A recent site visit by Philly YIMBY has revealed that construction is underway at a three-story, 44-unit multi-family building at 720-30 West Berks Street in North Philadelphia East near Temple University. The development, situated at the southwest cornet of West Berks and North Franklin streets, will span 41,302 square feet upon completion, and will feature full sprinkling. Permits list T N Ward Company as the contractor and a construction cost of $5.9 million.
720 West Berks Street. Photo by Jamie Meller. June 2022
720 West Berks Street. Photo by Jamie Meller. June 2022
720 West Berks Street. Photo by Jamie Meller. June 2022
720 West Berks Street. Photo by Jamie Meller. June 2022
720 West Berks Street. Photo by Jamie Meller. June 2022
720 West Berks Street. Photo by Jamie Meller. June 2022
YIMBY last covered the development last November, when permits were issued. The project has made considerable progress since that time. The grass lot, outlined with trees, has been replaced with a topped-out, largely-assembled structure with a CMU core and wooden frame. Given this rapid pace, we may expect completion by the end of the year or in early 2023.
Aerial view of 720-30 West Berks Street. Credit: Google.
The working-class neighborhood to the east of Temple University (its campus is situated within a five-minute walk to the west of 720-30 West Berks Street) has been hard-hit in the postwar period by depopulation and subsequent demolitions. Around the turn of the millennium, the blocks to the north of the site were redeveloped with detached houses. While the houses provide ample residential space for the local community, their low-density form and suburban-styled, siding-clad design, surrounded by sizable lawns, are contrary to the neighborhood’s long history of rowhouse construction.
Buildings such as 720-30 West Berks Street represent not only a return to urbane form for the neighborhood, but actually increase its density above the its prewar levels and represent a resurgent faith from developers that local land, once deemed nearly worthless, is finally once again suitable for dense, multi-family construction. The density is further justified by the site’s transit proximity, as the the Temple University regional rail station, which offers an eight-minute commute to Center City and a 20-minute commute to University City, sits within a three-minute walk to the west.
We wish the city further recognizes the value of ever-scarcer land in transit-adjacent areas and significantly upzones similarly transit-proximate sites, in order to make the most effective use of the valuable resource that rail transit is, and to create a less auto-dependent, more walking-friendly metropolitan area.
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