We've always wanted to live next door to a park. And who wouldn't? We'd appreciate the natural light, the fresh air, and the sounds of children playing and dogs barking. And we're not even picky! We don't need a big park like Rittenhouse Square or Dickinson Square Park, we'd be thrilled with a smaller community park like Julian Abele or Cianfrani Park at 8th & Fitzwater.
If you're like us and would appreciate the chance to live next to Cianfrani Park, you'll soon have the opportunity. Developers purchased 735 and 737 Pemberton St. a little over a year ago and have been working on plans to build a new home on a large lot that would combine the two properties. They went before the Bella Vista Neighbors Association several times with different variations of their plan before finally coming up with something that would get approval at the ZBA. That approval came back in June, and now they have demolition permits in hand.
If you look up Perth Street from where this home will rise, you see it dead-ends to a construction fence. That, of course, will eventually be the second phase of the Bella Vista Strada project which we last looked in the fall. Today, you can see the completed two homes on the north side of the street and foundations for the three homes to come on the south side of the street.
One of the homes on Bainbridge Street is under agreement at a list price of $1.35M, and the other is still available for purchase at the same price. Perhaps, once one or both are sold, we'll see action on the southern homes. If that construction coincides with the construction for the home on Pemberton, the park might not be such a pleasant place for a few months. If all this construction happens during the winter though, the work could be mostly inside by the time spring rolls around. The clock is ticking.