A recent site visit by Philly YIMBY has revealed that construction has been completed at a three-story, three-unit multi-family building at 522 West Berks Street near Temple University in North Philadelphia East. The building is situated at the south side of the block between Germantown Avenue and North 6th Street and spans 2,917 square feet, and features a basement and a roof deck. Permits list JPL Construction Inc. as the contractor and a construction cost of $180,000.
![522 West Berks Street. Photo by Jamie Meller. June 2022](https://phillyyimby.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/522_West_Berks_Street_2022-6-13-2-683x1024.jpg)
522 West Berks Street. Photo by Jamie Meller. June 2022
![522 West Berks Street. Photo by Jamie Meller. June 2022](https://phillyyimby.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/522_West_Berks_Street_2022-6-13-1-1024x683.jpg)
522 West Berks Street. Photo by Jamie Meller. June 2022
According to public records, the 1,187-square-foot property was sold in February 2020 for $112,000. Construction permits were issued last August. Since that time, construction has been nearly fully finished, and the building looks like it will be ready to accept residents as soon as the contractor cleans up the remaining construction supplies.
The structure rises 33-and-a-half feet to the main roof, well below the 38-foot local height limit, and 43 feet to the top of the pilot house. The development boasts generous ceiling heights rising nearly ten feet. The facade, comprised of red brick and gray panels, would have been out-of-place on a block lined with prewar rowhouses. However, since such rowhouses have, unfortunately, been largely demolished throughout the block at hand, there is little historical context to speak of. If anything, the red and gray brick and panel design harmonizes with the recently completed building next door at 524 West Berks Street, and arguably boasts a more attractive design than than of its slightly-older neighbor (although the larger windows at the neighboring structure make for more sunlit interiors).
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Man all these metal panel facades are going to look so bad in 20 years.
Hopefully the facades can be easily redone since they aren’t structural. I’d love to see the day they take these ‘bays’ off and just put on normal windows.
4 electric meters in a three story house?
The size of a small mattress