Construction Nears Completion at The Anchorage at 4442 Ridge Avenue in East Falls, Northwest Philadelphia

Philly YIMBY’s recent site visit has observed that construction is complete at The Anchorage, a six-story, 136-unit mixed-use project at 4442 Ridge Avenue in East Falls, Northwest Philadelphia. Designed by HDO Architecture, the building spans 174,544 square feet and features a roughly 10,000-square-foot commercial space on the ground floor, as well as parking. Permits list Turn Key Realty as the contractor and indicate a construction cost of $17.4 million.

4442 Ridge Avenue. Photo by Jamie Meller

When we last checked in at the site a year ago, work on the structure was nearing completion. At that time, the building, which rises 71 feet to the top of the main roof (around 75 feet to the top of the parapet, and 81 feet to the top of the pilot house), stood topped out and with a mostly assembled curtain wall, with substantial work remaining to be complete generally situated at the ground level. At the time of our latest visit we found construction work finished in its entirety, with no signs of remaining work to be done at the site.

Closely resembling the design shown in original project renderings, The Anchorage boasts a subdued Postmodernist design that combines traditional and Modernist elements in a richly textured, urbane manner. Red brick predominates on the exterior, making for an appearance conceptual with classic Philadelphia architectural vernacular. Accent bays protrude slightly from the main facade, lending the structure a gentle sense of volumetric depth, as do alternating recessed vertical piers. The bays and recessed piers are clad in contemporary dark panels, in a Modernist gesture that culminates with a vertically ribbed dark panel crown at the top level. The metal-sheathed cornice at the parapet echoes the building’s traditional motifs and references a similarly proportioned stone band that runs above the ground floor.

The Anchorage at 4442 Ridge Avenue. Rendering credit: HDO Architecture

4442 Ridge Avenue. Photo by Jamie Meller

A notable feature of the design is that it extends throughout all facades of the freestanding structure. Rather than cutting corners by value-engineering non-primary elevations of the building, the project team decided to treat even the rear-yard elevation in a facade that is similar, even if somewhat simplified, to the street-facing elevation.

4442 Ridge Avenue. Photo by Jamie Meller

The Anchorage at 4442 Ridge Avenue. Ground floor plan. Credit: HDO Architecture

The sizable commercial space at the ground floor appears unoccupied at the moment, yet once a tenant moves in, it promises to animate a nearly block-long stretch of the street. A side entrance leads residents to a lobby, which is serviced by three elevators (including one service lift).

The structure is part of a larger development that spans a through-block site between Kelly Drive to the south and Ridge Avenue to the north, which also includes several townhouses along Kelly Drive and in the block interior. The exact nomenclature for the development can be somewhat confusing. The apartment building covered in this article is also known under the addresses of 4440-4442 Ridge Avenue and 4440-42 Ridge Avenue; the name “The Anchorage” appears in some of the renderings. In turn, the townhouses also come up under the same address and are shown on site plans filed with the city’s planning department, yet they are covered by separate construction permits. The townhouse portion of the development appears to be titled as “The Overlook,” likely in reference to their position next to the Schuylkill River.

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