A few months ago, we told you about a five-home project in the works at 6th & Jefferson which is now under construction. Around the corner, at the corner of Randolph & Oxford, demolition has wrapped up and a six home project is on the way. In between these projects, at 1500 N. Randolph St., sits a rather large property that's been sitting vacant for many years. According to historic maps, the Consolidated Cigar Company had a factory here at one point, but it disappeared at some point between the 1960s and 2007.
With all of the construction happening nearby, it seems like it was only a matter of time before this property caught the redevelopment bug. We passed by the other day and discovered some heave machinery and a hole in the ground, so it seems the day has come. The 30K+ sqft property was listed for sale back in 2014, selling in a few months for $850K. At the end of last year, developers presented a plan to the ZBA to subdivide the property into seven parcels and build six homes.
This plan confused us at first, as the property can easily accommodate another twenty homes. Looking at a site plan at the Zoning Archive, we see that the developers are merely shaving off the southernmost portion of the parcel to build six homes on Jefferson Street and will keep the remaining 24K sqft of the property vacant, ostensibly for future construction phases. Alternately, they might look to sell off the smaller parcel to another party once they've successfully developed the southern section.
With this project and the two others mentioned above, we see South Kensington continuing its western push. We'd guess that this will continue to a certain extent, with the viaduct near 9th Street potentially providing a natural stopping point. We're still years away from that coming into play though, as the sections of South Kensington near these projects have plenty of vacant land yet to fill.