You would think that by now there wouldn’t be any vacant lots left in Bella Vista, which is a fairly established neighborhood. Yet here and there, a handful of vacant lots have persisted, with developers slowly picking them off and building on them over the years. Notable examples include the two homes on the 800 block of Bainbridge that have been built in the last year (one of which covered a popular mural), and the four homes that replaced a vacant lot at 7th & Bainbridge.
Today, we bring news of another vacant lot that’s not long for this world, 727 Bainbridge St.
This lot has been empty for at least ten years, and was purchased by an investor for $276K a couple of months ago. This was a purchase from a bank, which had foreclosed on the property just a few months prior. The price may seem high, but the lot is extremely desirable, measuring 21’x70′, and providing enough room for the developer to build a home that could sell for nearly a million dollars. And considering the block that it’s on, with a mix of attractive older homes and inoffensive newer homes, the sale price could potentially even hit $1M.
The project is going to the ZBA tomorrow, with the developer requesting the addition of a garage for the new home. Considering that there are several curb cuts already on this block, we’d suspect that they’ll have a good case with the ZBA. Our only hope is that the architecture for the home does a decent job fitting in with the surrounding buildings, and the builders’ reach doesn’t exceed their grasp.