It’s amazing now that we think about it, but our last visit to the 1200 block of E. Oxford St. occurred almost a decade ago. Back then, we told you about some new homes under construction at 1232 and 1234 E. Oxford St., which were rising on previously vacant lots. When they were finished in 2013, one of those homes sold for $400K and the other traded at $420K. 1234 sold in 2016 for $500K and was recently back on the market at a $625K list price. By the way, it’s already under contract. The rapid appreciation for these homes is a pretty good indication of what has happened across Fishtown, as the neighborhood has become one of the coolest and most attractive in Philadelphia. Still, it’s pretty crazy to see just how high these prices have risen in a relatively short time period.

As we mentioned, the lots at 1232 and 1234 were both vacant before those homes went up, and the same was true of the lots on either side, at the time. New homes finally appeared at 1228 and 1230 E. Oxford St. in 2019, but the four lots next door have remained vacant, with the exception of an old home at 1242. That home, however, was demoed earlier this year, and that wasn’t much of a surprise since developers bought the four properties last year for a combined $800K. All four are sitting vacant today, but not for long.

Within the last few days, the developers that bought the property have pulled permits to redraw the lot lines to create four lots fronting E. Oxford Street and build four homes here. The homes will each have two car parking, accessed from a rear street that we don’t see clearly on the City map, but must exist, since it’s the only way that you could possibly access rear parking for these homes. Interestingly, this little street suddenly stops at the end of this property line, so this parking scheme wouldn’t have been possible for the homes built next door.

Like we said, one of the homes next door is about to sell for over $600K, even though it’s coming to the end of the line for its tax abatement and doesn’t include parking. For these new homes, with a full ten year abatement, a wider footprint, and two-car parking, we have to think that the list prices will be higher by at least a couple hundred thousand dollars. We can even envision a scenario in which these homes will enter the rarified air of trading at seven figures in Fishtown. We gotta say, we didn’t see such a thing coming the last time we visited this block.