With all the new construction we’ve seen creep northward through Mantua over the last several years, it was only a matter of time before that construction starting running into Mantua Avenue, the neighborhood’s northern border. A couple years ago, we told you about a project at 33rd & Mantua and speculated that we’d see additional development move north and west, following the trajectory of Mantua Avenue. With little surprise, we now have information about a recently started project at 731 N. 35th St., which is the intersection of 35th & Mantua.
Looking at some historic maps, we see a stable once operated here, and it’s quite possible that the building that stood here as recently as 2010 dated back to those days. That building appears to have been very far past its prime, hence it was demoed, and the roughly 7K sqft parcel with the irregular shape has been sitting vacant ever since. HOWever, HOW Properties is now working on a project at this site which will bring a decent amount of density to this previously underdeveloped parcel.
Foundation work is now ongoing for this project, which will include five duplexes on 35th Street, plus another duplex and a triplex on Mantua Avenue. This is, interestingly, the same development group that built duplexes a couple blocks away, so it appears they are satisfied with the results down the street. That project, which has progressed nicely since we covered it back in 2019, also featured duplexes and at the time we were surprised to learn that the units would be sold off as condos. Looking at public record, it appears that some units have been sold while others are being listed as rentals- we wonder whether the challenges of 2020 might have resulted in a pivot in that respect. We should mention though, that one of the lower units in that development is currently under agreement at a $300K list price. So if the plan is condos at 35th & Mantua, we expect that as a floor in terms of pricing.
It’s really fascinating to see these projects appear in this part of town, as their existence clearly indicate just how far development has spread through Mantua and may suggest the direction things are headed in the near future. Developers already own a ton of vacant land in this vicinity and farther north and west into the neighborhood, with this same developer owning additional lots next door to the 35th & Mantua project. If other developers see the How Group having success with these projects, it will create an environment where we will see increasing numbers in terms of projects in this area, hopefully wiping out much of the sea of vacant lots nearby.
As we wondered before, we’ll also be keenly interested in what role affordability plays in these theoretical future projects, if any. If City Council has something to say about it (and we suspect they will), we’d wager that affordability will indeed play a role here, notwithstanding the preference of the developers.