We just told you about a possible Trader Joe’s coming to Leithgow & Bainbridge, and now we’re going to look a couple miles due north, to the corner of Leithgow & Thompson. This property has been sitting vacant for a number of years, even as South Kensington has experienced a dramatic upturn in development over the last several years. The parcel was owned by the City for decades, until the amazingly named Mazal Tov Development purchased the 3,700 sqft lot at the end of last year. The developer paid roughly $150K, but if the property had been listed for sale on the open market we think the price would have been at least twice as high.

According to the zoning application, the developers are looking to subdivide the property into five smaller parcels. The information online is incomplete, but we believe that they’re planning a pair of new homes and three duplexes. Were this our property, we might look to include some rear access parking, with a curb cut on Thompson Street, but we don’t see an indication that parking is part of the plan. And if we’re being realistic, the lot probably isn’t quite deep enough to accommodate a drive-aisle. We’re curious to know what the community had to say about the project, as we’re pretty sure that just about every other property on this block is single family and as we said, this proposal calls for some duplexes. We’ll know better after tomorrow, when the property goes to the ZBA.

We were a little surprised to look back and realize that we’ve visited this particular block multiple times over the years, most recently back in May. At that time, we told you about plans for three new homes on the block, but on lots that were too shallow for development without a variance. The ZBA granted those variances, so we expect to see those homes start moving forward very soon. Before that, we had covered plans for the two homes at 1235-37 N. Leithgow St. in 2014. Those homes were built and sold, and you can see them in the background of the photo above. Assuming the ZBA says aye, the folks who live in those homes will soon have some new next door neighbors.