Bella Vista and Queen Village are a mess right now thanks to a bunch of road work, but the 500 block of Bainbridge Street was closed today thanks instead to real estate development. Two projects are simulaneously under construction on this block, and they're rather different from one another. First, let's look at the four-story building now getting framed out at 519 Bainbridge St., a former surface parking lot.
We first told you about this project last summer, shortly after the project was approved by the ZBA. To refresh your memory, there are three distinct buildings under construction here, with one unit above two parking spaces. Two additional duplexes sit behind it with a footpath that will allow access to those buildings. Eventually, another six-unit building will go up to the north, with frontage on Kater Street. Developer Haffey Homes will be listing the units for sale in the next month or so, with expected completion of the first phase at the end of the summer. Take a look at this rendering from Harman Deutsch to get an idea of what's coming.
Just a few steps to the east, there's some serious progress to report on a project we've been eyeing for years.
Back in the summer of 2013, we first shared the news that developers had purchased the buildings on the northwest corner of 5th & Bainbridge and were planning a boutique hotel above ground-floor retail. Half a year later, we provided an update that the project had been approved by the ZBA, but the developers didn't seem like they were in such a hurry to move forward with construction, progressing rather slowly. In recent months, it seems that construction has ramped up and we're cautiously optimistic that this 29-room hotel could come online by the end of the year. The renovation effort, which combines a number of older buildings, reminds us of a mixed-use project that recently wrapped up at 4th & Queen, and the renderings actually evoke that project a little bit. The renderings, by the way, come from Atrium Design, who also appear to be principals in the project.
Soon enough, both projects will be finished and we won't have to deal with road closures due to construction. Whether the road work in other parts of the neighborhood will be finished by then, we won't try to guess.