Turn back the clock a decade, and the 2800 block of Cecil B. Moore Ave. was in pretty rough shape. After many years of disinvestment, it was littered with blighted buildings and vacant lots, and it didn’t seem likely that anything would be changing any time soon.

Then Brewerytown happened. Over the last several years, we’ve seen maybe a couple thousand new units appear in this neighborhood, with small, medium, and large projects all contributing to a makeover on a scale nobody could have expected. With all the construction and renovation in Brewerytown, it was probably fait accompli that some of that momentum would spill over onto Cecil B. Moore Avenue and beyond into Strawberry Mansion. Check out the same view from above, as seen today:

First and most obviously, three blighted and vacant buildings were demolished. At 2808 Cecil B. Moore Ave., a project recently broke ground for a triplex. Two doors down at 2812, another triplex is quite a bit farther down the road. The lots remaining vacant, 2806 and 2810, are owned by City agencies so they could stay that way for awhile. Meanwhile, you can see that there’s a ‘For Sale’ sign at 2804 Cecil B. Moore Ave., awaiting a developer to fully renovate a fixer-upper triplex.

Of course, there’s still plenty of opportunity on this block as well. 2814 Cecil B. Moore Ave. looks awful, ditto the building next door. Perhaps someone will soon step in and renovate these vacant buildings or tear them down and build some more triplexes. Further to the west, there are four vacant lots in a row at the corner of 29th & Cecil B. Some old buildings were demoed at the corner a couple years back and those properties have been listed as ‘Pending’ for quite some time, so perhaps a developer will build something new here sometime soon. As for the other two lots, they’re owned by the City, so we don’t expect anything to happen with those in the immediate future. It’s a shame, because you could build a pretty good building at this corner if you could consolidate the four lots into one- maybe the corner properties are delayed from closing while the buyer works to buy the adjacent parcels from the City?