This house, 1308 Ewing Street, was condemned on July 2, 2007. Â Quick check of the property records reveals it is owned by an LLC in Fort Lauderdale Florida, purchased in January of 2007, about a month after the December announcement of the Harrison Square project. Â The house has sat vacant since then. Â Today, I noticed that it looks like utility lines to the house have been dug out and removed. Â Usually this is done shortly before a demolition occurs. Â No official word yet, but that’s what it looks like.
A few houses down sits another group of 4 houses/properties with a for sale sign. These are owned by a gentleman in Indianapolis (see, Ewing Street properties for sale). Â One of these, 1130, was condemned on August 20, 2008.
One of the concerns first expressed when this project was announced in December 2006, was the state of the surrounding neighborhood. There are a couple of properties in this block of houses that is pretty rowdy during the summer months. Hopefully, the land will be sold and those properties cleared out. But what remains are many multi-dwelling housing units with a transient population. Not a lot of stability. To be fair, some of the property owners in this area are trying and have kept their properties cleaned up and in good repair, especially if you go over to Fairfield Avenue, near the Baker Street intersection.
When I asked about placing the amount of investment we were making in Harrison Square next to one of the more run-down areas of downtown, city officials stated it would clean itself up. Thus far it hasn’t happened, but it is still relatively early in the game. One positive counteracting the condemnations has been the new siding installed on a house South of the Brackenridge and Ewing Street intersection.
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