We’ve spent plenty of time covering development in Brewerytown over the last decade, but it’s worth remembering there are still a fair number of vacant lots in the neighborhood, particularly on the northern end of the neighborhood. Some of those lots have been vacant for decades. Others have only become vacant rather recently. The lots at 1601-05 N. 27th St. fit squarely into the latter category.

You can see, three homes once stood on these three lots. Developers that previously owned the properties got a variance from the ZBA in 2019 to construct three new construction homes here. A variance was needed because these are extremely small lots, each measuring just over 600 sqft. For context, a new construction home is usually 40 feet deep and these lots only go back 35 feet. Those last few feet are pretty important, whether it’s for a home or a yard or both. We suspect that the homes that stood here were demoed in anticipation of this project, but as you can see it never moved forward.

New developers now own the property and they are looking to pivot to a different approach. They came to the Zoning Board recently with plans to consolidate the three properties into one property and construct a five-unit condo building on the site. This required a ZBA visit because the lots are both zoned for single-family use and also sit within the Brewerytown-Sharswood/Celestial Community Subarea, which restricts height to 35 feet for this property. Given the multi-family nature of the project and the 52.5′ proposed height, the developers needed several variances for this four-story project.

The ZBA approved the project, in a manner of speaking. While the project technically received approval, there are two notable provisos that will materially impact the proposal. First, the ZBA was only willing to allow four units. Second, the ZBA is requiring that the developers stick to the required height in the overlay district, meaning that the new building will only be allowed to rise 35 feet.

This is surely a disappointing outcome for the developers, as these provisos will almost definitely make it impossible to redevelop these parcels in a way that’s economically feasible. Unfortunately, as long as the aforementioned overlay remains in place, the kind of neighborhood scale development that we’ve seen in recent years will grind to a halt, further constricting the housing supply in this part of town. Long vacant lots will likely remain vacant in the foreseeable future too, as developer seek friendlier pockets of town. Here’s to hoping that when other proposals start meeting a similar fate, we’ll see the overlay reconsidered in City Council.