Over the years, we've beaten you over the head with stories about redevelopment just north and west of Penn, near Lancaster Avenue. Baring Street in particular has been an unprecedented source of Naked Philly stories, from the slow and steady transformation of the 4000 block to the recent news of three new homes coming to 42nd & Baring. But despite all the new construction and the dozens of new apartments, blight, vacancy, and development opportunities remain. For example, a double wide building we originally mentioned three years ago on 40th Street just north of Baring remains in terrible condition. And a little to the east, a boarded up home represents another opportunity for redevelopment.
3929 Baring St. was surely built for residential purposes, but we would suspect it hasn't been inhabited for years. Next door is a collection of warehouses that serve as the home base of the Penn Jersey Building Maintenance and Window Cleaning company. The folks who own those warehouses and that company also owned the corner home for decades until selling if off in 2012. We would guess that the building was used for company storage for many years, which is why the window openings are covered.
To this point, no permits to convert the building to residential have been pulled. We wonder, did the current owner purchase the building with an intent to redevelop? Or perhaps with the idea to hold onto the structure for a couple of years and then sell off to a developer? Whatever his plan, we just hope it comes to fruition soon. And in the meantime, perhaps he could stick some actual windows in there? While the structure has some nice bones, its current condition brings down the entire block. C'mon, don't wait until somebody call 311, ok?