District of Columbia: In Search of Stability, Whitman-Walker Clinic Will Sell Its Land

The Whitman-Walker Clinic (WWC), the region's largest HIV/AIDS services and treatment provider, said Wednesday it will sell four Washington properties in a bid to consolidate programs, build new state-of-the-art clinics, and fund an endowment for long-term financial stability.

WWC will sell the Max Robinson Center, in the 2300 block of Martin Luther King Jr. Ave. SE, as well as three parcels along 14th St. NW near S and R streets, including its administrative offices and the Elizabeth Taylor Medical Center. According to plans agreed upon by WWC's board of directors, the agency will acquire about 30,000 square feet in a new development in the same vicinity of 14th St. NW that will house the administrative offices and the Taylor center.

Noting that the "Southeast is now the epicenter of D.C.'s epidemic," Roberta Geidner-Antoniotti, WWC's interim executive director, said the greatly expanded facility will improve services in the area. "Men and women of color are becoming infected at alarming rates," she said. "Our Max Robinson Center in Southeast needs to meet the growing need for testing, counseling, and primary care."

The plan, to be carried out over three years, is designed to avoid service disruption. WWC will lease back space in some of its current buildings while its new facilities are completed, officials said. However, the plans do not address the building in which WWC's Northern Virginia clinic operates. That lease expires at the end of the year, and WWC is "exploring other options" for maintaining the program, said Geidner-Antoniotti.

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