The Mason Inn building at 2408 Wisconsin Ave NW in Glover Park was sold in April for $2,350,000, nearly twice the $1.275 million price of the 2005 sale. The purchaser was Thomas Tsianakas, a real estate investor residing in North Potomac, MD. Tsianakas became entangled in a real estate scheme years ago perpetrated by Minh-Vu Hong of Bethesda. Hong committed fraud on a massive scale, purchasing and flipping foreclosure properties using falsified sales records to inflate resale prices. She was eventually found guilty of tax evasion and sentenced to five years in prison. Tsianakas became an unsuspecting investor in her scheme, in which he put up the down payment and she promised to pay the mortgage. She would not pay and allow the properties to go to foreclosure, to be bought back at discount prices. Tsianakas eventually extricated himself from the bad investments after lengthy court proceedings. He was not charged with a crime, but was one victim of the massive real estate fraud of Mrs. Hong and family.
Tsainakas owns various small commercial properties in Rockville and Gaithersburg, as well as the Revo Nail Salon building in College Park in Prince George's county, MD. His DC properties house a few restaurants, a Dunkin Donuts and another nail salon. Mason Inn has one of only two liquor licenses in the neighborhood allowing live entertainment. It is a popular place to see a band or watch a game, and has come under neighborhood scrutiny periodically for noise and the rowdiness of the power-drinking crowd. Recently, Mason Inn worked out a compromise with the Advisory Neighborhood Commission in which they agreed to close their store front window after 9 pm in exchange for being cleared to renew their liquor license without protest.