Fill 'er Up!

Isn't two plus years long enough?  Apparently not.  In 2002, what was an eclectic barber shop/home in Browne's Addition was rumored to become a bike shop.  Soon after the property changed hands, the demolition began and the house that contained the barbershop was lifted, and a new foundation poured.  Then...nothing.  Somewhere along the line the plans didn't quite work out, and well, the sawsalls took care of the rest.  Now nearly three years on nothing but a hole draped with a temporary cyclone fence remains.

While a very nice drawing of what the proposed redevelopment will look like has been floating around for many-a-month on the MLS, the hole still remains.  For a cool $1.6 Million it could be yours.   The plans sound absolutely dreamy:

Fabulous Browne's Addition location next to the Elk Restaurant, Cabin Coffee & across the street from the Old Cannon Street Grill! Brand new building to be built and customized for you! The main floor will be a 2-car tandem garage, the 2nd & 3rd floors will have 2,200 sq. ft. each, the basement will have 1,200 sq. ft. & there will be a 2,000 roof-top garden! Finished as a shell with elevator and all mechanical! One of a kind opportunity!

It's likely the foundation is shot having been exposed for this long and probably wouldn't work with the proposed design anyways.  Still, it's a mystery to us as to how the businesses, property owners, and renters in the neighborhood can find this acceptable.  It looks like Browne's Addition could take some hints on activism from the Moran Prairie neighborhood as they take on the world's largest corporation.  Until then, we'd settle for the owners simply filling it.

Comments

[Asher]

won't this violate the FAR for this lot if it's just being built as a single family home?

[David Blaine]

As a regular at Two Wheel Transit I have followed Steve's saga of relocating his bike shop. First it was going into Peaceful Valley, then the hole-in-the-ground debacle, then a failed negotion with ConoverBond. I have stopped asking what the status is. I was told that because the house has been razed that the space can no longer be commercial because it doesn't fit into the Comp Plan. The loss that space, the hair salon and the Tawney's take over of Cabin Coffee has sucked the potential out of that intersection.