A 120-unit apartment building is planned next to Fishtown’s Girard SEPTA station
The apartment building would take the place of a closed dollar store.
Over the past 15 years, as Fishtown became the face of neighborhood transformation in Philadelphia, a handful of neglected buildings withstood the tide of redevelopment.
One recognizable example is the faded structure at 31-35 W. Girard Ave., most recently home to a dollar store but vacant for roughly three years. It is next to the Front-Girard station on the Market-Frankford Line.
Even as apartment buildings have bloomed along the elevated train track in Fishtown and Kensington, this drab structure remained in disrepair.
Now Ryan Kalili and Michael Dinan of Eclipse Development are moving forward with a 120-unit building at 31-35 W. Girard Ave.
The seven-story structure includes 32 parking spaces and two commercial bays.
Its front facade features textured brick, a design technique that creates a variegated look to simulate pixelation, and board-form concrete, which looks like wood.
“We are treating [the facade] almost like a billboard, announcing the neighborhood,” said Carey Jackson Yonce, a principal at CANNODesign, the architect for the project. “We treated this as a gateway project, while trying to address the chaotic nature of that intersection.”
Eclipse’s new building abuts the 107-unit building at 23 W. Girard Ave., built by HK Partners and Alterra Property Group in 2023.
Jackson Yonce presented the project to the Fishtown Neighbors Association on Tuesday night in advance of its presentation at the May meeting of the city’s advisory-only Civic Design Review board.
Fishtown Neighbors board members were complimentary of the brick and concrete design. The project is in line with the underlying zoning at the property, so the neighborhood group’s feedback was only advisory. The project does not need to go before the city’s Zoning Board of Adjustments.
Community members asked whether the developer would add family-size units to the property. Eighty percent of the units have one bedroom, 10% have two bedrooms, and 10% are studios.
“We like to have a sense of community and a sense that people who move here can stay here and grow here,” said Jerold Grupp, a Fishtown Neighbors board member.
“A few of the developers have agreed to create a few three-bedroom units. You’re obviously not required, but I’d like you to give some contemplation to that,” Grupp said. “It could be better for everyone.”
Jackson Yonce said he would talk with Eclipse about the idea, although other developers in the neighborhood have said that they avoid three-bedroom apartments because demand is limited. They found that many people try to move to rowhouses when they have families.
There are not tenants slated for the two commercial bays yet, although Jackson Yonce said restaurants are a possibility.
Jackson Yonce also noted that the amenities in the building at 31-35 W. Girard Ave.— which include a padel court on the roof — could be shared with the tenants of another one of Kalili’s buildings, 1440 N. Front St., farther up the elevated train line and vice versa.
“If you live in this building, you have access to the golf simulator down the street at 1440. If you live at 1440, you have access to the padel court on the roof of 35 West Girard lounge,” said Jackson Yonce.
Demolition permits were pulled for 31-35 W. Girard Ave. on Feb. 9. The Civic Design Review meeting is expected to take place on May 5, and Eclipse plans to secure building permits as soon as possible after that.
