I totally agree. Unless there isn't an alley access, I can't see why curb cuts and front garages are being permitted, especially on the Hill where street parking is tight. Plus, they shorted themselves at least 1 garage space by not building it detached at the alley. Even if you only have 1 car, it's nice to have lawnmower/bike/junk space...

And now there is one less street space for the neighbors on the block...

$1M building permit issued for a set of 4 townhomes at 5308 Wilson

I predict The Hill will be the next boom area for single-family infill. 

The Hill has already become ridiculous in terms of value for square footage.  I rented there for two years ('14-'16) on Marconi and it was still very affordable.  Now every shotgun has been Chip and Joanna'd and rent hovers around $1500-$2000.  There are still the occasional needles in the hay stack for 4 family owners keeping things reasonable.  800-1000 sq foot homes that need updates are going for $250k+, where they sat at $150k before.  Folks saw the new urban movement and wanted in, and flipped the sh*t out of a lot of homes.

Yeah, it's great for the neighborhood I suppose, to have more well-to-do families.  It's the one place I wanted to purchase in, though.  Then you have Vollmer approving tax abatement for $420k infill villas.  People are dozing two lots at a time to build scarface mansions.  As unnecessarily bureaucratic the Msgr is in the neighborhood, they're writing their own destiny by slowly chipping at the middle class fabric of the neighborhood that makes it vibrant.  I'm not saying all is lost, but I do not agree with all of the hypocritical pettiness.

This corner absolutely should be mixed use though.  And two townhomes on the next adjacent lot. It makes common sense to get more street level dining and retail.  The neighborhood is severely walkable along the commercial districts.  Missed opportunity to me.

^ yeah including a retail spot would've been nice at this prime corner.  

Looks like two residential buildings on that parcel containing a total of three units are being torn down for this project btw... the single fam on Edwards and a two-fam on Wilson have had demo permits approved. Looks like one of the units listed as a small 2 bedroom was renting for $900 in 2017/2018. 

As for Hill abatements, the worst are the tear downs that get replaced with new ones (going for $350k on the low end and most for much higher than that)... the abatement is based on the cleared land only and doesn't include the value of the previous home.  So gross and senseless.

That's a shame.  I didn't know about the tear downs.

$180k building permit application submitted for a new home at 5535 Dugan

There is a nice town house development going in at 5300 Wilson across from Zia's - 4 units on a fairly compact lot 

Picture?
Has anyone found a rendering or drawing of this?

They look pretty good.

This could have/should have easily been a 2 story mixed use.

Wonder if Vollmer is gonna get some more tax abatement for one of the most stable neighborhoods in the City? As it stands now it feels just like the Villa situation.

They start at $600k. They're big, 3500sf

bwcrow1s wrote: ↑

Oct 07, 2020

This could have/should have easily been a 2 story mixed use.

Wonder if Vollmer is gonna get some more tax abatement for one of the most stable neighborhoods in the City? As it stands now it feels just like the Villa situation.

There's not enough demand for more retail / restaurant space. I don't see why this should have been mixed use.  Just glad to see more residential happening in the city.

The Hill is ready for it's close-up. 

^ based on the new stuff being built i'd say the farther away the camera the better.

Laife Fulk wrote: ↑

Oct 07, 2020

bwcrow1s wrote: ↑

Oct 07, 2020

This could have/should have easily been a 2 story mixed use.

Wonder if Vollmer is gonna get some more tax abatement for one of the most stable neighborhoods in the City? As it stands now it feels just like the Villa situation.

There's not enough demand for more retail / restaurant space. I don't see why this should have been mixed use.  Just glad to see more residential happening in the city.

There's not enough demand for more retail/restaurants? In the Hill? Get me some more by the slice pizza joints, another pub that isn't partly owned by the Alderman.  Commercially, it's surrounded by people, and continuing to add more with the new construction.  If you fail there, you didn't do something right, in my opinion.

The real issue is that lots of joints are sorely duplicative on the Hill.  How many Zia's/Favazza's/Rigazzi's do we need? How many fine italian-american restaurants? Give me another market as good as Digregorio's, a proper pub, and a proper slice or two.  Not an hour and a half long endeavor for pre-made frozen cannelloni with a side of Covid.  Most restaurants are adapting, and the way they are going to do business will change and adapt.  Not to sound cold, but any business needs to adapt to stay alive against obstacles like Covid.  And don't get me wrong, the residential addition is great.  I'm just always hopeful for more small business in a neighborhood that can actually support it.  And tourism to supplement.

Tudor was an interesting choice for this neighborhood.

Demo permit application submitted for 5239 Wilson Ave for a new home.

I think we are going to see a lot more tear down, build up on The Hill.

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^Yep. I expect The Hill to really boom in the next few years. So many tiny old frame houses, and a great location. 

You'll forgive me if this depresses me. Those "tiny old frame houses" are pretty interesting and locally unusual.

I am really excited to see the juxtaposition of the old and the new.

There's clearly going to be a ton more tear down, build up in the next decade, but it will realistically probably be three decades before you could wipe them all out.

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Speaking of The Hill, Reedy Press has just released a new book featuring stories, history, and photos of the neighborhood:

https://reedypress.mybigcommerce.com/th ... ghborhood/