Though Pennsport has seen several nice-sized projects get built in the last few years, the neighborhood retains a surprising number of properties that could accommodate significant projects in the future. Just a couple weeks ago, for example, we told you about plans for a 52-unit mixed-use project on a 35K sqft property on the 1300 block of S. Front Street. And let's not forget the massive Mount Sinai site at 4th & Dickinson, where a 95 home project is now well underway. Through the lens of those projects, the Reed Estates project now planned for 116 Reed St. seems a bit precious, even though it will still be one of the largest projects in the history of the neighborhood.
The property is large, measuring over 36K sqft, even though it doesn't include the three homes at the corner of Howard & Reed, pictured above. This property was listed for sale about a year and a half ago and crossed our desk, but we deemed the asking price to be too steep. Turns out the price wasn't too much for US Construction, as they currently have the property under agreement. You may remember, these developers recently built the Bridgeview Homes on Columbus Blvd. in Queen Village and are also behind the eight-home development going up at the site of the former Please Touch Museum. This project should be much less controversial.
You can see in the site plan above, the project will entail 26 homes with all but one offering two-car parking. The bulk of the homes will front Hancock and Howard Streets, with a pair of homes on Reed Street. A drive-aisle will be accessible either from Reed Street or Hancock Street. JKRP Architects did the design work, and we've cribbed these renderings from the project's CDR packet.
The layout of the homes will be rather standard fare for new construction homes with garages, with a bedroom on the 1st floor, kitchen/living/dining on the 2nd floor, and a pair of bedrooms on the 3rd floor. One interesting feature for this development is the inclusion of vegetated space in front of each home on Hancock and Howard Streets. We admit, we're a little nervous that these spaces could look pretty awful if the residents don't maintain them, but hey, that's what a condo association is for, right? But not so fast. It's typically the US Construction approach to rent out their homes for a few years before eventually putting them on the market, and we have to assume that'll happen here as well. So it'll be on their property management company to maintain these green spaces during the rental phase of the project.
Reed Estates goes to CDR next week and will still need to go to the ZBA for a use variance, so this project is still at least a few months away. In the meantime, we'll try to figure out which will be the next big Pennsport property to get redeveloped after this one.