While traveling through Grays Ferry a week or two ago, we noticed a pair of new homes on the 2600 block of Latona Street, which was an entirely unexpected sight. We've seen an uptick in construction in this neighborhood of late, but there's still so little getting built here that we're generally aware of every project that gets in the ground. But somehow, developers snuck in a pair of homes at 2641 and 2645 Latona St. when we weren't looking. These homes are now listed for sale for $375K and $365K respectively. This is a higher than expected price for Grays Ferry, let alone for homes built on 14'-wide lots.
You can see in this photo, this block isn't exactly one of the best in Philadelphia. On the north side of the block, we count the two new homes we mentioned before, and one older two story home. The south side has roughly twice as many buildings, which doesn't say much.
The developers that built the two new homes on the north side of the block appear to have started working on yet another home on this block, this time on the south side. This home is set to rise at 2628 Latona St., between two of the existing homes. This leads us to believe it will have an unfortunate third floor setback, since we don't see any zoning variance among the permits for the project.
Across the street, a different developer is planning three more homes in the middle of a giant vacant lot. Look for new homes at some point in the near future at 2621, 2625, and 2627 Latona St., with no home likely anytime soon at 2623 Latona St., as it's owned by the Land Bank. The same developer that's planning the three homes we just mentioned also owns 2629 Latona St., so look for another home at that address someday.
It's good news that these homes are on the way, but the block will still have a long way to go. The City owns half a dozen properties on the block while another dozen or so are privately owned and have changed hands in the last few years and should also get redeveloped rather soon. This block certainly bears watching in the years to come.