New Community Planned for Northern Liberties
A new townhouse development is soon to be built by PRDC Properties in the Northern Liberties neighborhood, just north of Spring Garden Street at 600 North 5th Street, where 5th Street intersects with Green Street. This new development will consist of 43 large four-story townhouses with a very modern design by Atrium Design Group. It is replacing a large unused warehouse. The site is currently zoned ICMX, for industrial mixed-use development, so the developers are either going to seek a variance from the Zoning Board of Adjustment or seek a change in zoning by City Council.
The townhouses will include 53 parking spaces in all and 20 bicycle parking spaces. There will be a small courtyard and storm water rain garden along the north side. The front of each home will face a street or the courtyard, not garages. Each townhouse will have masonry bricks, metal panels, and limestone stoops. There will be lighting on the outside of the homes. Many will have balconies, as well. Thirty-three townhouses will be 2,715 square feet and have four bedrooms and three and a half bathrooms and a one car garage, nine townhouses will be 3,120 square feet and have four bedrooms and 4 and a half bathrooms and a two car garage, and one home will be 3,089 square feet and have four bedrooms and four and a half bathrooms and a two car garage, as well. Each lot will be 1,380 square feet, with the homes taking up the whole lot.
These homes are just south of another development of 43 townhouses along Fairmount Avenue, which also replaced a warehouse. The homes that PRDC is building at 600 North 5th Street are the same height as those homes, so they will not block the skyline view of those homes. Across 5th Street, PRDC is building another development of townhouses and condos, some of which will be in a vacant six-story building. South of the 600 North 5th Street homes, across Green Street, is a wholesale shopping center that has recently been renovated to include some retail spaces on the Spring Garden Street side. Across Spring Garden Street, from the shopping center, is the former Mother’s Work factory, which is being renovated into a large office space for creative companies, with a brewery and tasting room for Yard’s Brewery. Clearly, this once industrial stretch of Northern Liberties is changing very rapidly, including the townhouses at 600 North 5th Street.
By, Gabriel Gottlieb
