirit of election day, go vote.
Austin Royster Funeral Home, a three generation family-owned business, has relocated to 502 Kennedy St. NW. The 14th Street building served as a funeral parlor since at least 1957.
S2 is also behind the redevelopment of 762 Park Road NW, 1132 and 1135 Sixth St. NW, 1343 and 1345 Pennsylvania Ave. SE, and 400 11th St. NE, among other properties.
Take a look at a rendering, above, of the future 3821 14th St. NW, as designed by Emotive Architecture.
*Reporter’s note: I’ve gone back and forth with Twitter folk this afternoon as to the specific neighborhood one would find 3821 14th St. NW. I’ve settled on North Columbia Heights, which, according to the North Columbia Heights Civic Association, stretches west to east from 16th Street to Georgia Avenue, and south to north from Spring Road to Irving Street. Petworth, my first try, was clearly wrong. My second try was 16th Street Heights, which is certainly in the neighborhood. The point is, it’s around there.
