Fitzwater Street is losing another church.
In just the last handful of years, developers purchased the Metropolitan AME church at 20th & Fitzwater and the Mount Olive AME church at 19th & Fitzwater, demolishing both and replacing them with town homes. Located just north of Fitzwater on 12th Street, New Hope Temple Baptist Church was demolished last year. Now, as we anticipated a few months ago, the Fitzwater Church of God at 1219 Fitzwater St. is also getting torn down. The crew is hard at work as we speak, so if you'd like to see what's left of the church before it's all gone, we suggest you head over there very soon.
Back when we covered the property earlier this year, we weren't sure what was coming here, as the permits on the City website were incomplete. We indicated that the developers could build a 7-unit condo building by right, or perhaps three homes instead. They're taking the latter approach it seems, with permits also indicating that each of the three homes will have parking in the back, accessed via the little-noticed Fawn Street.
We'd have perhaps preferred some added density here, like the triplexes immediately to the east and Hawthorne Lofts at the end of the block, but we can't argue too much about three new homes. Sadly, it goes without saying that as nice as these homes will ultimately look, they won't have the same personality as the building they're replacing.
At least they'll have the wonderful Quetzally Mexican Food right next door- those guys really know what they're doing.