Renderings Revealed for 143-Unit Building at 113-29 Berkley Street in Germantown, Northwest Philadelphia

A six-story, 143-unit mixed-use development at 113-29 Berkley Street in Germantown, Northwest Philadelphia, is going before the Civic Design Review. Designed by HDO Architecture, the new building will include commercial space on the ground floor and total of 98 parking spaces, four being ADA compliant and six for electric vehicles. The development will also feature 50 bicycle spaces, plus an additional ten on the sidewalk. The building will also include a roof deck, green roof, and six added street trees.

Rendering of 113-39 Berkley Street. Credit: HDO Architecture.

The new building will feature an attractive industrial design, taking cues from the site’s history as well as its present surroundings. Brickwork will cover the vast majority of the front-facing facade, rising the entire height of the building, interrupted only by large industrial-styled windows. Floor-to-ceiling windows on the ground floor when also paired with street trees will make a pleasant street presence, as will the inclusion of a commercial space. The non-prominent faces of the building will see the usage of gray siding so as to reduce construction costs. The only dampening on the project’s design is the curb cut that is needed in order to provide access to the parking facilities, as it creates a sizable cut on the sidewalk.

Rendering of 113-39 Berkley Street. Credit: HDO Architecture.

The most interesting feature of the project’s design, however, is the inclusion of a historic remnant of a diner that has been moved to the property. Once added, the new shiny silver structure will be the centerpiece of the building’s facade, and will be a very interesting and unique way of preservation that will make the development that much better, allowing it to become something of a neighborhood landmark.

The building will replace a largely underused property, with a somewhat rundown industrial building covering on half, while a surface parking lot covers the other. In years past, a beautiful old industrial building stood at the property, and was a prime adaptive reuse candidate, although it was torn down due to its blighted condition and left a surface lot to occupy its space, which is an incredibly unfortunate turn of events. The new building’s facade is designed to resemble that of the former building. Additionally, the structure will also unfortunately come at the expense of another historic industrial landmark in the area, where a brick-clad structure will a triangulated roofline formerly stood. Although the building seemed to be in good condition to be renovated, it admittedly was not the strongest piece of architecture on the surrounding blocks, and its loss is not be too significant to the block.

Aerial view of 113-29 Berkley Street. Credit: Google.

Rendering of 113-39 Berkley Street. Credit: HDO Architecture.

It is great to see such a large-scale new development appear to be moving in forward in the area, which is beginning to see increased development activity. Thanks to Wayne Junction, situated just a short walk away, frequent rail transit access is offered to multiple Regional Rail lines, allowing for great amounts of density to be built in the surroundings. As such, it is positive to see developers take advantage of this, adding a large bulk of new residential units at the property, while also adding a unique commercial space on the ground floor, and has the potential to increase the desirability of this small sector of Germantown.

No completion date is known for the development at this time.

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