Like so many other blocks in Fishtown, the only constant is change on the 1100 block of E. Hewson Street. We were in that neck of the woods the other day and spied some new homes getting framed at 1120-28 E. Hewson St., on a parcel that was previously worse for the wear. This property was partially vacant but also had a couple of older homes on it which have clearly been torn down over the last several years.

These homes will each include a garage, as you can probably tell, and have been in the works for a number of years. They first went before the ZBA back in the summer of 2015 and got approval for homes, but the garage plans were denied. It appears the owners appealed this decision to the Court of Common Pleas, somehow winning their case and getting garages for the homes, after all. We haven’t seen many examples of developers successfully appealing this kind of situation, but maybe the fact that these folks were successful will inspire other developers to appeal ZBA rulings only partially in their favor.

As we said, this isn’t the only change this block has seen over the years. You may remember, we told you a few years ago about a thirteen-home project at the end of this block, curling around to Berks Street. There was an industrial building here previously, and that building is long gone, with the homes having been finished and sold back in 2016. Those homes sold in the low $400K range. But we’ve seen prices zoom up in the neighborhood since then, which gives us an indication that the homes currently under construction will sell at much higher prices, maybe exceeding $500K. While the owners of the newer project were surely frustrated by the lengthy delay in getting started, it should actually result in a much more profitable project in the end.