Philadelphia YIMBY’s recent site visit has noted that construction work is complete at a four-story mixed-use building at 2400 Frankford Avenue in Fishtown, Kensington. The development stands at the angled northern corner of the three-way intersection between Frankford Avenue, Trenton Avenue, and East York Street, where a traffic circle was recently constructed. Designed by CANNOdesign and developed by Khosla Properties, the structure will span 17,972 square feet and hold 2,459 square feet of retail space and 15 apartments. Features include full sprinkling, a green roof, and parking for five bicycles. Permits list Tester Construction Group as the contractor and specify a construction cost of $2.6 million.
2400 Frankford Avenue. Photo by Jamie Meller. July 2023
2400 Frankford Avenue. Photo by Jamie Meller. July 2023
2400 Frankford Avenue. Photo by Jamie Meller. July 2023
2400 Frankford Avenue. Photo by Jamie Meller. July 2023
As built, the structure closely matches the original renderings. The understated grid of projecting brick courses adds a sophisticated touch to the dark gray brick facade.
2400-04 Frankford Avenue. Credit: CANNOdesign
The structure’s standout feature, the rounded corner facing the intersection, makes for an intriguing nod to the roundabout, which was completed at the intersection around 2021. A traffic circle is an underrated and, arguably, underused design that significantly improves the safety of complicated road junctions. According to the City of Philadelphia, roundabouts “have a proven safety benefit over signalized intersections with lower vehicle speeds, less delay, less conflict points, and a reduction in air pollution due to less idling time. When compared to traditional signalized or stop-controlled intersections, roundabouts have been shown to significantly reduce severe and fatal crashes with a 100% reduction in fatalities found in Pennsylvania for signalized intersections converted to roundabouts.”
2400 Frankford Avenue is situated within a roughly eight-minute walk of both the Berks Station and the York-Dauphin Station on the Market-Frankford Line to the southwest and the northwest, respectively, as well as within a 15-minute walk of the route 15 trolley to the east.
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This is also technically East Kensington.