An example of spillover development is taking place right now along N. 40th St. between Baring and Spring Garden Streets in University City. You may recall two years ago when the 4000 and 4100 blocks of Baring Street wer transformed from a mouthful of vacant lots into a whole row of student housing. Projects on that street seemed to lead one to the next as work just kept coming like a good sunny summer.
On a slow day earlier this month we headed out to University City to check up on some projects on Baltimore Avenue that in the end did not pan out (or haven't yet), like the potential Greensgrow at 51st (which opened this year in the former location of Elena's Soul on 49th), and Babylon Bistro, a second restaurant from the owners of Askum along the 5000 block. What we found on our way was lots of development along N. 40th Street. It wasn’t long ago that the Pro Gulf auto repair warehouse stood at on the east side of 40th Street, just north of Baring.
At some point earlier this year, it was demolished and the parcel was fenced in, with some pickup trucks on site and a muddy terrain in its early stages of its next life. Now it's a giant hole in the ground. According to permits, its next incarnation will be a three-story building with 22 apartments. The property was acquired last June for $289K. Where the fencing ends, a new three-story home was almost finished next door. So it's students, students, on refrain.
According to public record (and our eyeballs), much of this block has turned over in the past two years. While of course we cannot be certain, it's logical to think developers were attracted to this site by the speed at which the 4000 and 4100 block of Baring were redeveloped into student housing. With the Science Center, Drexel and Penn all building across University City, and with more than a thousand new beds coming in dorm form to those schools, one can see how developers are interested in building new student housing for upperclassmen. Sure, the supply could eventually outstrip demand. But it hasn’t happened yet and these developers are clearly betting that it won’t happen soon.