Leezee fell in love with the old Miller Furniture Company warehouse on 12th St, SE that would ultimately become her home.  But moving her company from Georgetown to the Capitol Hill location turned out to be a much bigger adventure than Porter had anticipated. 

Construction began in September of 1986. Then on October 22, 1986, while Leezee was in North Carolina, the building caught fire.  The three-alarm fire destroyed half the roof and did extensive damage to the building.

With remarkable effort by all of the work crews, the building was finished at the end of December, only two months after the fire.

Washington's Hill Rag.  April 17-May 1, 1987.