Sursum Corda (Washington, D.C.)

[citation needed] Residential neighborhoods north of Massachusetts Avenue underwent a prolonged decay in the first half of the 20th century.

Controversial urban renewal plans of the 1950s and 1960s called for massive demolition of the area, part of it comprising the old Irish American neighborhood of Swampoodle.

A group of Catholic activists from the nearby Gonzaga College High School and the parish of St. Aloysius conceived of a new urban village to house some of the households displaced by the demolitions.

It was named Sursum Corda, a Latin expression meaning "Lift up your hearts" (which is intoned at the start of the Eucharistic Prayer during the Mass).

The style was quite unusual for public housing of the era, in that the neighborhood was largely closed off, presaging some of the HOPE VI rehabilitation plans.

[citation needed] Disadvantageous tax laws led to neglect of the properties, and the arrival of crack cocaine in the 1980s sent the neighborhood into a steep decline.

[8] On January 18, 2004, Ward shot and killed 21-year-old Mario J. Evans in a hallway at the Temple Court Apartments for refusing to sell him a discounted drug.

[8] Hansen's murder, which The Washington Post called "heinous" and "execution-style", shocked many residents of the city and drew attention to the terrible housing conditions and severe crime occurring in the neighborhood.

[10][11] Determined to change the Sursum Corda neighborhood, the government of the District of Columbia announced a plan to tear down the Sursum Corda Co-op, the Golden Rule housing and retail complex, the Temple Court Apartments,[a] and other nearby buildings and construct a $700 million mixed use housing, office, and retail center for low-income residents.

The city said that William C. Smith & Co., Jair Lynch Partners, Banneker Ventures, and Community Preservation Development would lead the project.

An additional $45 million in city funds would be used to rebuild Walker-Jones Elementary School and construct a new branch library in the area.

The District of Columbia exercised eminent domain over Temple Court, seizing it and ensuring it would not block the Northwest One plan.

DCHA then discovered—after it had demolished the building—that the Temple Court Apartments were built with a mortgage insured by the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development.

This $3.9 million insurance policy required that only subsidized housing could be built on the Temple Court land, but the Northwest One project envisioned market-rate, office, and retail use there.

[10] The construction of the nearby NoMa - Gallaudet University Metro station and a surge in property values sparked redevelopment of the area.