In the spring, we told you of plans for a sixteen-unit building on a vacant lot in Old City, north of the Ben Franklin Bridge. So when a reader checked in over the weekend, sharing news that a new hole had appeared on 2nd Street north of the bridge, we guessed that the apartment project was approved and underway. We were, it seems, mistaken. Instead, a totally different project is now underway on the northwest corner of 2nd & Vine.
A little bit of detective work using the L&I Map revealed that developers are building six new homes on this stretch, replacing a surface parking lot and a one-story stucco building. The homes will be oriented on 2nd Street, and there will be parking in the back of each home, accessed via a drive-aisle on Vine Street. Looking at the site plan, it looks like the curb cut will only move a little bit from where it is today or it might not move at all.
This project reminds us a little of a larger development under construction near Broad & Bainbridge, mostly due to its proximity to a gas station. But hey, if people are willing to pay big bucks to live immediately next door to a gas station in Hawthorne, we don't imagine people will hesitate to pay big bucks to live across the street from one in Old City. We always kind of liked the smell of gas station, to be honest.
As for the apartment building planned to the south and pictured above behind the gas station, it looks like that project has been nixed. The case was withdrawn from the ZBA back in July, which means that either the owners are sitting on the property for now or they'll soon be conjuring up a different proposal. Kind of a shame, we were excited to see an eight story building go up here. Do any neighbors have some insight into what happened with that project?