Permits have been issued for the construction of two three-story, three-unit residential buildings at 6602 and 6604 Lansdowne Avenue in Carroll Park, West Philadelphia. The adjacent structures will rise on a vacant lot just off the intersection of Landsowne Avenue and North 66th Street. The two appear to be developed in conjunction as the same team is listed for each, and will apparently be twinned as the pair shares the exact same figures. Each building will span a ground footprint of 1,484 square feet, contain 3,051 square feet of interior space (granting an average of around 1,000 square feet per unit), and feature full sprinkling. Permits for each property list City Block Acq VIII LLC as the owner, Scott Woodruff as the design professional, and AIMES LLC as the contractor. Construction costs are specified at $389,900 per structure.
6602 and 6604 Lansdowne Avenue. Credit: Google Mpas
The building sites form a part of a larger lot that has sat vacant for well over a decade, yet remained rather well-maintained over the years. An uplifting mural, depicting gardening and family-friendly themes, was painted on an adjacent blank wall at 6610 Lansdowne Avenue some time between 2007 and 2009. The mural will be mostly blocked from view by the new development, although it will remain visible from the adjacent site that will remain vacant, at least for the time being.
Mural at 6610 Lansdowne Avenue. Looking southwest. Credit: Google Street View
Regular Philly YIMBY readers may have noticed that we do not publish many construction news from this neck of the woods. The neighborhood exhibits a relative lack of new development due to a lack of both mass transit and development-ready properties. Unlike many of Philadelphia’s inner-city communities, the city’s outlying districts were largely spared of mass depopulation and demolitions in the postwar period. As such, not only has Carroll Park retained most of its original prewar building stock, but it has also expanded upon it in the immediate postwar period.
Second, the neighborhood, particularly its western section where the proposed development pair is located, sits relatively far from the city’s primary transit arterials. The 10 and 15 route trolleys, which service much of northern West Philadelphia, terminate several blocks to the east, and both the subway and regional rail like pass a ways off to the north and south. As such, although the neighborhood is rather densely packed with attached rowhouses and semi-detached houses, it remains relatively auto-reliant and is not as conducive to large apartment buildings as many of its counterparts around the city. On the positive side, both the 31 and 65 route buses stop at the intersection next to the planned development pair.
Even still, the fact that the few available development-ready lots are being snatched up for new development even on the city’s relatively remote fringes is a testament to the enduring strength of the city’s real estate market and a collective faith in its prosperous future.
In terms of short-term plans for the immediate area, we would like to see development at the corner site adjacent to the two properties, which would hopefully include ground-level retail to match the three other retailers on each remaining corner of the intersection.
6602 and 6604 Lansdowne Avenue. Looking southwest. Credit: Google Mpas
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The southwest and southeast corners of N. 66th St. and Lansdowne Ave. now have ‘bump-out’ curbs, reducing street crossing distance and slowing vehicular speed, improving the pedestrian experience and enhancing foot traffic for neighborhood businesses.
6600 Block Of Lansdowne Ave—-IS OVERBROOK—-THAT IS NOT CARROLL PARK