Recent proposed projects in Philadelphia show how some of the city’s development hotbeds are continuing to heat up. Just since February 2022, over $580 million in new projects have been proposed for the Greater Philadelphia region.
In Fishtown, an area in east Philadelphia, a mixed use development (the Frankford) is being planned for 1120 Frankford Avenue. The five-story building will have 150 apartments and 6,500 square feet of retail. This project will serve as the first new development on Frankford Avenue south of Girard Avenue, and joins several in the pipeline for that part of Philadelphia. For example, a developer is proposing a $72 million, 412,703 square-foot residential project at 2621 Frankford Avenue that will have 453 units.
South of here on the Delaware River, a 9-acre site in Northern Liberties is being proposed for the site of a two-building complex housing 470 apartments and 45,000 square feet of retail space, which will continue the development that has been ongoing on the river.
In University City, a life sciences development is planned for Drexel University’s campus, with the developers hoping to break ground on the project in the fall of 2022 and aiming for a completion date in 2024. The proposed project is a $400 million research and lab building, and will add to the multiple life sciences developments in the area.
On South Broad St, a 14-story apartment project has been planned to sit between the Arthaus and the Symphony House buildings. The $100 million, 91-unit project aims to break ground in late 2022 or early 2023.
Meanwhile, growth outside the city continues to focus on redeveloping older spaces, with a $50 million, 32–unit multi-family apartment complex proposed for the old Norristown Times Herald building; while Wilmington has proposed a 193-unit apartment complex on a warehouse site dating back to the 1970’s.