We were passing through South Kensington the other day and stopped dead in our tracks at the corner of 6th & Montgomery when we spotted a relatively large project in the very earliest construction phases on the southeast corner. This property had been sitting mostly vacant for a very long time, with the exception of a little one-story structure on its eastern end. The little building is now gone. If you visit the property today, you’ll see a construction fence and a number of pipes sticking up out of the ground, evidence of initial plumbing site work.

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Current view at 6th & Montgomery
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View at Randolph & Montgomery

It turns out Streamline is developing this property, with a plan to build a three-story building with 46 units. Our initial suspicion was that the units would be listed for rent- after all, there’s not much in this part of town by way of condos. But that won’t be true for very long, as this will indeed be a condo project. One of the units is already listed for sale, with 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, and roughly 1,100 sqft of living space for $225K. We honestly don’t have any clue whether buyers will be thrilled about condos at this location or underwhelmed, but surely the developers feel it’ll be the former.

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Project rendering

At first blush, this project seems like it’s happening a little beyond the development core of South Kensington. But upon further review, it starts to make a little more sense. We’ve already covered several projects in this vicinity, including the new homes just to the north, on Morse Street. One of them already sold for $330K, btw.

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New homes across the street

On Germantown Ave., just below Montgomery, we told you a few months ago about plans to build a few new buildings along with a coffee shop. A few different buildings are planned for the point of the triangle formed by 5th Street, Germantown Ave., and Cecil B. And Saint Benjamin’s is around the corner to boot! So there’s little doubt that people will want to live here, it’s just a question of whether a condo approach will be popular. Fortunately, should the units not move as quickly as desired, a pivot to rentals would be extremely easy for a building like this.