We were in the market for some cases of beer today, and found ourselves at Franklin Beverage on the 1800 block of Callowhill Street (they take American Express, by the way). Before we made our way inside, we noticed a faded zoning notice next door at 1823 Callowhill St., the former home of the Children's Crisis Treatment Center.
According to the zoning notice, developers have plans to demolish this building and replace it with a five-story structure with ground-floor commercial and thirty-two apartments above. The project will also include ten parking spots.
Putting aside our amazement that this thing somehow didn't appear on our radar until now, we decided to do some digging to get some more information. According to public record, the City owns the property. But clearly a developer has purchased the property from the City. And wouldn't you know it, at a PAID meeting about a year and a half ago, the City agreed that it would sell the property to Orens Brothers. At that meeting, the developers indicated that they had an LOI from Callowhill Craft Brewing for a microbrewery and possible restaurant, which would be a cool addition to the neighborhood. They met with LSNA at the beginning of the year, ultimately getting community support and ZBA approval in February.
Once this project gets underway, it will mark another large project for this immediate area. The Granary sprung up a couple years ago just to the west. To the north, Museum Towers II is under construction. Sadly, the large vacant lot immediately to the east continues to sit undeveloped.
Maybe this one will be the next parcel to see some action in this neighborhood, but after decades of vacancy and some envioronmental issues, we're not holding our breath.