Here’s a test, to see if you were paying attention a couple years ago. Who can tell us where to find Erdman Street? No cheating.

Erdman Street is a tiny alleyway in Francisville that’s only accessible from Perkiomen Street. When we last visited this block, it looked like garbage, strewn with trash and overgrown with all kinds of weeds.

We brought the block to your attention back then because we had learned that a developer had purchased some land on the block. The developer, David Champagne, had built other homes in the neighborhood and was planning to move lot lines around to build a quartet of homes. It turns out, Champagne simply took the properties through permitting and then sold them to a different developer about a year ago. The listing for the lots included an elevations drawing from Plumbob which showed some nice looking contemporary homes.

Checking in on the block today, we can see that things are much improved. Also, the four new homes are progressing well.

Unfortunately, it seems that the new developer has opted to take the facades in a very different direction than the elevations drawing above. We’re generally okay with siding on the sides and backs of new homes, but we can’t say we love the choice to put siding on these facades. Despite the siding, we have a feeling that buyers will quickly come forward for these homes. The market is such in this neighborhood that it probably doesn’t even matter that there’s no street in front of these homes; people will still want to live here.