It was about a year ago that a neighbor on the 1500 block of Brown Street emailed us, frustrated about the poor condition of multiple buildings backing up to their property from the 1500 block of Ridge Avenue. We were pleased to share the news that three of those buildings, 1526-30 Ridge Ave., had been listed for sale and quickly went under agreement, making it likely they'd get redeveloped sooner rather than later. Just a few months ago, we passed along the information that the three buildings would be demolished and that developers were planning a five-story mixed-use building in their place. That project got approval from the ZBA in October, but the unit count was sadly reduced from ten to eight. Oh well, still good progress.
We recently found ourselves on this block and felt like something was amiss. We had anticipated the demolition of three buildings, but the gap on the block was much larger than we would have expected. So we took a look at an old view from Google Maps Street View to figure out what's happening.
Here's what it looks like now:
The three buildings slated for demolition have indeed come down. But two additional buildings, at 1534-36 Ridge Ave., are also being demolished at the moment. While the demolition at 1526-30 took place only after a plan went before and got approval from the ZBA, the developers at 1534-36 decided to demolish first and ask for zoning relief later. We admit, we don't know what they're planning for this address, but we'd guess they'll look to build a four or five-story mixed-use building, as several other developers have done on this corridor in the last couple of years. The same developers own the vacant lot at 1538 Ridge Ave., and they've applied to combine that parcel with the property now undergoing demolition, which will make for a more efficient final product. As for what that will look like or how many units it will contain, we'll let you know as soon as we find out.
Meanwhile, Ridge Avenue will soon take yet another step forward as a result of these two projects.