South Kensington has no shortage of big vacant lots. Slowly, plans are emerging to transform those lots into buildings. Even more slowly, those plans are being realized. It was over a year ago that we first told you about Soko Lofts, a mixed-use project on 2nd Street with hundreds of apartments. No construction yet. A few months later, we told you about Liberty Square, a similar project that also isn't yet off the ground.
While huge, game changing new construction projects in South Kensington have been slow to coalesce, medium sized residential projects have been all the rage. At 2nd & Oxford, for example we've seen two big vacant lots disappear, replaced by residences. At 7th & Thompson, six units have appeared on a long vacant corner. And hopefully soon, twenty new homes will pop up at 1326 Mascher St., located on a warehouse-laden block.
Last year, developers purchased this 20,000 sqft lot for $1.2M. Now, they're seeking approvals to build two rows of ten single-family homes with a drive-aisle in between them. Given the size of the project, we imagine it will get moving relatively quickly, assuming it gets a variance at the ZBA. And why wouldn't it? After all, new warehouses on this block, while they would fit in with the surrounding buildings, would be a terrible waste. This is only a block and a half off Girard Avenue, easy walking distance to the Piazza, the supermarket, and the El. And lest we forget, Paesano's.
Hopefully, the project gets approved, construction gets started soon, and another vacant South Kensington lot bites it. It may only be a drop in the bucket, but those drops start adding up fast.