In the interest of hearing about projects happening all over the city, we subscribe to just about every community group's newsletter. A recent email from the Fairmount Civic Association revealed info about an upcoming project for 903-905 N. 30th St. even though the property is technically just outside of the Fairmount boundaries. If you visit the property, you'll spy some zoning notices on a chain link fence.
Behind that fence is a pair of vacant lots which appear to be pretty shallow and seem to terminate with a hill. But upon further review they're actually quite deep, each going back almost a hundred feet. V2 Properties bought the lots over the summer and are now planning to build a garage-front home on each one. With the lots running so deep, the developers are planning to set the homes back sixteen feet from the street, so they'll have driveways in front of the garages. The project came before the Brewerytown CDC and received "unenthusiastic support."
Across the street, we see that a row home is under construction, with permits for a two-story addition in the back. Next door, 914 N. 30th St. is sitting vacant and will likely continue to sit in this condition, as it's owned by the Philadelphia Housing Authority. But there's hope! PHA owned several vacant and blighted properties on the adjacent 3000 block of Cambridge Street and sold them off a few years ago. All of those homes have now been rehabbed, and a formerly shabby block has improved dramatically, even seeing some new construction at its western end. With this in mind, it's not out of the question that the corner property will similarly change hands at some point in the future. Neighbors are surely hoping that's the case.