Earlier this week, developers presented to a very small crowd at Weccacoe Playground Building for the monthly QVNA zoning meeting. On the agenda was the redevelopment of 512-14 S. Front St., a long-vacant lot that’s been used for parking for years. The lot wraps around the building next door, extending around the corner, and covers two addresses on narrow Naudain Street.

The lot and the house next door

On Naudain

The proposal, going to the ZBA next week, is for two structures on Front Street, with a four condo building to the north and a narrower two condo building to the south. Also included in the project is a third building fronting Naudain Street, with four condo units and a drive aisle to create parking for the four Naudain units and a few of the Front Street units. Harman Deutsch did the design work on the project.

Front Street properties

Naudain Street frontage

The neighbor immediately next door was concerned that the construction would destabilize his foundation, and seemed to prefer the continued presence of the parking lot. Neighbors on Naudain Street were mostly concerned about the presence of a new tall building on their block, which would have a significant impact on light and air on their very skinny street. Also, apparently a few neighbors feared they would be unable to utilize their garages if the building was constructed as proposed.

Looking down Naudain. It's really narrow!

Despite the concerns of some of the near neighbors, the QVNA Zoning Committee decided to support the project. In our estimation, they did this because the developer was proposing a reasonable number of large units, with 1:1 parking, and would be able to do many more units by right if he so chose. It’s remarkable that the Naudain Street homes were built in such a way that their garages would become unusable in the event something were built across the street, but hopefully the developer’s willingness to set back the parking gate several feet will relieve this hardship.

We’ll be happy to see this project approved and built, with another big vacant lot on Front Street soon to follow.