1601 Latona St. has looked terrible for years. The other day, we found out from a reader that the property could soon be making a comeback. Passing by yesterday, we spotted zoning notices on the property.
According to the L&I Map, there's a plan out there for a take-out restaurant on the first floor and an apartment above. Does anybody have any info on what business might be coming in here? Does anyone remember the last business to occupy this storefront? At this point, the answers to those two questions are purely academic- we're just glad to hear that there are plans to fix this building up. Any chance we'll see the original brick again?
Meanwhile, there's plenty of construction ongoing nearby, and more to come. On 17th Street, two new buildings recently went up, and workers are out there every day (at least when snow isn't interfering with their efforts). On the 1600 block of Latona Street, fences have gone up in front of several vacant lots in anticipation of construction. We're pretty sure these units will be affordable, built by Innova.
Just think, by the time the mystery restaurant opens at 16th & Latona, they'll have over a dozen new neighborhood residents to serve. Hopefully the concept will be something delicious.