Last September, Philly YIMBY reported that permits have been issued for the construction of a four-story, 20-unit addition and vertical extension to a prewar Art Deco commercial building at 1501 Fairmount Avenue in Fairmount, Lower North Philadelphia. More than half a year later, our visit revealed no construction progress at the development. Designed by Harman Deutsch Ohler Architecture, the development will add 20,558 square feet of space to the existing building, boosting the total area to 26,025 square feet. The project, which is also known under the address of 1501-05 Fairmount Avenue, will feature 5,467 square feet of commercial space, elevator service, roof decks, parking for seven bicycles, and full sprinkling. Permits list Construct Design Corp. Inc. as the contractor and a construction cost of $2.7 million.
1501 Fairmount Avenue. Photo by Jamie Meller. April 2022
1501 Fairmount Avenue. Photo by Jamie Meller. April 2022
The original building was constructed in the 1930s as a car showroom (a function it retained until recent years) in an exquisite Art Deco style, with large windows, geometric and floral molding, and a double-height corner tower topped with decorative urns. In 2015, the building was added to the Philadelphia Register of Historic Places.
The development will span a trapezoidal site bound by Fairmount Avenue to the south, North 15th Street to the east, and Swain Street to the north. The vertical addition will be set back from the street by nearly 30 feet at Fairmount Avenue and 16 feet at 15th Street, lending the historic structure ample breathing room. At the north side of the side, the building will be built from the ground up and will extend to the sidewalk.
1501 Fairmount Avenue. Zoning submission. Credit: Harman Deutsch Ohler Architecture via the City of Philadelphia
1501 Fairmount Avenue. Site plan. Credit: Harman Deutsch Ohler Architecture via the City of Philadelphia
1501 Fairmount Avenue. Building elevation. Credit: Harman Deutsch Ohler Architecture via the City of Philadelphia
1501 Fairmount Avenue. Zoning table. Credit: Harman Deutsch Ohler Architecture via the City of Philadelphia
We are quite excited about the project, as the city desperately needs to cut down on demolitions of prewar structures and expand the number of vertical additions. The development will also beautify the sidewalk experience on all three streets by adding eight new street trees.
Once again, however, the city hurts itself with its restrictive development limits. The site at hand is limited to 38 feet of building height (the new building will rise 52 feet, presumably with zoning bonuses; the bulkhead, which will boost the building height to 62 feet, does not count toward zoning limits) and 20 residential units. Both the height limit and unit counts are absurdly low for this prime, centrally-located site (the Fairmount Station on the Broad Street Line sits a block to the east), which faces a broad avenue and is located within a 15-minute walking distance to Center City, Temple University, and Girard College.
1501-05 Fairmount Avenue. Looking northwest. Credit: Google Maps
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Construct Design will never get this project moving seeing that they have massive liens against them for other projects in Philadelphia. The bankroll funding will never get approved. Period. If ya don’t know, now ya know.