We got an enthusiastic email the other day from a reader who noticed two homes getting rehabbed on her block. We made our way over to 1407-09 S. 21st St. and found that this is indeed the case.

In the past

View today

Looking at public record, we see that the two homes were purchased by Raza Enterprises just a few weeks ago, each for $26.5K. According to their Facebook page, these guys have done several projects in the neighborhood in the last few years, all as rentals. For this particular project, the long-blighted properties were listed for sale, with the listing stating that the “buyer is on notice that this is an as-is sale, no guarantee that the property will be “broomswept” or cleaned out, no improvements or seller repairs will be made.” Always encouraging.

Nice lookin' cornices

According to the permits that have been pulled, the buildings are undergoing complete interior renovations with replacement of doors, windows, plumbing and electrical systems. The permits also indicate that the brick fronts will be replaced, leading us to wonder (hope) that the cornices will be preserved, a la a project we once told you about a few blocks away on Carpenter Street.

Kinda like this

Point Breeze Avenue is directly to the north of these homes, with a check-cashing triangle and a constantly singing church in plain view. To the south is a bunch of vacant land.

The Breeze

Looking down the block

Projects like this signal that development is continuing to spread south of Reed Street in this neighborhood. Assuming that this continues to be the case, we’ll expect to see more blighted properties in the area fixed up in the near future, and perhaps more importantly, some of the copious vacant land filled in by new construction. This far south, it will surely be a slow process, but we expect it to be a steady process as well.