Oh, Francisville. Every time we turn around, it seems like some rehab or new construction project is getting started. This summer we’ve brought you a number of Francisville posts, many centered around the 19th & Poplar intersection.

These posts have included a 10-home project at Ginnodo and Ridge, a major mixed-use project at 19th and Perkiomen (on which we’ll bring you an update about soon), an eight-unit project coming just north of 19th and Poplar, and several other one and two-off projects, all centered around this corner.

Rendering of the Ginnodo homes, currently under construction

Now, directly across the street from the four duplexes coming to the corner of Cambridge Street, we’ve espied a zoning notice for an application that was granted after a September 12th ZBA hearing.

927 N 19th St.

In its current state, 927 N. 19th St. is a vacant shell with what appears to be an abandoned home to its north, and a vacant PHA-owned lot to the south that contains a rickety looking pickup truck. The zoning app taped to a boarded up ground-floor window indicates plans for a rear third-story addition and the creation of a six-family dwelling. Stronghold Property Investments acquired the property, zoned for multi-family use, in February, paying a mere $50K for the nearly 3,000 sqft structure that sits on an extremely deep 120′ lot.

From a distance, with the PHA lot next door

A year from now, the N. 900 block of 19th Street should look far different. Those abandoned homes and vacant overgrown lots will (hopefully) be transformed into condos and apartments that will contain new residents for this growing neighborhood. We wonder, how long will it be until the spillover continues in earnest north of Girard Avenue?

–Lou Mancinelli