The 2100 block of Walnut Street is one of the most desirable in town, and yet for years 2110 Walnut St. was sitting vacant, used as a surface parking lot. This represented a great development opportunity, though nobody ever took advantage for whatever reason. Roughly two years ago though, developers were looking to move forward with a plan to build a nine story building at this address, a project that also called for the full renovation of and integration with the adjacent home.

The developers, Astoban Realty, went pretty far down the path, getting plans from architects Cecil Baker + Partners and approval from the Historical Commission. Unfortunately though, they didn’t get support from CCRA, and they were faced with legal challenges from near neighbors that opposed the project, so they withdrew their project before it was heard by the ZBA. We lamented this situation at the time, but figured it would only be a matter of time before some variation of this project was able to move forward.

That matter of time was less than a year, with the a revised project ultimately getting approved by the ZBA in early 2017. And you can see from the photos below, or if you’ve walked past this address at some point over the last several months, that construction is very much ongoing.

We’re not exactly sure what changes were made to the project that got it across the finish line for approvals, though the rendering on the developer’s website is quite different than the original renderings we showed for the project. The new building at 2110 Walnut St. matches its neighbor in terms of massing and window heights, with a mansard on the 4th floor. Also, it appears that the eastern section of the addition has been pulled back so that you can’t see it from street level. One thing that’s clear from the rendering and from observing the property in person is that the setback upper levels are radically different, architecturally, than the other buildings on the block.

We probably should have mentioned sooner, there building will ultimately include 9 condo units. Those units will be priced as you might expect, with the smallest units clocking in around $2.5M, and the largest unit, the penthouse, listed for $5.75M. Three units, including the penthouse, are already under agreement so if you were hoping to pick up that unit you’re already out of luck. But fear not, there’s still six units available in this building, with the smallest available unit clocking in at roughly 2,800 sqft and the largest at almost 3,700 sqft. Sure, these prices are way high. But like we said before, this is one of the best blocks in town, and the prices certainly suggest as much.