If you've passed by 21st & Webster at any point in the last few weeks, you've probably noticed a new home under construction. Had you visited this corner just a few months ago though, you wouldn't have considered this possibility since every other property on the 2100 block of Catharine goes street to street. Somewhere along the line, the back section of 2100 Catharine St. was lopped off, creating an independent 19' x 18' parcel that still looked like a backyard for the adjacent Mount Sinai Holy Church.

In the past

We attended a SOSNA zoning meeting last summer where developers presented the plans for this little property. Despite some objections from near neighbors, the developers got approval from the ZBA and now they're well on their way to building a home here. To refresh your memory, the home will have a kitchen in the basement, living and dining rooms on the first floor, and a bedroom on each of the upper two floors. Clearly, the challenging dimensions are necessitating the unique layout here. Looking at the current state of affairs, the new home certainly sticks out a bit.

Current view

Looking west on Webster Street

View from Catharine Street

The property isn't listed for sale yet from what we can tell, but we'll be very interested to see what kind of price the developers are able to get for this home. Demand for homes in this neighborhood continues to be very strong, with two story homes without tax abatements selling nearby at prices in the mid-400K range. Newer homes (but not brand new) with parking are getting interest at prices over $700K. With no clear comps, it's hard to predict what someone will be willing to pay here or what an appraiser might say. But if we were listing the property we might start at $500K and see what the market bears. Who knows, maybe someone will fall in love with one of the most unique homes in the neighborhood and pay top dollar.