Just a block off of Lehigh Avenue, around the corner from where the Kensington Community Food Co-op will be opening sometime soon, we recently spotted two new construction houses at the intersection of E. Huntingdon & Coral. This parcel has been vacant for many years, but recently turned over for $75K. For a double-wide lot in this area, that ain't bad.
The homes are already listed for sale for $380K, which is pretty much what we'd expect to see in this neighborhood for a 4 bedroom, 3 bathroom, 2,500 sqft home. These homes will stand a few blocks away from and in direct contrast to the homes we profiled just yesterday. As opposed to the homes further down Coral Street, the Huntingdon Street homes are 16-feet wide, a much more standard dimension for Philly row homes. They also start at a much higher price point, which makes sense.
It's also interesting to consider the location of these homes, which are closer to the fringe of the neighborhood than most of the new construction we've seen. This could speak to booming demand in the neighborhood, an expanding footprint where people are willing to buy, a dearth of available land to develop in more desirable areas, or a combination of those and other factors. We do think though, that redevelopment will only stretch so far here, as this area is hemmed in on one side by the El on Kensington Avenue and on another side by the railroad tracks just past Lehigh.
Then again, we've seen a couple of projects on the other side of both tracks- and we have been wrong before.