Over two years ago, we brought 1501 S. 20th St. to your attention just as interior demolition work had taken place. We didn't have much more info about the project, though at the time it was noteworthy to see construction activity stretching so far south in Point Breeze. Today of course, with so much additional development in this neighborhood, a renovation on Dickinson Street is well within our expectations.
Typically when work like this gets underway, it's not long before a new addition arrives, a new kitchen and some bathrooms get built, and some new people move in. At this corner though, the building remained pretty much unchanged, slowly rotting in the sun, for almost two years. Recently though, new framing arrived on the third floor. Something about it looks haphazard though.
Last year, the building collected all sorts of violations for its waning structural integrity, all of which have seemingly been corrected. The bracing you see on the second floor was required for the developers to continue moving forward with their construction. Surely a professional engineer examined the building and certified that it was stable and could handle the weight of an additional story.
Maybe it's because we know the building sat as a roofless shell for two years, maybe it's because we saw the laundry list of corrected violations, and maybe it's just because it looks like a strong breeze would blow it down, but something is telling us to keep our distance from this property. But hey, we truly hope our gut is wrong, that the renovated building will look great, and that it will stand for three-hundred years.