It's taken about a year and a half, but construction has finally started on the west side of the 1000 block of S. 17th Street, across the street from Carpenter Square. This stretch of land has been vacant for many years, held in limbo because the City owned almost all of the properties on this side of the block. Two years ago, we learned that the City was finally releasing the land via RFP, and six months later we discovered that the winning bidders were planning sixteen bi-level units for the property, but we weren't sure whether the plans called for eight duplexes or a large condo building.
As the months have rolled off the calendar, a chain-link fence went up around the property but there wasn't much else going on until recently. Over the last week or two, earth has begun to move at the site and now there's a huge hole in the ground.
So hooray! Something is finally happening here! When we first heard about the project, we wondered what it would look like. Thanks to the good people at Harman Deutsch, we have a project rendering to share with you.
As you can see, the project will indeed take the form of eight duplexes. Architecturally, they look far nicer than the countless "G-Ho Specials" in the neighborhood, but they look like they won't quite be on the same level as the Carpenter Square homes across the street. Speaking of Carpenter Square, the mixed-use building on the corner is coming along nicely.
Considering the combination of the Carpenter Square project, the project that just broke ground, and the upcoming Carpenter Green just across the street, this block has taken an amazing leap in the last few years. And it will continue to improve in the next year or two as the mixed-use building finishes, the residential project moves forward, and the park moves onto Phase Two. For people like us who remember what this stretch looked like a decade ago, this transformation is simply amazing.