7-Story, 220-Unit Building Planned at 5th and Callowhill

Callowhill Street between 2nd Street and Franklin Street is currently a 3-5 lane raceway with I-676 on the southern border and a mix of parking lots, blank walls, and industrial buildings on the norther side of the road. Although this area is a short walk to Old City and prime Center City in general, we have yet to see any major ground up residential or mixed-use developments built on the north side of Callowhill here. It looks like the first domino may fall in the near future.

Developers are planning the by-right construction of a 7-story, 219,000 square foot building with 220 residential units and 70 parking spaces at the corner of 5th and Callowhill. The CMX-3 zoned project site at 417-25 Callowhill Street currently holds a low-rise industrial building that is the home of Colonial Electric and Golden Age Adult Day Care.

The new building will be shaped like a U and will have a courtyard in the middle. The unit composition will be made up of studios, 1 bedrooms, and 2 bedroom apartments. There is no commercial space included in the plan. Instead, residential amenity space will front Callowhill Street on the first floor. We would have liked to have seen ground level commercial space here as the hundreds of new residents that this building will bring to the neighborhood will need a place to purchase basic necessities and services.

No recent construction permits or demolition permits have been issued to date. The project will appear before the Civic Design Review (CDR) sometime in July for non-binding feedback.

How do you feel about this project? Would you have liked to have seen commercial space included in the plan?

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Rising Real Estate (@rising.realestate)