About a year ago, we first brought 112-120 Christian St. to your attention, noting that the former home of the Scandinavian Shipping Supply Co. had been on the market for $1.5M but was already under contract. At the time, we wondered whether the buyers would go with town homes on this huge lot or opt for a large apartment building. Recently, we learned that they’re going with homes in the form of two rows with a center courtyard between them and plenty of parking, none of which is on the street. This project would represent the second larger-scale development in the neighborhood that we’ve covered of late.

The building

Developers want to construct nine new town homes, all of which would have roof decks. Four of the homes would front Christian Street and feature rear-access two-car garages. The remaining five would be behind the first four and be separated by a courtyard, and each would have a one-car garage and an outdoor parking space. This would be made possible by the fact that the building sits on a lot that’s 140′ deep.

Curb cuts are already there

But developers will have to reappear before the Queen Village Neighbors Association a second time in November, because the proposed 44′ height in the original plans, designed by Harman Deutsch, was deemed too high by folks at a meeting this month. Neighbors raised this issue when developers appeared before the QVNA zoning committee at its October meeting, according to Mike Hauptman, QVNA zoning chair.

“That’s where we’re at,” said Hauptman. “We told them to come back with shorter houses.”

112-20 Christian St. was acquired last November for $1.6M (above asking price!), according to public record. So it’s clear that the developers have a considerable investment rooted in making this project happen. Couple this one with plans for 75 homes about a block away at Catharine and Delaware Ave., and Queen Village is booming. Expect the QVNA November 12th zoning meeting to be packed. 112-20 Christian St. brought a good turnout the first time around, according to Hauptman, and with the 75-home BridgeView development on Delaware Ave. on the agenda as well, QVNA has its zoning hands full this fall.

–Lou Mancinelli