The Last Holdouts

After two years of contentious pretrial negotiations, Tolson and the Martinezes reached a legal settlement in November. The three-member tenants association got an offer to buy the St. Dennis for $3.4 million, with a July 31 deadline to complete the purchase. As part of the settlement, the women were moved -- at Tolson's expense -- to an apartment three blocks away.

The Martinezes must find a developer to partner with them and put up the money to buy and renovate the building -- for a cost Biles estimated at $6 million to $6.5 million. Lawyers at Arnold & Porter have spoken to nonprofit housing development groups that specialize in building affordable housing and depend largely on District subsidies to keep their projects reasonably priced. But those groups view the St. Dennis project as daunting, Biles said.

The building needs a complete rehab, and the process for acquiring subsidies from the District's Housing Production Trust Fund -- dependent on real estate transfer taxes and projected to shrink this year and next because of a worsening economy -- is cumbersome. Time is running out.

Biles said the most practical avenue for the Martinezes to take is to partner with a commercial developer willing to create a mixed-income building of market-rate and affordable units. "That's better than nothing, and that's one of the options we're looking at because we have a clock ticking," he said.

Familiar with the St. Dennis and the Martinez family's determined quest, D.C. Council Member Jim Graham (D-Ward 1), who represents Mount Pleasant, said he is pressing city housing officials to consider a subsidy or low-interest loan for the developer who steps forward to help turn the St. Dennis into affordable housing. "This should be a very high priority," he said.

If the Martinez women don't meet the deadline, the legal settlement does give them the right to move back into Tolson's building once he renovates it, at their old rent of about $500. They would likely be the only low-income family in a high-priced condo complex, and that is not what they want.

"Our fight has been for affordable housing for low-income people," Eva Aurora said. "What we hope is the government and a developer will be on our side and help us."