A reader tipped us off about some ongoing construction at 1701 Poplar St., which was a vacant lot for the past few years. The new building is going up on nice-sized lot that measures nearly 1500 sqft and faces a fairly bleak stretch of Ridge Ave.

All framed out and no place to go

From the looks of it, this will be a mixed-use building, with commercial on the first floor and one or two apartment(s) above. There also appear to be two garage openings on 17th St.

Looks squat

The building looks a little funny compared to the buildings that surround it, due to its shorter height. We’re guessing that the building’s height is due to a zoning matter- we can’t really come up with any other justification for the disparity. Owner Boris Grinberg owns several other lots and properties in the Francisville neighborhood, but we couldn’t find him to get any more information about the project.

Another project in the distance. This project still looks stumpy.

To the north, you can see another project (slowly) moving along that we covered a couple of weeks back.

It may be the Holiday Season, but things don’t seem to be slowing down in Francisville.