After receiving a 20 year tax abatement, accumulating to $46 million, The Sydell Group of New York City failed to honor a past deal with labor union, Unite Here Local 25. The deal between the developer and the union entailed a labor peace agreement that would allow workers to organize. The current iteration of the project includes the renovation of a historic church and a new seven -story building built behind it. Unsurprisingly, the Board of Zoning Adjustments, unanimously rejected an Adams Morgan community’s groups appeal of the June building permit issued.

John Boardman, Local 25’s executive secretary-treasurer, tells me that developer The Sydell Group of New York City is “bending the rules simply to get whatever they want” — the real reason for the union’s opposition is that The Line DC will not, as of now, be unionized. “The developer reneged on the deal with us, specifically,” Boardman said, referring to Sydell. “The deal was the developer would allow a labor peace agreement and allow the workers in the hotel to organize, and the whole underpinning of the original $45 million tax abatement is based on the fact that there would be a living wage and family-sustaining benefits that cost money." “There’s $45 million in public subsidy,” he continued. “What is the public getting out of it? What are the workers getting out of it?”