At the North end of Parker Street in Oberlin Village sit six one story bungalows from the early to mid 20th century. Many of these houses have been renovated throughout the past 70-plus years, all of which have kept their original character intact. But, in the first week of 2007, things changed. As the most historical structure of the neighborhood burned down, a new neighbor slowly creeped up like a skyscraper in a village full of small huts.
The new house, pictured above, was under construction during the winter months of 2006 and was completed almost the same weekend that The Latta House burned. As a neighbor, the sun hit our porch at all points of the afternoon, winter or summer, but this changed as well. The house, situated at the top of a hill, started to dwarf its one story neighbors with a second, and finally third floor that diminished the amount of the sun on adjacent houses. After completion, two guys moved into the house and were seen periodically watering the almost pretentious front lawn. With a circular driveway and plants unlike any of the neighbors, there were more things than just height that made this house stick out like a sore thumb.
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It was good to have new neighbors, or so we thought. Only a couple of months later, the house was packed up and the neighbors were gone. The house was silently put on the market, but no sign was placed in the yard. With a little research, it seemed that the house had been put on the market for, yes this is true, $650,000. That is almost three times what any house on Parker Street was worth at the time. The house stayed vacant for the rest of 2007 and to this day is still vacant. This means that it has been finished for almost a year and a half and was only occupied for a couple of months. It was sold to Dawson Developers in August of 2007 for $680,000 and has been assessed at $683,886.
But wait a minute. Is that the same house listed on Trulia at $499,900? Where did that extra $200,000 go?
And just up the street are lots/houses for $749,000, another for $635,000, and finally one for $535,000. All of these are sites that were cleared over a year ago and have sat vacant since. A new lot around the corner on Van Dyke has just been cleared and is for sale for $200,000. No house, just land. Considering the proximity to Cameron Village, NC State, and Jaycee Park, houses in this neighborhood with responding character, scale and price would have surely already sold by now. The location is spectacular, as is the neighborhood and its history. Is it just me or were the wrong DJs picked to remix a very well known and classic song?
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