The changes on the 1400 block of Germantown Avenue in the last year and a half have been nothing short of astounding. Had you visited this block at the end of 2014, you'd have discovered five vacant buildings, a bunch of vacant lots, and no indication that a boom was on the horizon. Things have changed in a major way.
If you visit this block today, you'll find that all but one of the previously standing buildings on the west side have been demolished. Seven new homes have been built and sold, all at prices slightly below or slightly above $400K. Five duplexes are currently under construction, and we suspect that those units will be offered as condos. On the northwest corner of Germantown & Master where a building came down late last year, plans will soon go to the ZBA for a six-unit building with ground-floor retail. And on the northeast corner, plans are in place to convert an old industrial building into a mixed-use project with fifty apartments and ground-floor retail. So yeah, things are really humming on this block and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future.
That brings us to the warehouse at 1413-27 Germantown Ave., currently listed for sale for $3.9M. The price is a bit too high but the property, used in recent decades as a food distribution center, has a lot going for it. The best thing about the property is that it's huge, measuring almost 30K sqft and running all the way to Cadwallader Street. It's been on the market for over a year, and is down from an original list price of $4.5M, so perhaps the owners would be receptive to a lower offer. Or… maybe not.
We can't imagine this block will see as much change in the next year and a half as it's seen in the last eighteen months, but who knows. If a buyer comes forward for the warehouse pictured above and comes up with a major project for the site, it would indeed be even more transformative than any of the changes the block has seen to date. As is always the case with this kind of thing though, time will tell.