The northeast corner of 3rd & Market is looking considerably better these days, but at the same time its personality is irreversibly changed for the worse (in our estimation at least). Remember, for so many years the Shirt Corner made its home at this location and the gaudy paint job on the building made for an entertaining if not effective marketing campaign.

In the past

The business closed a couple years back and Alterra Properties purchased the building. They actually purchased a row of ten properties, and planned to reuse many of the historic structures for a new mixed-use project. But some unforeseen structural defects in the old buildings made it impossible for the developers to save the buildings and by last spring they were all demolished. By the time September rolled around, the steel that forms the first floor of the new building appeared and in the months that have passed since then, most of the rest of the building has been finished.

Current view

In all, the building has 59 apartment units, many of which are currently available for rent. According to the building's leasing agent, people started moving in last month. Poking around the project website, we see studio units listed for $1,400/mo, 1 bedroom units for up to $2,150/mo, and 2 bedroom units for up to $2,550/mo. Remember, there's also gonna be a CVS on the ground floor which, though quite boring, will surely get a ton of use from both residents and tourists.

What do you think of the new Shirt Corner Apartments building? In terms of functionality and density, it's certainly an upgrade over what was here before. On the other hand, it blends in with its surroundings, calling no attention to itself whatsoever. But maybe that's not such a bad thing these days. What do you think?