Earlier this year, construction work has largely wrapped up at a seven-story, 78-unit mixed-use development at 1000-10 North Delaware Avenue in Fishtown, and YIMBY shares photos of the nearly finished project. The new structure replaces a parking lot situated on a block bound by North Delaware Avenue to the southeast, Frankford Avenue to the west, East Allen Street to the north, and Sarah Street to the east. Designed by CANNOdesign and developed by the Archive Development, the structure spans 69,160 square feet, which includes 4,374 square feet of commercial space on the ground floor. Residential amenities include elevator service, a roof deck, and parking for 26 bicycles. Permits specify the Tester Construction Group as the contractor.
Permits list a construction cost of $12.95 million.
1000-10 North Delaware Avenue. Photo by Jamie Meller
1000-10 North Delaware Avenue. Photo by Jamie Meller
1000-10 North Delaware Avenue. Credit: CANNODesign.
1000-10 North Delaware Avenue. Credit: CANNODesign.
1000-10 North Delaware Avenue. Credit: CANNODesign.
The irregularly-shaped site may be best described as a “pizza slice” wedged between Delaware and Frankford avenues, with a “bite” taken out of the front end. The “bite” accommodates the turnaround loop for the route 15 trolley, which runs up Frankford Avenue for several blocks until it rejoins Girard Avenue for the majority of its run. A trolley station, marked by a shelter canopy and an adjacent service shed, sits in front of the proposal site.
The building footprint is comprised of a trapezoid that follows the sidewalk line along Delaware Avenue, Allen Street, and very narrow, alley-like, block-long Sarah Street, which connects the two abovementioned thoroughfares. On Frankford Avenue (and on peculiar Manderson Street, which technically comprises part of the trolley loop), the building recedes from the sidewalk on a diagonal, where the designers propose a small yet pleasant green space, which sits adjacent to the SEPTA station. The ground-level commercial space opens onto Delaware and Frankford avenues, with access from both, as well as partially onto Sarah Street.
1000-10 North Delaware Avenue. Credit: CANNODesign.
The residential lobby is situated at the corner of Frankford Avenue and Allen Street, with an entrance opening onto Frankford. Residential amenity and building service space spans the rest of the ground floor. The trash removal bay opens onto Sarah Street, in a move that cleverly removes the facility from general public view, though we certainly hope that garbage truck drivers are able to negotiate the seven-foot-wide roadway of the alley without trouble. In a pleasant bit of site planning, the new building is set back from the lot line by two and a half feet, adding much-needed pedestrian space to a sidewalk that currently measures just four feet wide.
The building rises 84 feet to the top of the main roof, 88 feet to the top of the parapet, and around 100 feet, or maybe slightly higher, to the top of the elevator bulkhead.
1000-10 North Delaware Avenue. Credit: Google/CANNODesign.
1000-10 North Delaware Avenue. Credit: CANNODesign.
The site sits at the convergence of North Delaware Avenue, a grand waterfront promenade, and Frankford Avenue, a major thoroughfare that leads into the neighborhood interior. The 1000-10 North Delaware Avenue site may be described as located at the gateway to Fishtown and the River Wards beyond, and, as such, warrants a grand architectural gesture.
Fortunately, CANNOdesign has delivered a product worthy of the prominent location. Greeting the intersection with a raked corner, like the prow of a ship sailing down the Delaware River, 1000-10 North Delaware Avenue is a contemporary homage to the neighborhood’s classic factory loft aesthetic. Paneled windows trimmed in black frames and mullions, gentle cornice lines, and low arches exude a certain prewar sophistication, while off-white Belgian gray brick makes for a light and cheery presence.
1000-10 North Delaware Avenue. Credit: CANNODesign.
1000-10 North Delaware Avenue. Credit: CANNODesign.
1000-10 North Delaware Avenue. Credit: CANNODesign.
1000-10 North Delaware Avenue. Credit: CANNODesign.
1000-10 North Delaware Avenue. Credit: CANNODesign.
1000-10 North Delaware Avenue. Credit: CANNODesign.
The Frankford Avenue-facing diagonal sidewalk setback not only respectfully recedes behind the trolley station and spruces it up with green space, but also draws the eye down the avenue. In turn, the ground-level retail space animates the street corner and significantly improves the pedestrian experience at this important connection point between the inland neighborhood and waterfront attractions, such as the riverfront esplanade and the Rivers Casino, on the other side of Delaware Avenue.
1000-10 North Delaware Avenue. Photo by Jamie Meller
The development at 1000-10 North Delaware Avenue makes for a highly attractive addition to the Philadelphia cityscape. The building is styled in a classic, timeless, urbane fashion both in terms of its aesthetics as well as compactness, density, and mixed-use program that invigorates the pedestrian realm. We wish to see more similar development throughout the city.
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Please don’t neglect to plant the trees!!
True to renderings, CANNOdesign has created a magnificent addition to Delaware Avenue, with a Vitali Ogorodnikov authored description to match.
In addition to trees, it would be fitting if the depicted bright red fish-shaped stabile were consummated, given the recent opening of Calder Gardens on the Parkway and the building’s location near the waterfront.