The Bridgeview project is moving along, and it's hard to miss the progress. We were making a Home Depot run the other day, traveling down Columbus Blvd., and were struck by the changes just north of Catharine Street. Remember, this parcel was a huge vacant lot for a really long time. Now you can see a cement wall with a row of homes above it.
We first brought this project to your attention in the fall of 2013, when we were excited to learn that this lot, bounded by Columbus Blvd, Catharine Street, and I-95, would finally get redeveloped. The plan, in case you don't remember, called for seventy-five homes designed by JKR Partners. The developers are US Construction, and they're following their standard model of building a bunch of new homes and offering them for rent. While the homes fronting Columbus Blvd. still look like they're a ways off, a row of homes on Swanson Street look like they're pretty much ready to go.
Though the layouts vary throughout the development, the homes all have 3 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, about 3,000 sqft of living space, and parking. Looking at the site plan, you can see "street parking," but each spot is assigned to a home.
The homes look nice and we have no doubt they'll quickly get leased out. We've said it before and we'll say it again, we're happy to see that this parcel has gotten redeveloped but we're a bit disappointed with the project itself. A lot this size that's so close to the river and Center City seems like a fabulous candidate for greater height and density. Even a slightly taller project with twice the density and the same amount of parking would have been a step in the right direction. Then again, from what we understand, some near neighbors didn't think that even 1:1 parking was enough. So perhaps, in the world we live in, a more ambitious project would have been a non-starter. Kind of a shame if you ask us.