In Francisville, long vacant lots are filling in at a disarming pace, and it seems like the development fisherman has hooked another big one. A reader checked in today, alerting us to the outcome of last night's Francisville Neighborhood Development Corporation zoning meeting, where neighbors overwhelmingly supported a new development at 1617-33 Poplar St. that would replace a giant vacant lot near Ridge Avenue.
As you can see, this parcel is quite large and quite vacant. The overhead view is clearly from a couple of years ago and doesn't show other development that's happened nearby since. Surrounded by other projects, the new development here will feel quite at home, though it will be among the larger projects to come down the pike for this area. So you may wonder, what was it that neighbors learned about last night and supported to the tune of 69-4?
The five-story building, designed by Harman Deutsch, will have 46 apartment units and 38 parking spots on the first floor. The parking will take up almost the entire first floor. The unit count will include 14 studios, 20 one-bedrooms, and 12 two-bedrooms. It looks like the 5th floor is set back from the front of the building, and plans indicate a shared amenity space in the rear with a shared balcony. At the meeting, the developer indicated that they'll be holding onto the building as a rental property in the immediate future, and will either condo it out (we don't see it) or sell the entire building down the line.
Typically when we see buildings like this we hope for some sort of commercial downstairs, but we're actually kind of glad the developers didn't go that route. With the improvements coming to Ridge Avenue with still plenty of room to grow, we're not sure additional retail competition would be beneficial, nor are we confident that a business would thrive in this building at this location. That being said, we also wouldn't have complained above less parking and more eyes on the street but it's clear that the community was looking for as much parking as possible with this project. And they are indeed getting just that.
Look for construction to get moving in April, assuming zoning and building permits come through as expected.