New student housing in Powelton Village is hardly news these days, but a reader reached out to us recently, wondering about the construction now taking place at 409 N 41st St., just a little to the north of Baring Street. We visited to see what was going on, and while we were there we found some other stuff on the block that's also worth a look.
Developers bought this large parcel a couple years ago, and have been biding their time to get moving- as you can see a home once occupied a part of the parcel. The developers demoed that home and now construction is underway on a new project. With a huge 50'-wide lot, they cleverly chopped the parcel in half and now they're building a pair of six-unit buildings; had they not subdivided and just built one large building, they would have only been permitted to build eleven units.
Just to the north of this project, we spied another new building that looks like it's finishing construction.
According to public record, 415 N. 41st St. is a little over 15'-wide. It looks much skinnier, as the two homes to the north (to the left in the photo) are supposedly the same width. Whatever its actual size, developers have found a way to include four units in the building, probably because the property is a hundred feet deep. That's certainly a feat, but it doesn't make the building look any less awkward.
Across the street, a home is getting rehabbed but not for the purpose of student housing. 416 N. 16th St. suffered a fire somewhat recently and now the owner is repairing the damage. Sadly, no repairs are currently taking place at 422 or 424 N. 41st St. at the moment. Both of these apparently vacant buildings are owned by the church next door and have been for decades. Given the interest that developers have taken in this area in recent years, perhaps the church will sell off the properties at some point in the future. Alternately, they could sell one of them and use the proceeds to fix up the other.