Way back in the fall of 2011, we told you about a six-unit project going up near the corner of 17th & Cambridge in Francisville. At the time, we commented that the project seemed to be moving rather slowly, having received zoning approvals back in the middle of 2010. Well, another year and a half seems to have only made a small difference as there has definitely been some progress at this site but the building appears to still be far away from completion.

November 2011

Current view

We found ourselves on this corner because a reader told us about a zoning notice next door to this still-unfinished building. By the time we got here the notice was gone, but the L&I Map was able to fill us in on what may…

Go to most of the neighborhoods surrounding Center City, and you’ll find a healthy number of green spaces that are open to the public. Graduate Hospital, until very recently, has been more or less bereft of public green space, with the nearly complete Julian Abele Park representing a very new addition to the neighborhood. And with the rapid development of almost every vacant lot in the neighborhood, opportunities for additional green space are rapidly dwindling. With that in mind, SOSNA is attempting to preserve the corner of 17th & Carpenter, one of the few remaining large vacant parcels in the neighborhood, as Carpenter Green.

The lot

Looking north of 17th St.

Owned for years by the Redevelopment Authority, this lot has sat vacant for as…

Last week, we checked in on several ongoing new construction projects in the Brewerytown neighborhood. Some of these houses were replacing vacant land, while in other cases blighted homes were demolished to make room for the new construction. In either case, these projects represent important progress for an area that still has a stunning number of vacant properties.

Two new homes on 31st Street

But it seems that Steph-Sin, the developers for the homes pictured above at 31st & Baltz, are not just in the new construction business. Just around the corner from these homes, this developer is in the middle of a renovation job on the 3000 block of W. Stiles Street, a block with a ton of vacant homes.

In the past

Current view

According to…

In recent weeks, we’ve mentioned several new projects coming to South Kensington, both of the large and small variety. We told you about Soko Lofts, an over-three-hundred-unit mixed-use development coming to 2nd & Thompson. We gave you the heads up about five new homes coming to 7th & Thompson. And we even mentioned a one-off project at Orianna & Thompson, on a block with some homes that will hopefully be rehabbed in the near future.

7th and Thompson

Today we look just a little to the north, the the 1400 block of N. 4th St., where three homes are expected to break ground in the next thirty days. The developer for 1415-19 N 4th St. is BMK Properties, a developer we’ve covered several times in the past. They purchased the middle lot from a…

If you read this blog with any sort of regularity, you know that we cover tons of development on the northern end of the Point Breeze neighborhood. Despite the dozens of new homes that have been built in the area in recent years, there is still quite of a bit of blight and vacant land to be found. And not just one-off lots, either. There are still a handful of larger lots in this neighborhood, which are especially desirable to developers. Take the corner of 17th & Latona.

In 2009

Six lots on 17th Street between Latona and Titan have been vacant for so long that a jungle sprouted up. Ownership is divided between a couple of developers, a City agency, a non-profit, and a church. Last year, the PRA attempted to condemn the four northernmost lots, strangely opting to…

Over a year ago, we first told you about Carpenter Square, an eleven-home development planned for 17th & Carpenter that will also include a mixed-use development at the corner. When the developers, MR Scott Development and The Goldenberg Group, presented to SOSNA, they nearly received a standing ovation for their plan to transform a long-vacant block-long stretch of land previously ignored owned by the PRA. Check out these renderings, in case you’ve never seen ‘em.

From 17th and Carpenter

From the south

Elevations

Pretty good, right? Design work for the project was done by Johnston Stromberg Architecture (JSA), architects based right in the neighborhood. Along with having some very unique design elements and two-car parking, the homes will all be LEED certified as well.

But as we said…