Source: Drayton Anthony / Drayton Anthony
The ownership group behind Shaw’s historic Howard Theatre owes more than $260,000 in unpaid taxes to the District.
The Washington Post reports that has caught the attention of D.C.’s attorney general, whose office is scrutinizing the redevelopment project that enabled the historic landmark that was once a center of D.C.’s Black Broadway to come back to life in 2012.
The theater is on land owned by D.C., but the building is owned and managed by a number of companies and a nonprofit organization.
One of those companies is Howard Theatre Development Group LLC, which is a division of development company Ellis Development Group. The former received nearly $12 million from the District as part of its efforts to restore the theater. However, the Post reports, it was not paying possessory interest taxes, a kind of property tax for buildings on public land.
