Fishtown’s Konrad Square Park is a wonderful oasis of green space, just a block off of Frankford Avenue, with nearly an acre of trees and grass. The park is named for a firefighter, Joseph Konrad, who unfortunately lost his life in a fire on Tulip Street back in 1984. This space was originally home to a carpet mill and homes, but was eventually converted to green space, we think sometime in the 1980s. Today, the surrounding blocks of Dauphin, Fletcher, Tulip, and Sepviva are quite desirable because of the combination of the nearby burgeoning commercial corridor and the park.

It’s with an eye toward the desirable nature of these blocks that Lily Development purchased 2208-12 E. Fletcher St. at some point in the last couple years. By right, they’ve been able to build three town homes on these properties, which were previously home to a one story garage and some vacant land. We would argue that these homes are a dramatic improvement over what was here previously, and at least one person agrees with us, as one of the homes recently sold for $550K. The two remaining homes are still listed for sale for $569K.

These homes are an improvement over the standard new construction architecture we’ve seen around town, which is pretty consistent with what we’ve seen in other projects from this developer. Considering that they’re getting these kinds of prices in this part of town for homes that don’t include parking, we have to think that the interiors of the homes are pretty great as well. They do stand in strong contrast to a couple of properties down the street on Sepviva.

Here we see an old garage that got a couple stories added on top as well as an old industrial building that looks like it was renovated, perhaps to residential use, at some point in the last handful of years. So not only is Konrad Square Park a pleasant break from the urban streetscape, but the properties surrounding it also offer some nice architectural diversity. Bit of a pleasant change of pace from what we’re used to, if we do say so.