A little less than a month ago, we told you that the vacant former church at 1734 Ridge Ave. would soon be demolished, but we didn't know for sure what would rise in its place. A reader tipped us off, having attended a community meeting last week where Loonstyn Properties presented a plan for a 30 unit building, which got support from the neighbors in Francisville. Even though they didn't mention it, we have to imagine the project will also include some commercial component on the first floor.
According to the reader, CANNO Design did a really nice job on the architecture for the project, but we're sorry to say we weren't able to get our mitts on a rendering. In the meantime though, check out these photos of some ongoing demolition. It's a bit of a business in the front/party in the back situation right now, but it won't be long before the entire building is gone.
Of course, if you look at the property from Ridge Avenue, your eye immediately drifts to the neighboring property at 1800 Ridge Ave., where it appears that some work has taken place lately. Though the building has been vacant for many years, it has retained some wonderful bones and for years we've thought that it would make for a wonderful residential conversion. According to the permits, developers are planning 32 units and ground floor commercial. This is obviously great news and it'll complement the new construction we mentioned earlier and possible new development at the vacant lot on the other side, once the site of the Ridge Avenue Farmers Market.
This building has been on and off the market repeatedly over the years, with listings dating back to at least 2004 and asking prices topping out at a highly unrealistic $1.2M. It sold earlier this year for $500K. The building was most recently used as a boarding house, though we confess we have no idea what it was used for when it was first constructed.
Reading through the old listings, we got a real sense of the changing circumstances of Ridge Avenue. A listing from 2012 states that this building would be great for a group home or boarding house, while the most recent listings describe the opportunities for condo conversion. We'd bet on rentals given the number of units and the relatively small size of the building, but we can't be sure. One thing we are sure of is that Francisville is heading in a really positive direction and with the new residential density we're seeing, growth of Ridge Avenue as a commercial corridor is soon to follow.