As the years have passed, we’ve increasingly seen development push northward in South Kensington, with Berks Street generally serving as a stopping point. We’d posit that as things continue to change, we’ll increasingly see construction push into the Norris Square neighborhood. We didn’t realize the extent to which it’s already happening, at least on the 2200 block of N. Howard Street.

This block runs from the northeast corner of Norris Square Park, between Susquehanna Avenue and Dauphin Street, and the existing homes are generally occupied and well tended. There are some vacant lots on the block, but that number is slowly shrinking as developers are actively building here. Last year, three homes were built in the middle of the block, on the west side, and each one sold for around $320K. You can also see in the image above, V2 Properties has a home under construction, which at this point is no surprise in any neighborhood.

A reader reached out to us last week and tipped us off that three more homes are under construction on the block, close to the corner of Dauphin Street. Not only are these homes in progress, but other developers own the corner and have already gotten permits to build yet another home. We’ll be interested to see, later this year, whether the prices for these homes exceed the prices we saw down the block.

In a vacuum, it seems outrageous that developers would be building so far north, into the Norris Square neighborhood. But if you consider the fact that Howard Street sits only half a block west of East Kensington, the development starts to make a little more sense. Sure, it’s happening close to the least desirable section of East Kensington, but apparently it’s still enough of a draw. Just wondering, since the projects on Howard Street are happening west of East Kensington and north of South Kensington, should we start calling this area Weeanoso Kensington? Eh, maybe let’s stick with Norris Square.