On the Fishtown-Kensington border, there are a few projects to speak of these days under the El, like the ongoing adaptive reuse of an old warehouse at Front & Oxford and the recently renovated former distillery a few blocks to the south. With those projects in mind, plus a few others proposed and ongoing nearby, we got to wondering about a boarded up property at 26 W. Oxford St., just across the street from the former Pieri warehouse.

The home

Adaptive reuse on the other side of the El

This home is the last of a row of homes on the block, with a large vacant lot to its west. Two lots next door have been purchased by a private developer over the last year, with the lot between them unfortunately owned by the City. We’d imagine that this developer is trying to get that middle lot, with plans for developing all of them in the coming years. A block in the other direction from the boarded up home in question is the retail property with housing above at 1600 Frankford Ave. which we last told you about a few weeks ago.

Will this land be redeveloped soon?

Looking at Google Maps, the property appeared to be inhabited back in 2009, with windows aplenty. We had assumed that the current boarded up look was possibly related to a stalled renovation, but we can’t find any open building permits on the L&I Map. With so much development going on in the area, it certainly makes sense that this building would be undergoing a renovation, but we can’t find any info on it. Does anyone who lives in the neighborhood have any insight? And perhaps more importantly, has anyone heard about plans for the vacant lots next door?