Southeast corner view at Germantown Ave. & Haines St. the historic Germantown Town Hall, slated to become the Germantown Townhall. (Photo: Rasheed Z. Ajamu)

Anthony Fullard’s community meeting concerning the city-owned and historically designated Germantown Town Hall was held Thursday evening, Feb. 25. It was well attended by neighbors from all parts of Germantown, as well as many of those neighbors nearest to Town Hall who would be impacted directly. Attendees asked important questions and made thoughtful comments. They were polite and respectful. 

After further thought, I feel that several questions that were not asked that I think the community needs answered.

Three years ago, our councilperson, Cindy Bass, called a community Zoom meeting, on less than 24 hours’ notice, for Mr. Fullard to introduce his then project for Town Hall. A majority of those who attended that meeting were near neighbors. 

At that meeting, Mr. Fullard was vague about his plans for the hall itself. He made it clear, though, that to do anything with Town Hall, he would first have to build an apartment building at the rear of the property using the current 14^th Police District’s parking lot.

Although no vote was taken, it was clear that no one was in favor of an apartment building on that site and that Mr. Fullard’s plan was unacceptable.

By comparison, last Thursday’s meeting focused entirely on Town Hall. 

Here are some of the questions that were not asked:

1. Is an apartment building still part of your plan? If it is, there will surely be strong opposition.
2. Why should the community feel confident that Mr. Fullard can complete this or any major project? Mount Airy Mews, your West Powelton Development’s multi-townhouse development, opened with much fanfare in November 2020. Now, it sits unfinished and titled with a Sheriff’s deed?
3. Are you still employed by and a representative of KBK, the developer that has held the YWCA at 5820-24 for over eight years with no development?

The Germantown Info Hub reached out to Anthony Fullard to get responses to the questions posed by Ponsen in the same order as presented. He responded the following on Thursday, March 13, 2026:

1. The West Powelton Development team is currently focused solely on the Townhall development and its successful completion.
2. Mount Airy Mews was a project that was very dear to my heart. We did everything we could to save the development, but it was significantly impacted by changing market conditions and rising interest rates, which affected many developments across the city at that time. If we had secured homeowner purchasers or an anchor tenant early on, similar to what we have at Townhall, the outcome may have been different. I understand that Mount Airy Mews is now moving forward with a different developer, and that is good for the community.
3. I have never been employed by KBK. The West Powelton Development team has never been a part of the YWCA development at 5820-24 Germantown Ave.

Suzanne Ponsen is a Germantown neighbor and the President of the neighborhood RCO, West Central Germantown Neighbors.