We were meandering around the neighborhood over the weekend and noticed preparations for new foundations at 1615-17 Fitzwater St., on a block that’s seen plenty of change in the last few years. Another extra-wide home recently went up immediately next door, and looks to finally be occupied after over a year of construction.

The lot

In the hole

At first glance, we thought perhaps two rather skinny homes would be coming to this location. Looking at the SOSNA archives, we saw that the developers received zoning for a single family home with a garage back in 2009. Looking at the L&I site, we realized that the developers had indeed gone before the ZBA earlier this year and had indeed gotten approvals to build two skinny houses on this site. Within a few months, this corner will have been totally transformed from a large empty lot from just a couple of years ago into three new homes.

View from the corner. Imagine another house rising to the right of the new home in the photo

Back in 2009

In addition to the development here, this block has seen four new homes replace an auto garage a couple of years back. And looking to the future, the somewhat-hyped and rather cool-looking Fitz4 project from MetroImpact will be getting built right across the street, filling in several more vacant lots. This, after the total transformation of this block of South Chadwick Street in the past few years.

When we think of development hotbeds, we tend to look past the Graduate Hospital neighborhood as one that’s already sort of finished with major development projects. But when you look at a block like this and the number of recent projects and those still to come, it becomes clear that there’s still momentum in this neighborhood. Oh, and let’s not forget the five new foundations two blocks to the west, and the three new homes two blocks to the east, and…