We were winding our way through Northern Liberties earlier this week and we came upon two new homes we didn't know about previously. 504 and 506 Cambridge St. can be found on a narrow street and are easily missed if you're driving up 5th Street. The homes are unique on the block, as they're the only homes that front Cambridge Street. Everything else is fronting 5th Street, Randolph Street, or 6th Street. But for some reason these lots have continued to exist over the years, and now there are houses under construction here.
Also interesting about these homes is that they were apparently opposed by NLNA, the local community group. The developers asked for an additional three feet of height to allow for a fourth story, which was pretty much necessitated by the inferior lots upon which the homes are being built. One home is 18'x26', with a 5' rear yard. The other is 14'9"x36' on a lot that's 54' deep. The community wanted a single home with parking, but it seems the ZBA was willing to allow the two homes here.
We're not sure that we would have preferred the single home or the two homes we see pictured above, but we definitely prefer new construction to the vacant lots that have been here for who knows how long. The layouts of these homes will be admittedly funky due to their odd dimensions, further proving that developers in this neighborhood will stop at nothing to develop every lot they can find. Even if the lots are small, even if the homes are out of the ordinary, builders are still snatching up every parcel they can get their hands on around these parts.