Permits Issued for 2233-35 Germantown Avenue in North Philadelphia East

Permits have been issued for the construction of a three-story, five-unit mixed-use building at 2233-35 Germantown Avenue in North Philadelphia East. The development will replace a two-story commercial structure on the west side of the block between West Susquehanna and West Dauphin streets. Designed by HDO Architecture, the structure will span 9,614 square feet and feature ground-level retail space, a cellar, and a roof deck. Permits list Liu Construction as the contractor and indicate a construction cost of $950,000.

The new building will measure 40 feet wide and 70 feet deep, with two side courtyards and a 14-foot-deep rear yard. The building will rise 34 feet to the main roof, 38 feet to the parapet, and around 44 feet to the top of the bulkhead. The structure will be aligned with the sidewalk, maintaining the existing street wall along the block. A 15-foot-wide upper-floor projecting bay will cantilever three feet over the sidewalk.

2233-35 Germantown Avenue. Site plan. Credit: Jur N Surveying via the City of Philadelphia

2233-35 Germantown Avenue. Site plan. Credit: HDO Architecture via the City of Philadelphia

Once densely built-out with a mix of residential, commercial, and industrial construction, North Philadelphia East had lost entire blocks’ worth of its built stock during the postwar years. In recent years, the city’s construction boom has finally reached North Philly’s Germantown Avenue corridor, where development is made particularly favorable by an abundance of vacant and underbuilt properties, mass transit options (particularly regional rail and the Broad Street subway line, with the latter situated within a ten-minute walk to the west of the project at hand to the Susquehanna-Dauphin station), and proximity to Temple University, a long-time driver of local real estate growth.

New construction in North Central Philadelphia occurs on all scales, from single-family rowhouses to large apartment buildings, such as the 72-unit apartment building under construction across the street at 2224 Germantown Avenue. However, demand for construction jobs and housing, ample vacant land, mass transit service, and relative proximity to Center City indicate that the neighborhood is ripe for an upzoning that ought to allow for development on the scale of nearby Northern Liberties.

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