WASHINGTON: A notice about blighted condition disappeared days after it was pasted on the front door of Pakistan Embassy building in Washington. Since the local government offices in Washington remain closed on Sunday, no one was available to clarify when they pasted the notice and why they removed it.

A photo of the “Blighted Property” notice, taken on Friday, said the Building Enforcement Unit of the Department of Buildings (BOD), Washington, “has inspected your property and deemed it to be blighted”.

It asked the owners of the property, Pakistan Embassy, to “complete and submit a blighted building response form, within 30 days” or “your property will be designated as blighted and reclassified accordingly”. The notice also warned that “unauthorised removal” of this red notice could lead to a fine of $500.

Media reports published earlier this week claimed that the Washington DC government had downgraded the property classification of this embassy-owned building on the city’s historic R-Street NW.

The building has been up for sale for the past few months and received offers much below the prevalent price in this neighbourhood.

The reports warned that the declassification will further reduce the market value of the building while increasing taxes on its assessed value.

The building, which used to be a chancery in the past, was put up for auction late last year. The bidding process was later cancelled by Pakistani authorities, under pressure from the Pakistani American community.

Several community members claimed that they were willing to offer much more than the highest bid of $6.8 million for the property located in the heart of the city. Earlier media reports, however, put the pre-auction evaluation of the building, on ‘as is’ basis, at $4.5m. The building has been unoccupied for over a decade. The building’s diplomatic status was also revoked in 2018, making it liable to pay taxes to the local government.

In 2008, a Washington Post report on blighted properties in Washington listed a “paint-peeled columns and boarded-up windows” of a building owned by the United Arab Emirates, and “the hip-high grass and missing front door knob of a building owned by the Pakistani government.”