Construction permits have recently been issued for a two-building project at 1003 and 1005 North 40th Street in East Parkside, West Philadelphia, where adjacent twin apartment buildings, each rising three stories and containing four dwelling units, is set to rise. The development will replace a pair of vacant parcels along North 40th Street. Permits list 4 Castle LLC as the property owner for both developments, with Harman Deutsch Ohler Architecture as the designer and Yona Construction serving as the contractor.
Each building carries a total construction cost of approximately $445,000, which includes $400,000 in general construction costs and $45,000 allocated for excavation work.
Permit filings describe each project as new construction of an attached building with a cellar and a private roof deck set back from the parapet edge and accessed by a pilot house. Both buildings are classified as Group R-2 residential occupancy.
1005 North 40th Street Section via Harman Deutsch Ohler Architecture
Zoning approvals for both properties were issued in October 2022 and were based on a unified set of plans, with both structures depicted as similar in size, massing, and layout. Approved plans allow for a maximum height of up to 38 feet. Rear yard depths will measure 18-and-a-half feet, in compliance for open area lot coverage requirements within the CMX-1 zoning district.
Architectural drawings indicate that the two buildings will share a consistent design language, creating a cohesive street presence along North 40th Street. Elevation and section drawings show restrained massing that aligns with surrounding low-rise residential development while introducing moderate density through medium-scale multifamily construction.
While zoning approval established the project’s envelope and use nearly three years ago, the issuance of building permits in January 2026 marks the approaching completion of prerequisite reviews necessary to begin construction.
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Viewing the gorgeous homes and wonderful Centennial Park on the 4200 block of Parkside Avenue, East Parkside is a take on a Potemkin village — an impressive facade hiding an undesirable reality, making the neighborhood seem more prosperous than it actually is. The concept is named after Russian Minister Grigory Potemkin who allegedly built sham, temporary villages to impress Catherine the Great on her tour of Crimea.
Good to see investment in an area that has seen little for over 50 years.
I beg to differ. The fancy houses and apartments on Parkside Avenue were among the first buildings, built on former farmland, in that area of the city. That new Fairmount Park-adjacent neighborhood was being called “the new Rittenhouse” in those early days. Then rail lines were built on both sides of Fairmount Park, bringing industry and an explosion of working class housing on each side of the Park. Then the industry mostly moved out of that area, probably because the neighborhood was not easily accessible to an expressway and truck traffic, so as the industrial jobs declined, the neighborhood became seriously depressed by the 1970s. That’s when community groups started renovating the Parkside Avenue properties, eventually leading to the growing revitalization of the neighborhood today.