Foundation work is currently underway at a four-story, four-unit residential building under construction at 1164 South 18th Street in Point Breeze, South Philadelphia, as Philly YIMBY’s recent site visit revealed. Designed by 24/7 Design Group, the development will rise at the northwest corner of South 18th and Federal streets. Building features will include full sprinkling and a private roof deck accessible to a single unit. Permits list Federal 4 LP as the owner, Casey Lafferty as the contractor, and a construction cost of $400,000.
Aerial view of 1164 South 18th Street. Credit: Google
1164 South 18th Street. Looking northwest. September 2017, Credit: Google Maps
The development replaces a three-story prewar rowhouse that housed the Welcome Galilee Community Baptist Church on its ground floor. In 2017, a single-story addition was considered for the structure; however, the building was demolished by 2018, and a partially assembled plywood frame has sat at the site for over a year. Our visit has revealed that foundation work is currently underway on the new structure.
1164 South 18th Street. Looking northwest. October 2019, Credit: Google Maps
1164 South 18th Street. Photo by Jamie Meller. January 2022
1164 South 18th Street. Photo by Jamie Meller. January 2022
1164 South 18th Street. Photo by Jamie Meller. January 2022
1164 South 18th Street. Photo by Jamie Meller. January 2022
1164 South 18th Street. Photo by Jamie Meller. January 2022
1164 South 18th Street. Photo by Jamie Meller. January 2022
A building section submitted to the city’s planning commission shows that the ground floor will sit two feet above the sidewalk level and that floor-to-floor heights will span nine feet, meaning that floor-to-ceiling heights will likely measure around eight-and-a-half feet. The ground level elevation, relatively low in comparison to traditional Philadelphia rowhouses, and relatively low height ceilings are the unfortunate result of the city’s overly restrictive height limits. The building’s main roof rises 38 feet high, to the maximum allowed height in this, and numerous other, areas of the city (the nine-foot-tall pilot house, which brings the total structural height to 47 feet, does not count in the zoning calculation).
1164 South 18th Street. Site plan. Credit: 24/7 Design Group LLC via the City of Philadelphia
1164 South 18th Street. Building section. Credit: 24/7 Design Group LLC via the City of Philadelphia
In order to fit four floors within this arbitrary limit, builders must resort to historically low bases, which barely allow for any basement windows, and limit themselves to relatively short building heights. Once again, the city’s nonsensical yet stubborn insistence on absurdly low height restrictions has painted a developer into a corner.
To encourage construction of high quality housing, the city must raise the general height limit to 45 or 50 feet as soon as possible. Even such a relatively modest policy change would allow developers to construct buildings with high basements and tall ceilings to match Philadelphia’s celebrated prewar rowhouse stock.
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Thank you for sharing this info, my house is right next to this property and we have been disappointed in the super length construction process and completely empty pit for almost a year. They’re finally actually working on the lot consistently again, but we’re concerned they’ll stop. I guess my one question – are new build condos required to plant trees? It’s a minor thing, but our area is very tree scarce and have a ton of new condos going up but I feel the lack of trees is probably continuing.