As recently as 2011, the northwest corner of 16th & Montgomery was a desolate place. One home with a creepy mural was surrounded by so many vacant lots. It should come as no surprise that all the lots on this corner were owned by City agencies.

Just a couple of years ago

Last summer, we visited the area and showed you that the lots to the north of the home had disappeared. And we warned you that the lots to the south were on the outs. Along with the unfortunate mural. Passing by last week, we discovered that the buildings we previously covered are finished and the lots closer to the corner are under construction.

At the corner

Phase 1

In case you don't remember, this is all part of one large project from Maze Group Development. When all the construction is finished, there will be thirty-nine apartment units and 22 parking spaces where there was once twelve vacant lots. The first seven buildings were occupied for this school year, with three bedroom units listed for rent at $1875/mo. We would imagine that the next round of apartments ought to be done sometime over the summer, or at least in time for the fall semester.

With the Liacouras Center just a block away, this stretch clearly makes sense for student housing. But as we did before, we suspect the neighbor who lived in the one home on the block was probably happier with things the way they were. Let's face it, being surrounded by a revolving door of student apartments would probably be pretty terrible. Unless, of course, you're a college student yourself.