The Washington Sanitary Improvement Company (WSIC) was a late 19th century charitable capitalism experiment that ended in the 1950s. This blog started looking at the homes that were supposed to be sold to African American home buyers, after decades of mainly renting to white tenants.
Looking at WSIC properties they tend to have a pattern where the properties were sold to a three business partners, Nathaniel J. Taube, Nathan Levin and James B. Evans as the Colonial Investment Co. for $3 million dollars. Those partners sold to African American buyers. There was usually a foreclosure. In 1956 Nathan Levin died and Colonial Inv. Co. vice president Harry A. Badt took his place in the foreclosure paperwork. Then the property wound up in the hands of George Basiliko and or the DC Redevelopment Land Agency (RLA). Then there were the odd lucky ones who managed to avoid that fate.
Let’s see what happens with 59 Bates St NW:
- December 1950 (recorded Jan 26, 1951) Evans, Levin and Taube sold one-half of 59 Bates St NW to Charles H. Wilson.
- December 1950 (recorded Jan 1951) Wilson borrowed $2,525 from Colonial Investment Co. favorite trustees Abraham H. Levin and Robert G. Weightman.
- December 1950 (recorded Feb 21, 1951) Evans, Levin, and Taube sold the other half of 59 Bates St NW to Lera C. and Lester A. Jones.
- Dec 1950 the Jones borrowed $2,525 from trustees Abraham H. Levin and Robert G. Weightman.
- November 1955 Mr. & Mrs. Jones lost their half to foreclosure. Through an auction Evans, Levin and Taube regained the property.
- June 1959 (doc #1959024641), as part of a large property package, Evans, Taube, new partner Harry A. Badt, Nathan Levin’s survivors, and their spouses sold the foreclosed half of 59 Bates to Sophia and George Basiliko.
- August 1959 the Basilikos borrowed $17,000 from TELSYNDICATE (represented by Evans and Taube as trustees) for 34 units/lots, including 59 Bates.
- January 1961 Charles H. Wilson lost his half to foreclosure and it was repossessed in an auction by Badt, Evans, and Taube.
- April 1961 Badt, Evans, Taube, Nathan Levin’s survivors, and their spouses sold the foreclosed half to George Basiliko who at that point owned the property as a whole.
- Between 1970-1973, as there is no document located but ownership went from Basiliko to the DC Redevelopment Agency (RLA).
- June 1980 DC RLA entered into a contract (doc # 8000020221) with BSA (Bates Street Associates) and transferred a large number of properties to the (doc # 8000020294) Bates Street Associates (BSA).
Two foreclosures, sale to the Basilikos, twice, then eventual transfer to RLA who will then transfer it to BSA. It fits the pattern.
Normally I leave out the Basiliko borrowing. There are several transactions Basiliko does that I’m not particularly interested in. However, I decided to do it with this one. And doing so noticed that Colonial Investment Co., in part at least, financed the purchase.