The view from Ridge Ave. Image from Google.

A new daycare is coming to 1309 Ridge Ave. in the West Poplar neighborhood. Because of the angle of Ridge Ave., the building sits on a small lot that runs the short distance between 13th St. and Ridge Ave.- on the southern side of this X-shaped intersection is an exciting building rehab that we covered last month.

A view from Ridge Ave., slightly to the south

The building currently looks like Dresden, circa 1945. According to the zoning application, the owners plan to replace the existing bombed-out disaster with a four story structure. The first two floors will serve as a daycare center, while the top two floors will be made to accommodate four apartments. The zoning process has been going on for quite some time- the initial appeal was in April, the zoning hearing was originally scheduled for June, and was rescheduled for last week. We don’t know the outcome of the hearing, so we’re not sure when this project will actually get under way. According to public record, the owners have not paid their property taxes since 2006 and are currently owe almost $3,200 to the City- hopefully, they will clear up this tax debt before applying for building permits.

View from 13th St.

We don’t have specifics on the apartments or what they’ll go for, nor do we know any details on the planned daycare. That being said, we imagine a daycare center will be a welcome addition to an area that could benefit from more amenities. Unfortunately, we also don’t have any information on what the building is going to look like once it’s built. But these things all seem secondary with this corner looking as bad as it does today; new construction of any kind would represent a dramatic improvement over what’s there now.