Permits have been issued for the construction of a new five-story residential project at 4274 Parkside Avenue in Parkside, West Philadelphia. The building will be constructed on a lot spanning 1,689 square feet, situated on a block bound by Parkside Avenue, North 42nd Street, Viola Street, and Belmont Avenue. The project site is developed with a 2,406 square-foot townhouse, slated for demolition under separate permits. HSM GC LLC is listed as the contractor. HSQ Designs is responsible for the deigns.
The project has an allocated total construction cost of $1,025,000, with $1,000,000 as the general construction cost.
4274 Parkside Avenue Plan via HSQ Designs
The scope of work includes the development of a new five-story residential building. The residential building will be used as a multi-family residence offering 49 apartments. The residential building will yield a total built-up area spanning 39,199 square feet.
The building will also feature two below-grade floor levels, a green roof, a common roof deck, and roof deck access structure.
Separate permits are required for mechanical, electrical, plumbing, and fire suppression work. The project site is located in an area that has good walk and bike scores. Construction timeline for the project has not been revealed yet.
Subscribe to YIMBY’s daily e-mail
Follow YIMBYgram for real-time photo updates
Like YIMBY on Facebook
Follow YIMBY’s Twitter for the latest in YIMBYnews
Within a reasonable walk to the Philadelphia Zoological Gardens and having Fairmount Park in your backyard is pretty nice.
SEPTA trolley route 3 has you covered.
Do you have a proper rendering of this property?
Unfortunately the site is just west of Parkside Historic District. That means the existing structure is not protected from demolition and there are no design standards to which the developer must adhere.
God I love these comments…
Let’s add more design standards everywhere…because you know, no one cares how much buildings end up costing. That’s the developer’s problem! Then when the unit is up for sale or rent “How dare these greedy guys charge that much? How dare they?”
A New Building on Parkside Avenue, and a Deep Disconnect
There’s a new multi-story structure going up on Parkside Avenue — and with every floor it climbs, it tells a story. Not of progress, but of disconnection. Not of revitalization, but of disregard.
Parkside is one of Philadelphia’s most historic and architecturally distinctive neighborhoods. Its late 19th-century homes and sweeping facades are not simply relics — they are part of a living legacy, a physical and cultural history that gives the area its soul. So when a new development drops onto the block like it was airlifted from another city — oversized, poorly proportioned, and wildly out of character — it’s more than an aesthetic offense. It’s a breach of trust.
How did this happen? That question leads us to the very agencies tasked with protecting our neighborhoods: the Department of Planning and Development, and Licenses and Inspections. Their role is to ensure that new development respects existing context — that it strengthens communities rather than disrupts them. Yet this project was approved with little evidence of meaningful community engagement or architectural sensitivity.
The building itself is a study in indifference. Flat panels, generic windows, and a hulking scale that dwarfs its neighbors — it could be anywhere. That’s the problem. Parkside is not “anywhere.” It is unique. And the people who live here deserve better than a development model that favors speed and volume over vision and values.
This isn’t just about one bad building. It’s about a broken process. It’s about how public input gets overlooked, how historic character gets traded for convenience, and how neighborhoods lose pieces of their identity, one permit at a time.
We need a planning system that listens to the community and understands the fabric of our neighborhoods — not one that rubber-stamps out-of-place projects because they check a technical box.
Parkside Avenue tells a beautiful story — and it deserves chapters that fit the narrative. Not a loud, dissonant interruption.