By Washington Business Journal, Jan 3, 2025
A D.C. health care provider has acquired an Anacostia office building with plans to swiftly convert it into a clinic and administrative space.
An affiliate of District HealthCare Services LLC in December paid $18 million for 1800 Martin Luther King Jr. Ave. SE, also known as Anacostia Gateway, according to documents filed Thursday with D.C.’s Recorder of Deeds. Anacostia Economic Development Corp. was the seller. District HealthCare received a $15.3 million loan from Truist Bank, deed records show.
The three-story, 63,000-square-foot office will host District HealthCare Services’ headquarters and a new health clinic to expand its practices into women’s health, physical medicine and integrated care practices combining physical and behavioral health, according to CEO Dr. Habib Shamte.
The property, built in 2007, was formerly home to the D.C. Department of Housing and Community Development, which relocated across the street to in 2024. D.C. no longer has a presence in the building, according to the Department of General Services.
Shamte said the new location will help District HealthCare, which only serves Medicare and Medicaid patients, reach underserved residents in an area that historically lacks health care access.
“The whole concept is most of our clients require other services,” Shamte said. “It was hard for them to go to three or five doctors. So we are trying to make everything under one roof.”
District HealthCare, according to its website, provides “holistic services that focus on all aspects of an individual including their human services, medical, behavioral health, and spiritual needs.” Its facilities are staffed by licensed independent behavioral health workers, community support specialists, registered nurses, licensed professional nurses and part-time psychiatrists, the website said. The company also has two medical doctors who serve as medical directors and another medical doctor who leads its primary care practice.
Shamte said District HealthCare plans to bring the health clinic online within the next 90 days with a primary care and behavioral health practice. Other practices will be added over time. The building offers three levels of underground parking.
The company is relocating its operations from a leased, 3,000-square-foot space at 2811 Pennsylvania Ave. SE. Its clinic at 1445 Howard Road SE will remain, Shamte said.
AEDC, which developed 1800 MLK in a joint venture with Development Resources Inc., did not return requests for comment. Anacostia Gateway, is, or was, AEDC’s headquarters — it is unclear if it remains in the building.
When it delivered, Anacostia Gateway was the first commercial office construction on the east side of the Anacostia River since 1990. Today, it is home to retail tenants Industrial Bank and Grubb’s SE Pharmacy & Mini-mart, both of which will remain after the health clinic opens, according to Shamte.