Around the residential neighborhoods, we generally see buildings that are either two or three stories tall. Then we'll also see some four-story buildings, homes that generally arrived on the scene either a hundred years ago or in the last twenty years. One story buildings, we confess, we don't see so often. We can only think of a handful around town, notably the Twilight Lounge at 20th & Bainbridge and Big Eyes Sushi at 7th & Bainbridge. Surely there are others that aren't coming to mind at the moment.

Big Eyes Sushi in its one-story glory

How did this property come to be? Honestly we have no idea, though we'd imagine that it was once a corner tavern like the Twilight. Or maybe it once had upper floors but they were removed, a la the Snellenberg's building at Market East. We seem to recall, before it was a sushi place, it was a thrift shop. Does anyone else remember this?

Anyway, the property is now available for sale or for lease (for a new tenant, ostensibly). The asking price for the property is $375K, which seems a little steep for an 818 sqft parcel that a developer would have to demolish and then go before the ZBA before pursuing any potenital project. Still, if the sellers and a developer are able to come up with an agreeable price, we'd imagine that there's a higher and better use for the property than a one-story commercial building. With new homes across the street that sold for a pretty penny and half a dozen more about a block to the west now under construction, there's certainly demand here for high-end residential.

Cafe and new homes across the street

Alternately, for $3K per month, a new tenant might end up here, replacing the sushi joint. Then again, that sounds like a tough rent number for such a small place at this location. Sure, it's only a block off of South Street. But that block is big for foot traffic. Our vote is for the place that's there now to kick it up a notch and remain in place. But if that's not possible, plus one for tearing down the building. Nobody's gonna miss the Grover-colored stucco.