May 22, 2019

A vacant lot next to McKennan Park has been sold to its neighbors after a court ordered the house on it removed for violating national historic standards governing the height and size of the structure.

Josh and Sarah Sapienza sold the property at 1323 S. Second Ave. to their former neighbors, Pierce and Barbara McDowell, for $480,000, according to Minnehaha County property transfer records. Shortly after construction began on the house in 2014, the McDowells sued the Sapienzas over concerns that the structure was too close to their property.

Once the house was demolished in June 2018, the Sapienzas’ lot was listed for $600,000 – twice the amount they paid for it in 2013.

Pierce McDowell said he hopes to integrate the lot into his current property and his neighbor’s property to make the two parcels more proportionate and add green space to the neighborhood. He said he doesn’t plan to allow a single-family home to be built there.

While a lot sale of that price is rare, residential lots in the market have been selling into the six figures, including another sale of more than $400,000 late last year.

Six-figure home lots are ‘the new normal’ — and some are much more