Over the last year, eleven new homes have risen on the 1800 block of Lombard Street, thankfully replacing a dreaded surface parking lot. This project is now in the home stretch, with just a few of the homes in the middle of the development still under construction. This is great, because it means that Lombard Street will soon be much less congested, right? Well…

Lombard Estates

If you live in the general area, you might want to prepare yourself for another year or two of construction-related congestion on Lombard Street. Because just as this large project is coming to a close, another big residential project is in the works a mere block away. Yes folks, more homes are coming to Lombard Street, this time on the 1900 block. These homes will come at the expense of another surface parking lot plus the unlikely-to-be-missed Cottages off Rittenhouse Square apartments.

The surface lot

One of the buildings that will be coming down, looking east

The developers for this project received non-opposition last month from CCRA after making several revisions to the project after meeting with the community the month before. Next week, they’ll be going before the ZBA with a plan to build ten homes on this 188’x95′ parcel. Like Lombard Estates, the homes will be quite large, with 3 of the homes having three parking spaces, 6 having two parking spaces, and 1 having only one spot (bummer). The parking will be accessible via an easement in the rear of the properties, which means that the homes won’t have garages. We’re guessing that the easement will be accessible via 19th Street to the east and Uber Street to the west, meaning that we wouldn’t see any curb cuts on Lombard Street. Good news there.

Lombard Street in this part of town has always felt rather underused, given its location, with a surprising number of surface parking lots and underwhelming buildings. Projects like this represent an improvement over the parking lots, no doubt, but we continue to be a little surprised at the sheer size of the new homes being built. Then again, we would imagine that Lombard Estates is having success in terms of sales, so why not keep going with the same idea on the next block?

We’ll keep an eye on this project, and will provide some updates once either groundbreaking takes place or we can get our hands on some renderings.