Permits have been issued for the construction of a mixed-use building at 20-46 East Armat Street in Germantown, Northwest Philadelphia. Upon completion, the building will rise four stories tall. The ground floor will be home to a new commercial space, while the upper floors will hold 47 residential units. In total, the building will contain 45,554 square feet of space. Olney Construction is listed as the contractor. Construction costs are estimated at $7 million.
Current view of 20-46 East Armat Street. Credit: Google.
Currently standing at the site is a bland single-story commercial building. The structure has no redeeming architectural qualities, with a stucco exterior, the majority of which painted tan, also with some painted in an orange-brown color. Few windows are included on the facade, none of which very large, and they do not provide much visual interest to the façade. The rest of the parcel is occupied by a surface parking lot, which is fenced off from the street and creates a sizable curb cut on the sidewalk.
Aerial view of 20-46 East Armat Street. Credit: Google.
The new building will be a great improvement for the site, removing an eyesore surrounded by a surface lot and replacing it with a much more urbane, mixed-use building. Commercial space on the ground floor will positively contribute to Germantown’s downtown area, and the added 47 residential units will boost the local business customer base.
Coincidentally, permits were issued very recently for a similar development just a couple of blocks away. The project, located at 5627-33 Germantown Avenue, entails a renovation of an eight-story building with commercial on the ground floor 47 residential units above. Between the two projects, nearly 100 new units received permits in the neighborhood in a very short amount of time, and both developments will help boost the neighborhood’s density and population.
No completion date is known for the project at this time, though construction may be finished by 2022 or 2023.
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What kind of commercial enterprises do you think will be occupying all of the new retail spaces?
Somewhere behind that bland commericial eyesore with no redeeming architectural qualities is the remains of a nifty theater that got turned into a chocolate warehouse a few decades ago.
The description from YIMBY is shade 101.
Germantown from the 5100 to the 6700 being invade buy developers and politicians allowing it Germantown was a community The plan they came up with in 2018 needs to be stop developers built apartment or what ever on 17st between Lehigh and Erie enough space make that part of Philly a community I also think when developers and city have plans for your neighbor shouldn’t have to hear it from word of mouth ever homeowner should be aware
As noted earlier by another comment, this was once a movie theatre. The theatre lasted quite a long time and by the end was a third-run place charging little for seats (like the old “dollar houses” used to be). The exterior was only renovated to what it is now by the current tenant; it was dilapidated before but still had some more of the character that went with it when it was a theatre. If memory serves, the theatre exterior had a Tudor appearance to it, with a marquee extending from part of it.
Asher’s Chocolates, still a significant “better” chocolatier in the Philadelphia region, relocated from this location in the late 1990s. Asher’s had been heavily invested in charitable and other redevelopment efforts in Germantown and only left after many years of adapting to a steadily declining retail district and the issues that emerged in that process. The last straw for them was the cost of providing increased security for employees working all kinds of shifts around the clock and also the city’s eternally regressive business tax structure. So they moved to Souderton in Montgomery County. It’s worth noting that Asher’s had a retail candy store on the Germantown Avenue side of the property and that remained in business until the factory left altogether, representing the closure of one of the last retail shops from the “golden age” of Germantown’s once-major retail center.