We were traveling across town the other day and spied some orange notices posted on a number of buildings just to the north of 9th & Jefferson. We were pretty surprised to see zoning notices at this location, so a closer look was in order.
Upon further examination, we realized that these posters were not zoning notices, but were instead violations notices from L&I. With so many colors in the rainbow, you'd think that two of the City departments that post notices on buildings would be able to pick different colors for their posters, but it seems this wasn't meant to be. Though these notices don't indicate an upcoming development project, they could lead to a change in the status quo, assuming the City determines the buildings are dangerous and must be torn down.
The southernmost property, 1515 N. 9th St., is a rental property that's actually in decent condition, having been purchased and rehabbed a couple years ago. The four homes next door were owned by PHA for a number of years, selling to an LLC called Teach Solais back in 2012. So it was PHA that allowed the buildings to fall into disrepair, but the current owners have seemingly done nothing about them in the last four years. In case you're wondering, the large lot to the south is owned by the City.
And the western side of the block is train tracks.
Yet despite the blight, vacancy, and the train tracks, we still considered the possibility that development could be happening here. Why, you may ask? Just a few blocks to the north is Paseo Verde, a new residential development that's also across from the train tracks. And remember, South Kensington keeps pushing to the west. Just a few weeks ago, we told you about five homes coming to 6th & Jefferson. And on 7th Street, we keep seeing new buildings go up near Thompson Street. So who's to say that redevelopment is far off for this stretch of 9th Street?