We confess, we don't make it to East Falls very often. Hills make us nervous. But a reader tip got us to the neighborhood recently to witness the progress of a project on a triangular chunk of land adjacent to the regional rail tracks. Years ago, the Hohenadel Brewery made its home at 3500 Indian Queen Ln., and for years after its closing it sat vacant and deteriorating. According to Newsworks, after the brewery's demolition, there was a community garden on the site for a time before it was sold to developers in anticipation of the construction of new homes.
Developer Mark Tirone is building said homes in phases. Thus far, he's built four 3 bedroom, 3.5 bathroom homes which were listed at $390K but have been taken off the market. Either seven additional homes are coming soon if the sign on the site is to be believed, or eight more homes are coming if the story written about it last fall still holds true.
While people living nearby who had been using the land as a garden are probably bummed that their garden space is gone, and while we're wishing the old brewery building was still there, this project seems like a win for the neighborhood. While we can imagine the proximity to the train tracks may deter some potential buyers, we would guess that the rest of the homes will eventually get built and fill up, eliminating a large vacant parcel in the neighborhood.
Then again, as we mentioned before, we don't get to the neighborhood very often and don't claim to have much insight into politics in the area. Are people who live nearby generally happy about this project? Or were they hoping for something different?