A 122-unit duplex development is planned just west of Girard Estates
The property was previously part of a far larger development proposal, which collapsed during the pandemic.
A new housing proposal would bring 122 units in 61 duplexes to 2225-27 Shunk St., a vacant lot next to South Philadelphia’s Girard Estates neighborhood.
The property is one of the few large developable parcels in the area, which has seen little new housing construction even as neighborhoods to the north boomed in recent years due to its scarcity of empty lots.
“Adding more single-family residences there, with parking and green space, will breathe some life into a little pocket of the area that’s desolate right now,” said Michael Phillips, a zoning attorney with Klehr Harrison Harvey Branzburg, who represents the developer.
Each duplex in the structure will have parking on the ground floor, with a total of 124 spaces. New street trees, a green buffer, and some interior landscaping space will be included.
The proposal is just west of Girard Park and east of the South Philly Shopping Center, which contains ShopRite, Burlington, and Five Below.
The project comes from Philadelphia-based Hightop Development, with architecture from local group Studio HS4.
“This property is long overdue for redevelopment,” Phillips said. “With one-to-one parking, we think the area can support it, and it will also help the South Philly Shopping Center.”
The proposal does not require permission from the Zoning Board of Adjustment but will be considered by the advisory-only Civic Design Review Board on Oct. 6.
A neighborhood meeting about the project will be held Sept. 23.
Local community leaders are mixed on the proposal based on what they know so far, with some supportive of new development on the long vacant parcel and others concerned about the density and lack of commercial space.
“We don’t want it to be overcrowded,” said Jody Della Barba, head of Girard Estate Area Residents. “We don’t need that much more density in our area.”
Previously the project was part of a sprawling proposal that would have brought more commercial space and many apartments to the neighborhood.
That long abandoned development was from the Long Island-based Cedar Realty Trust, which owned a number of Philadelphia-area shopping plazas before the COVID-19 pandemic.
Cedar controlled not only the 2225 Shunk property but the neighboring shopping center, adjacent retail space on Oregon Avenue, and Quartermaster Plaza to the south.
Cedar Realty Trust then partnered with Philadelphia-based Alterra Property Group on a vision of transforming the auto-oriented shopping area into a residential and commercial hub.
In 2019 testimony before the Planning Commission, Della Barba spoke in favor of that ambitious proposal, but Cedar’s plans were dashed during the pandemic, and the company sold off all its assets.
Della Barba said she was more skeptical of the latest project but also noted that she’s less familiar with it.
A project on the scale of Cedar’s proposal needed community support, while Hightop’s more modest development fits within the existing zoning rules.
Della Barba says she would like to see design changes so the new development echoes the early 20th century twins to its east, which define the neighborhood.
“Girard Estates is a historic district,” Della Barba said. “We’d like the design to be a little more like what our neighborhood is, and we wish they would have come to us before they made the design up.”
