We last visited the 2000 block of E. Letterly St. in the fall of 2015, telling you about several new townhomes that were in various stages of the construction process. Since that time, as you can probably guess, all of those homes are finished and sold, with prices ranging between $270K for a home that was completed at the end of 2015, to $400K for a home that was finished at the end of 2016. We’d say that the buyers at the former home underpaid, and the buyers at the latter home either overpaid or have a very customized and tricked out house. Even accounting for those factors, this paints a picture of the unprecedented strength of the market these days in East Kensington.
While we were pleased to see some infill development on this block, we were particularly entranced by the potential of the properties across the street. At the end of 2015, that side of the street looked like this:
Well, that’s a bunch of vacant land. Guess what it looks like today:
Back when we last visited this block, we told you that a private developer owned a large chunk of the vacant land on this block and we were optimistic that they’d eventually come around and build some homes. And wouldn’t you know it, that’s exactly what’s happening. This developer is now building seven new homes which we have to think will be listed for sale. Given the prices we’ve already seen on this block and considering that these homes will be a foot wider than the homes across the street, a $400K price point seems reasonable. Or who knows, maybe it’ll be higher.
We should mention, there’s still vacant land on this block, next door to the construction site. Lest you think that another project will soon crop up on this block, we should warn you that the rest of the vacant land on the block is owned by City agencies. There’s a chance they’ll sell them next week, there’s a chance they’ll still own them in thirty years. For now though, it’s at least a welcome sight to see more than half the vacancy disappear from this block of Letterly Street.