It was just a few months ago that we visited the southwest corner of 16th & Ogden to tell you about some new duplexes under construction from Stamm Development. At that time, there was construction fence at 830 N. 16th St., a new building at 834 N. 16th St., and a pair of new duplexes around the corner on Ogden Street. Checking in now, we can tell you that the entire duplex at 830 N. 16th St. is already under agreement at a list price of $800K. At 834 N. 16th St., one of the units sold for $392K while the other is under agreement at a price of $339K. On Ogden Street, two of the units are under agreement and two are still listed for sale. Clearly, this project is working out well for this developer.

You can see in the images above that there’s three vacant lots sprinkled in with the new buildings. We’ll consider this progress, as the entire west side of 16th Street and the south side of Ogden Street were sitting totally vacant just a few years ago.

Those three lots, 832 N. 16th St., 836 N. 16th St., and 838 N. 16th St., have been owned by City agencies for many years. And if we consider the history of City agencies owning real estate, it seemed like a reasonable assumption that the lots would continue to sit in municipal hands. Then again, just last month we told you that the City was unloading a ton of vacant lots nearby on the 800 block of N. 15th Street for a workforce housing project. And truth be told, we’ve seen the City much more actively selling off land in the last couple years, as compared to anything we remember previously. So it wasn’t such a far fetched idea that developers could buy these lots and add to the development on this block. And wouldn’t you know, that’s exactly what happened.

At their May meeting, the Land Bank agreed to sell these three properties to developers at a “market rate” price of $435K. We’re pretty sure it’s the same developers that built the adjacent duplexes, so we expect the plans will mimic those buildings from an architectural standpoint. The new owners are planning duplexes for the northern properties and a triplex at 832 N. 16th St. because it’s considerably larger in size. Whatever you think of these buildings, we believe that just about any development here is a win compared to what was here before, and completely filling in this corner will be a coup for the neighborhood. And it won’t hurt the bottom line of the Vineyards Cafe across the street, either.