It’s probable you’ve never heard of Swain Street. For the uninitiated, Swain is an east-west street that runs between Brown Street and Fairmount Avenue. It starts in Francisville at 15th Street and disappears at 17th Street, only to resume for a couple of blocks in the Fairmount neighborhood. There are only about a hundred properties with Swain Street addresses in the entire city, and today we have some info on one of them.

A couple of years ago, the owners of 1500 Swain St. went to the ZBA with plans for a duplex on this lot, which is curiously zoned commercial. The case was continued in 2011, but approval was granted in 2012. The property was saved from sheriff’s sale over that time period as well, and just a couple of months ago it changed hands and a new owner is finally building on this long-vacant lot. Honestly, when we photographed the parcel a couple of years ago we were convinced it was part of the parking lot for the Overseas Motor Works located around the corner.

In the past

Current view

As you can see above, the lot is now well under construction. Once complete, it will feature two condo units, each with three bedrooms, three bathrooms, and about 1,800 sqft of living space. These units will be extra large due to the fact that the lot is an unusual 21′ wide. The upper unit will be listed at $349K, and the lower will come in at $329K. Construction is expected to be finished by the end of September.

The developer for this project is the same one who’s building duplexes on the comparatively desolate 1600 block of Ogden Street. In stark contrast, the 1500 block of Swain is full of houses, which ostensibly makes it a more attractive place to live. In addition, there’s close proximity to North Broad Street and the still-under-construction JBJ Soul Homes.

Current view to the east. Project is coming along.

Yup, just one more vacant lot in Francisville getting turned into housing. Plenty more to go, but it sure is nice to see this block fully filled in.

Disclosure: These units will be listed by a realtor from OCF Realty, this parent company of Naked Philly