A sign caught our eye the other day at the southeast corner of 2nd & Cecil B Moore, posted to a building that was at one time home to a restaurant called the Play Pen. We couldn’t tell you how long it’s been since the restaurant was in active use, but a look inside of the building would seem to suggest that it’s been awhile.

The sign on the building indicates that it represents a development opportunity, so it’s listed for sale as you can imagine. The list price is $700K, which seems a bit high in our estimation. If someone does end up buying the building, they’ll get a mixed-use building that sits on a 24’x75′ lot and has almost 5,000 sqft of interior space. The building has some pretty good bones, with an intact cornice and a ton of windows on its western and northern faces. Still, that retail space needs a ton of work, both inside and outside.

You’ll notice, there are several vacant lots located next door, immediately to the south. Those lots were collectively sold over the summer, with new developers stepping in to the tune of $85K. Thus far, we don’t see any permits on the properties, but it’s a safe bet that the developers will soon get to work on some kind of project. Mixed-use would be by right, but a strictly residential project seems much more likely.

Assuming someone redevelops the corner and the new developers build something next door, it will only add to the momentum on this block. You may recall, developers built some mixed-use buildings across the street and went to the ZBA to change them to triplexes before they were even finished. Also, a new project was approved south of the vacant lots which will include a retail space, parking, and 24 residential units. So maybe the vacant lots will turn into mixed-use after all; with all these new units in the immediate vicinity there might be some opportunities for a business or two on the block.