We probably make it up to the Temple area once every month or two, both to check in on the development going on in the area and to enjoy an inexpensive and delicious food truck lunch. Yesterday, after we polished off a tasty crepe, we were exploring near 17th & Diamond when we came upon a new and growing hole in the ground, next door to a building that’s under construction. A couple of years ago, this corner was pretty barren.

In the past

The other day

TRP Homes LLC bought the two lots on the corner earlier this year. According to the L&I Map, they’re building a three story mixed-use building which will have a first-floor office and eight apartments. We wonder whether this will be like some of the buildings that have gone up lately on Cecil B, with “commercial spaces” that only exist to fulfill zoning requirements and will likely be converted to residential in the future.

Next to the future building is a vacant lot, long owned by PHA. Heaven knows when or if anything will happen with that. South of that is 2019 N. 17th St., where AMZ Dev LLC is building a quadplex. And just south of that is another triplex that was built in recent years.

South of the hole, looking into the sun

Zoomed in and therefore less washed out

Look for us to cover some more projects we stumbled upon yesterday in the next week or so. The rampant construction made it really challenging to drive around the area, with the Water Department doing work on one street, PGW on the next, and a truck unloading 2×4’s on yet another. Just goes to show you that the student housing boom near Temple continues to, uh, boom.