We don’t remember the 1000 block of N. Bodine St. before the arrival of Liberties Walk about a dozen years ago, and sadly, neither does Google Street View. Old maps show that the eastern side of the block was traditionally used for industrial purposes, while the west side of the block was more of a mix of industry and residences. More recently, both sides of the block have been dominated by the aforementioned Liberties Walk, with a large cluster of homes close to Wildey Street, and two residential properties on the north side of the block. One of those buildings, 1034 N. Bodine St., has been covered here a couple times before.
Looking at the image above, the reason for us alerting you to the property becomes incredibly clear. A newish home stood next door. Philadelphia’s version of Downtown Disney was on the other side. And here stood this home, boarded up and sticking out like a sore thumb. Way back in 2011, we told you that it had traded back in 2005 for $184K and wondered why Tower hadn’t been able to pry it away from the owners, if for no other reason than to eliminate an eyesore next to their large project. A year later, we heard rumblings about some potential renovation efforts, but nothing ended up happening in the end. And we haven’t had any new updates to provide in the nearly six years since then.
We had just enjoyed a tasty treat from One Shot Coffee the other day and were passing by this address, as we have countless times in the last half dozen years, but this time we noticed something entirely new and different. The building was gone!
Finally, after all these years, the property is under new ownership. Developers bought the property a couple months back, paying $230K. Lest you think they got an amazing deal, the parcel is unusually shaped, measuring 21.5′ wide by 32.5′ deep. On the other hand, the property is zoned CMX-3, which is a very permissive zoning designation in terms of height and density. The developers are planning a four-story duplex here, which still needed to come before NLNA last month for support. It received support in the end, so now we can expect a new development here in the very near future, assuming the ZBA similarly gives their blessing. We don’t see why they wouldn’t, which will mean a long blighted property will finally move along on the road to redevelopment. And Bart Blatstein is probably getting a chuckle out of this, wondering why this couldn’t have happened a decade ago.