We brought 2221 N College Ave. to your attention a couple years ago, noting the unusual triangular shape of the building and the fact that it looked like death warmed over. At the time, we told you that a developer had purchased the building back in 2012 and had begun doing work on the property, but that work stalled out and the building was sitting blighted, vacant, and roofless. Recently, a notice appeared on the building with a warning that the building was unsafe and that the owner had 30 days to make repairs. Without action from the owner of the property, the City could demolish the building.
This situation was brought to our attention by the person that runs the @genbrewerytown Instagram feed. It's no shock that the possible demolition of this building would be a cause for concern for this individual, as their favorite pasttime is photographing buildings in and around Brewerytown, monitoring blight and redevelopment. @genbrewerytown is now working hard to ensure that this building survives, and has put up several posts in the last few days urging its preservation. In their last post, they indicated that they were able to find the owner of the property and they learned that the owner has already submitted plans to the City to renovate the building. Talk is cheap though, let's see how this place looks in a few months. Assuming, of course, it's still standing.
Unfortunately, the three PHA-owned properties on Thompson Street remain as vacant as they were when we last visited this block. With a major affordable housing project underway in this section of town, it's quite possible that they could soon get fixed up though. Ditto the run of vacant lots on the western side of the block, also owned by PHA. On the other end of the spectrum, we see that a new duplex is under construction from a market rate developer close to 23rd Street. And there are several other privately owned properties on the block. If all goes well, this block may well end up mixed-income in a few years, something we simply don't see much of around town. And with luck, it will include a renovated triangular building at the corner.