Permits have been issued for the construction of a two-story single-family home at 3917 Folsom Street in Mantua, West Philadelphia. The property is located near the intersection of Folsom Street and North 39th Street. The development will replace a vacant lot with a 1,135 square-foot attached structure. Turn Key Realty LLC is listed as the contractor and Parallel Architecture Studio LLC is the project architect.
Construction costs are specified at $218,000, which includes $156,000 for general construction, $30,000 for excavation, $16,000 for plumbing work, $8,500 for mechanical work, and $7,500 for electrical work.
3917 Folsom Street Plan via Parallel Architecture Studio LLC
The approved scope of work calls for the erection of a two-story structure of Type V-B construction. Zoning documents show a 1,022-square-foot lot with a proposed building footprint of 532 square feet. The property is zoned RSA-5 and sits within the Mixed Income Neighborhoods Overlay District. The approved plans call for a 9-foot-2-inch front setback, a 30-foot-10-inch rear yard, and a building height of 24 feet. No off-street parking is proposed.
3917 Folsom Street Elevation via Parallel Architecture Studio LLC
The building will feature Group R-3 residential occupancy and will be fully sprinklered in accordance with NFPA 13D. Separate permits will be required for mechanical, electrical, plumbing, fire suppression, and excavation work.
The drawings depict a narrow attached home measuring 14 feet wide along the front elevation. The facade will include a raised porch, exterior stairs, porch railings, a first-floor entry door, paired first-floor windows, and two second-floor windows. The massing shows a flat-roofed two-story structure with a simple masonry-faced front elevation.
3917 Folsom Street Location via Parallel Architecture Studio LLC
The Philadelphia Land Bank is listed as the owner. The project will add a compact single-family residence to an infill parcel on Folsom Street, contributing another small-scale residential addition to the surrounding rowhouse block.
The permit follows a similar approval at 3935 Folsom Street, where the same project team is also planning a two-story single-family home with matching construction area and listed development cost.
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Although Mantua is one of Philadelphia’s Mixed Income Neighborhoods (MIN) Overlay Districts, the requirements do not apply to this project.
The designation MIN Overlay District mandates that new residential developments of 10 or more units in specific fast-developing areas reserve 20% of their units as affordable housing.
The overlay targets swiftly gentrifying sections of the city vulnerable to displacement. It primarily encompasses parts of the 3rd, 4th, and 7th Council Districts. It specifically covers high-pressure real estate markets like West and Southwest Philadelphia, including University City, Mantua, and areas stretching down to Cobbs Creek, and Lower North and Kensington covering rapidly evolving blocks in the 7th Council District.
MIN applies to any development project involving the construction of 10 or more dwelling units. Twenty percent of units must be affordable. Rental units must be priced for households making up to 40% AMI, and owner-occupied units for those making up to 60% AMI.
Affordable rental units must remain affordable for at least 50 years, be spread throughout the development, and be similar in size, design, and energy efficiency to market-rate units.
Developers can only use a payment-in-lieu of building the units in exceptional circumstances, and even then, a minimum of 15% of the units must still be permanently affordable on-site. The MIN requirements cannot be satisfied by using other standard zoning bonuses as the 20% mandate is an independent baseline requirement for these specific districts.