Gold Star Park is a gem of a little neighborhood park, with a nice run of grass, some older trees throwing off shade (in a good way) all summer, and a playground to keep the kiddies happy. But if you don't live on or around the 700 block of Wharton Street, it's quite possible you've never even heard of this patch of green space. Thanks to a recently-started residential development though, it's a sure thing that at least two more families will soon bask in the Gold Star glow.

Gold Star Park

The park is bordered by Wharton to the south, Manton to the north, Sheridan to the west, and Marshall Street to the east. And as you can see in the photo above, there are a bunch of lucky folks that live right on the park. Oddly, on Marshall Street, there's been a large vacant lot on the east side of the street for decades just north of the park. A cinderblock fence has been in the front of the property for many years, keeping the property's overgrown foliage off the sidewalk.

In the past

A reader tipped us off though, that the small forest at 1219-23 S. Marshall St. has been tamed and two new homes are now under construction.

Current view

Perhaps you noticed that this development will actually cover three addresses but only two homes are getting built. That's because the lots were only 12' wide and 40' deep, which is far from ideal for new construction. Since the lot lines were changed though, each of the homes will be a comfy 18' wide. Unfortunately, there's still one more vacant 12'-wide lot immediately to the north that the developers weren't able to purchase which will be really tough for someone else to redevelop in the future. Eh, maybe it'll be used as a parking spot with really convenient access to a little neighborhood park.