It’s been about a year since we last checked in on 16th Street in Francisville, specifically the stretch of 16th Street between Parrish and Ogden. A reminder, this block, along with the adjacent 1600 block of Ogden Street, was a vast desert of vacancy just a few years back.

The vacancy on Ogden Street was busted by some new construction in 2014, and we’ve seen several new buildings sprout here in the years since then. The east side of 16th Street saw some action soon after, with the long delayed Vineyards at 16 project, while the west side only started lurching forward a year ago, as a new duplex was getting framed when we visited last. We passed by the intersection recently and discovered additional progress, with much of it coming from the folks at Stamm Development.

You can see, there are three new duplexes at 824-28 N. 16th St. and another at 834 N. 16th St. that’s got a similar design to the pair of duplexes around the corner on Orkney Street. A construction fence in front of 830 N. 16th St. is an indication that at least one more duplex is coming to the block, and we can only hope that the three City owned lots at 832, 836, and 838 N. 16th St. will get sold to developers in the near future. We should mention, the lower unit at 834 N. 16th St. is listed for sale, with the 3 bedroom, 2.5 bathroom unit listed for $350K.

We should also mention that Stamm Development is responsible for several mixed-use projects at various stages of development on the 1500 and 1600 blocks of Ridge Avenue. These guys obviously have a major stake in the future of the commercial corridor in this neighborhood, and are doing their part to increase the customer base for the businesses that will eventually open nearby. We’ve been saying for years that Ridge is on the cusp, and we swear it’s going to happen for the corridor one of these days. Based on the admittedly small sample size of the popularity of the Vineyards Cafe across the street from all these new duplexes, we believe the community would support all kinds of businesses on the corridor. Those businesses are just gonna need to open, already.