On the narrow 100 block of Earp Street sits a boring warehouse that has housed a wood worker for the past several years. But soon, the building at 111-117 Earp St. will go from blah to fabulous if its new owners have anything to say about it.

Current view

Back in June, we told you about plans for six new homes on the 1300 block of Howard and Hancock Streets. The warehouse in question sits just to the south of that proposal, which was approved by the ZBA several months back. Recently, architect Te Chow Lei purchased the warehouse and has proposed a combo workspace/home for himself and his family. A reader was kind enough to send in a rendering:

Quite an improvement

According to the application, Lei will have an office on the 1st and part of the 2nd floor, and will have an apartment on the rest of the 2nd floor and all of the 3rd. We don’t have floor plans to examine here, but we would suspect the interior will be both creative and imaginative, a warehouse home befitting an architect. We can’t quite figure out why there are three garages on the front of the building, though it’s not like they’ll be taking spots off the street or anything. Perhaps to make it easier for clients?

We’re not only glad to see that this location will be improved dramatically, but we always like a good adaptive reuse project. After all, why tear an old building down if you don’t have to?

Excited to see what this place will look like when it’s finished.