PRDC Properties anticipates breaking ground this spring on 650 Fairmount, a $100 million mixed-use project that will continue to reshape a part of Philadelphia that has seen an onslaught of development activity over the last decade.
When completed, the project will usher in a dramatic change to a nearly 5-acre parcel and create a new community in a part of the city that straddles both the Northern Liberties and West Poplar neighborhoods.
PRDC is undertaking a similarly transformative mixed-use development in Bridgeport, a small community on the banks of the Schuylkill River in Montgomery County. That proposed $150 million project, with a mix of apartments, townhouses and retail, is as ambitious as 650 Fairmount and is just getting underway.
Perlman has been working on 650 Fairmount for the last three years, securing zoning approvals and making other arrangements to prepare it for development. PRDC came to 650 Fairmount around the same time the Philadelphia real estate company began the development of a 43-unit townhouse project nearby at 600 N. 5th St.
PRDC bought 650 Fairmount in 2017 for $16 million.
The project will rise on the site of the Fairmount Manor, a complex of 100 garden-style affordable apartments.
The design of 650 Fairmount aims to reconnect it to the surrounding community. As part of that, Marshall Street will be reopened from Green Street to Fairmount Avenue and road improvements will be made. A fence surrounding a portion of the current apartment complex will be removed.
The project will have 297 apartments, 107 townhouses, duplexes and triplexes, 221 parking spaces and 21,000 square feet of retail space.
The townhouses will be built in phases over four years and listed between $300,000 to $1.5 million. There will be 60 affordable rental units and 10 for-sale townhouses that will receive a builder subsidy.
“We designed it eight times before we got it right,” Perlman said. “It’s a mix of product that covers everything. When you can do that, your audience becomes much larger.”
The commercial space will be geared to the residents and neighborhood. So far, a dog day care and children’s day care have signed on as tenants. Restaurants and other service tenants are expected to be part of the mix.
The development isn’t the only one in the works in that part of Philadelphia, which has been a hotbed of development activity. Rodin Development has plans for a 13-story building with 382 apartments and underground parking with 206 spaces at 5th and Spring Garden streets. Alliance HSP built a 50-unit apartment building at Sono on the other side of 5th and Spring Garden.
Even with some competing projects, Perlman is certain 625 Fairmount will be a success. Inventory has been tight in Philadelphia and demand for larger spaces on the rise. Though on a much smaller scale, Perlman points to PRDC quickly selling out its townhome project on North 5th Street. “We do believe the market can support it,” he said.
*Article courtesy of Philadelphia Business Journal
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