Needless to say, Point Breeze has experienced a dramatic shift over the last few years, as developers have bought up all available vacant land with an eye toward new construction. Along those lines, most existing homes that come onto the market have either been rehabbed and flipped/rented out or demolished and replaced by more new construction. We see this development all across the neighborhood, but the northeast corner of 18th & Reed in particular presents a microcosm of Point Breeze in 2017, as the entire corner has turned over in the last few years.

Here’s a view of this corner from 2011, thanks to Google Street View:

Viewed from the north, we see 1335-37 S. 18th St. was a two-story home, while 1339 and 1341 S. 18th St. were sitting vacant. Looking to the east, the corner was a mixed-use building with a church next door. 1729 and 1727 Reed St. were unrenovated three story buildings, and 1356 S. Bouvier St. was another vacant lot. Checking in on this corner today, we see a world of difference.

Developers bought 1335-37 S. 18th St. back in 2013 and renovated the building into a rental. A pair of new homes have sprouted next door, with 1337 S. 18th St. now under construction and 1339 S. 18th St. selling back in 2015. We can’t quite figure out why the developers opted for a third floor setback at 1339, as it wasn’t required by the code. Nothing to be done at this point, sadly.

Turning the corner to Reed Street, we see the old mixed-use building was demolished and a new mixed-use building is rising in its place. Unlike other new construction mixed-use we’ve seen around town, we believe the builders of this project actually intend to maintain ground floor commercial use. At least that’s what the large windows would suggest to us. Next door, the sign is gone from the church, and we see that developers purchased the property a couple years ago. Figure it’s only a matter of time before the church gets renovated to residential or demoed and replaced by a new building. Moving further east, developers have renovated the three story buildings on the block, and there’s a new home finishing up on the corner of Bouvier Street.

To be clear, this is an unusually concentrated pocket of development, and much of the other development in the neighborhood is much more scattered. This corner may have changed considerably, but other corners in Point Breeze look exactly as they did five years ago. We have to think, though, that this corner is probably a good indication for what’s to come for those heretofore untouched corners. That being said, would it be too much to ask for some of this development activity to spread to Point Breeze Avenue?