We were traveling up Frankford Avenue the other day, after enjoying a tasty lunch at Steap and Grind, and we spied what looked like a construction site in its early stages on the 1600 block of E. Eyre Street. Behind the chain link fence, it looks like something was demolished sometime recently. But looks can be deceiving! It turns out, 1645 1/2 E. Eyre St. was just a surface parking lot.

In a case of looks being deceiving in quick succession, this property is way bigger than it looks. The previous owners only used a portion of the parcel for parking, even though it covers roughly 8,000 sqft. In this neighborhood, that’s a whole lot of underused land. Oh by the way, the property is zoned for multi-family use, making it even more attractive for redevelopment. And wouldn’t you know it, developers snapped up the property last fall, paying $1.3M even though it appears it was never formally listed for sale.

According to the permits, the developers are subdividing the property into three parcels. On the smallest parcel, closest to Frankford Avenue, they’re planning a duplex. Immediately next door will be two larger parcels, each of which will contain an 8-unit building. As we mentioned above, the lots are zoned for multi-family use, so these buildings will be constructed entirely by right. This means that the developers won’t have to deal with neighbor complaints about parking, like some other projects we’ve recently covered in this area. And honestly, given the location right off of Frankford Avenue, close to bus lines and the Berks El stop, we’re thrilled to see a project of this size get built without a parking component. And we’re pretty sure the developers are similarly thrilled to not have to include parking in the project.