We've said numerous times over the last few years that Ridge Avenue is on the rise, and you can find two fine examples of this situation on the 1700 block. The most obvious change to the status quo is at 1731 Ridge Ave., where a new building is under construction on a property that has been vacant for many years. To our surprise, we see that the property was listed for sale a little less than a year ago for $110K and sold two weeks later for $100K. The developers that purchased the lot are now building a structure with two commercial spaces and two apartments which we'd bet will be sold off as condos. While it's nice to see the new construction here, we find our gaze is drawn to the building next door, which was surely much more handsome before most of the cornice fell off.
Across the street, a much larger project is looming, as a vacant building at 1734 Ridge Ave., most recently home to a church, will soon be demolished. We actually mentioned this property about a month ago, as part of a story about some upcoming construction around the corner on Leland Street. As we told you then, Loonstyn Development has owned the building for several years and now it appears as though they're ready to move forward with a project. It's good timing, with some additional projects coming soon to some long vacant land a few doors down.
We don't know exactly what's coming to this property, but with mixed-use zoning we'd wager that we'll see a 4-5 story building with ground-floor retail and a bunch of apartments. We feel like we're repeating ourselves, but we'll say again that high density development is the key to unlocking the potential of the Ridge Avenue commercial corridor. As more vacant lots fill in and more vacant buildings get replaced, Ridge Avenue will get more and more attractive to retailers. It should be amazing, in the coming years, to see what types of businesses arrive on the corridor.