Though it feels like seven years ago (thanks COVID), it was only seven months ago that we shared some upcoming development news for the southeast corner of 19th & Bainbridge. As we told you then, the Foreign Mission Board (FMB), a non-profit which operates numerous mission stations in Africa, the Caribbean, and Central America, had its offices at 701-703 S. 19th St. since at least the 1930s, in a humble pair of buildings that belied their good works. Last year though, they listed these buildings for sale with an eye toward moving to new offices in Overbrook Park. Zatos Investments ended up buying the properties for $1.15M, which is a higher price than one might have predicted.

When we last reported on this property, we told you that the developers would be pursuing a by-right development and would be tearing down the buildings and constructing a six-unit condo building in their place. Over the last couple months, the buildings have indeed been torn down in anticipation of this project. The site isn’t clear and ready for construction just yet, but it should be sooner than later.

But the 6-unit project isn’t all that this developer has in store for this corner. We don’t know whether the developers approached the owners or vice versa, but we now see that 705-07 S. 19th St. are also owned by Zatos Investments, selling at the same price as the two properties at the corner. Looking at old permits, we see that both of these properties were used as rooming houses for years before getting converted into quadplexes in the 1980s. Somewhere along the way, these hundred year old buildings also picked up new facades, but they thankfully maintained their historic cornices.

As you might expect, you can officially kiss those cornices goodbye. Zatos will similarly be demoing these buildings and intends to build a second condo building next to the one at the corner, this time with seven units. Gnome Architects has done the design work for both, creating a pair of nice looking buildings that look like they’re part of one holistic development. This makes sense, since that’s totally the case.

Given the high prices that the developers paid for these properties, it comes as no surprise that they’re pursuing as much density as possible. Along those lines, we have to think that these condos will be on the very high end, in order to squeeze as much sale price as possible per square foot. The northern building has the benefit of an existing curb cut which will allow for a few parking spaces, but the southern building will have no parking at all. Still, this is a very walkable location which makes sense for bikers too- so the parking or lack thereof shouldn’t be such a deal breaker. That being said, figure parking around 19th & Bainbridge will get just a touch tighter once these units are built and occupied.