Four Months After the Fire, Georgetown Auto Shop Sits Untouched

The Georgetown Auto Shop and Washingtonian convenience store at 1576 Wisconsin Ave. remain untouched since the days following the March 15 fire. Windows remain covered in plywood and a chain link fence blocks entrance to the property.

At the July Advisory Neighborhood Commission meeting July 5, Commissioner Ron Lewis said it was "not as easy as we hoped" to track down the property owner and get an update.

But Lewis learned that the landlord had "finally negotiated a settlement with the insurance company and should have the check any day now."

A space heater in the garage area was reportedly the cause of .

In an email, Lewis told Patch, "I've talked with the gas station rep who says the pumps should reopen around Labor Day and the rest of the station should be fixed up and the mechanics back w/in around three or four months."

The property is something of a distraction as drivers and pedestrians enter the main commercial corridor of the neighborhood.

"I asked him to move the fence back some so that the sidewalks would have better access and he said he would," wrote Lewis.

Patch called the property manager, Koo Yeun, who said he almost immediately complied and moved the fence back to the property line.

Yeun said he and the insurance company finally agreed on the estimate, but that he "still has not gotten money...it should be forthcoming." 

"As a small business, I personally don’t have that kind of money set aside," he said.

The gas pumps will open first, but the store will wait until PEPCO is able to "upgrade the electric," which would take three to five more months, said Yuen.

"I doing everything humanly possible," to get the space back in use, he said.