The Salvation Army on Friday sold its shuttered Harbor Light Center shelter near the National Arboretum to a buyer that intends on maintaining the facility for use as social services center.
The nonprofit sold the five-story, 60,000-square-foot shelter at 2100 New York Ave. NE for $11.5 million to an affiliate of JSR Management, according to brokerage Feldman Ruel, which represented the Salvation Army in the deal. The property’s 2026 assessed value is $26.8 million.
While the 2.36-acre site was marketed to prospective buyers as a major redevelopment opportunity, JSR plans to either lease it to another social services operator for continued use as a residential facility, or potentially “run its own program” out of the property, according to Feldman Ruel.
The buyer entity is tied to Jacob Fuchs of local developer Fuchs & Co. and philanthropist Koo Yuen, according to corporation records. The group, through Feldman Ruel, did not return a request for comment. The buyers represented themselves.
According to Feldman Ruel, proceeds from the sale will support the development of a new Salvation Army social services center in Northeast, the location of which was not disclosed. The new facility will provide emergency rental and utility assistance, a food market, volunteer opportunities and will serve as the base for the nonprofit's meal delivery service.
A representative for the Salvation Army did not immediately return a request for comment.
The property hit the market last summer as an adaptive reuse or redevelopment opportunity with more than 800,000 square feet of new density possible.
Josh Feldman, who led the marketing, said the property initially received interest from developers and investors. The existence of an in-place lease by T-Mobile US Inc. for a portion of the building’s roof for telecommunications infrastructure, however, would have slowed redevelopment, making the property less attractive for developers, according to Feldman.
“But very quickly the social service side of things just really heated up, and it just went almost entirely in that direction,” he said of buyer interest in the property.
The Salvation Army’s Harbor Light Center was closed in 2022 when the nonprofit opted to redeploy resources into other social service programs amid the Covid-19 pandemic.
The Salvation Army bought 2100 New York in 1993. The property sits a tenth of a mile from Brentwood, less than a half mile from Ivy City and, just shy of a mile from the Shops at Dakota Crossing and 1.3 miles from Union Market.
While the property’s warehouse and chapel were controlled by the Salvation Army, much of 2100 New York was leased to the D.C. government for shelter use until earlier this month when it expired. The District had relaxed its operations there in advance of the lease term ending, according to Feldman.