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Wed
Jul 18
2012

Huge Residential Development Proposal for Hawthorne, Next to a Gas Station

For years, we thought that the western half of the 1300 block of Bainbridge Street was a parking lot for the ill-fated 1352 Lofts immediately to the north. Turns out, this land has been available for redevelopment and it seems that in short order, that’s exactly what’s going to happen.

The lot

Looking east

Last week, a reader tipped us off about a proposed 22 home development here at 1319-51 Bainbridge St., which also would include an additional mixed-use building on the corner of Bainbridge & Clarion. Clarke Real Estate Development LLC purchased this giant lot earlier this year for $5M and has retained Harman Deutsch to do design work for the project. Looking at the site plan, we see eleven homes fronting Kater Street, and eleven homes fronting Bainbridge Street, all with rear access parking, roof decks, and green roofs.

The mixed-use building will be on the Bainbridge side, though it's not reflected in the plan

The homes will be four stories high and will be about 50′ tall, ostensibly to make them feel less hemmed in by the rather tall 1352 Lofts building across the street. The design is decent, with materials changing as the building goes up. The fourth story does look a little out of place though, like it was dropped onto the houses from above.

Bainbridge Street elevations. Note the mixed-use building at the end.

Kater Street elevations

We don’t know much about the mixed-use building, except that it will have enclosed (probably underground?) parking and a commercial space on the first floor. Hopefully, a couple of design tweaks will take place to make the commercial space a little more inviting to potential tenants.

View from Clarion Street

We here at Naked Philly are always enthused to see a surface parking lot turn into something better. We’d imagine that these plans will change some, once the community has its say at a meeting next week, but in general this should be a very positive development on the Hawthorne border. Our biggest concern, aside from the viability of a commercial space on Clarion St., is the development’s extremely close proximity to a gas station. Are people willing to pay for a high end home that’s next door to the Hess station? Or will pricing for the westernmost homes reflect their less-than-ideal location?

Looking west. Hess station is right there.

Ah, gasoline fumes on a summer day. Nothin’ better.

18
COMMENTS
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Posted in Bella Vista | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 18 Comments
  • http://twitter.com/brianbrews Brian Marsh

    This is huge news, and I’m excited to see something happening at this lot.
    But I feel like a condo development makes a little more sense here, and might’ve alleviated the concern about proximity to the gas station.  Also is it me or do these renderings look eerily similar to the Artisan Townhomes on the 1400 block of Bainbridge?

  • 3rd&Brown

    $5 M is a lot to pay for a lot that you’re putting single family homes on. My guess is that these are going to be some very expensive homes. And yes, they look like taller, skinnier versions of the Artisan homes.

  • 3rd&Brown

    $5 M is a lot to pay for a lot that you’re putting single family homes on. My guess is that these are going to be some very expensive homes. And yes, they look like taller, skinnier versions of the Artisan homes.

  • 3rd&Brown

    $5 M is a lot to pay for a lot that you’re putting single family homes on. My guess is that these are going to be some very expensive homes. And yes, they look like taller, skinnier versions of the Artisan homes.

  • qweezyq

    not a big fan of the wall of staircases along the sidewalk.

  • Omp835

    Ill fated 1352 Lofts? What happened?

  • JoEv

    Harman Deutsch seems very busy these days.  What makes their rowhouse designs so favored by developers?  Are they inexpensive to build?  Do they know how to design so as not to rankle the neighbors (aka NIMBYs)?

  • R.B

    Really Excited to see this coming to our neighborhood, any design is much better than the empty parking lot currently there, i just wish someone will buy the old public assistant office, across the street.

  • http://www.facebook.com/bobbydombroski Bobby Dombroski

    Someone already asked this, but why is Harmon Deutsch getting so much work? Half of the homes that they pump out are garbage. 

    I am glad to see something coming to this huge, empty lot, but can we please get a better architect firm in this city?

    And Qweezyq, those steps irk me as well.

  • Diana

    Why do we allow every single house to have parking in this city? It’s ridiculous. We should be encouraging people to take transit, walk, bike, etc. The green roofs are just greenwashing.

  • Guest

    We are getting some improvements.  The new code disallows houses north of Washington in CC to have parking if it isn’t through a shared driveway in the back.  We almost had parking maximums for some uses in dense neighborhoods but City Council got rid of that before it came into effect.

  • http://twitter.com/F1rstCitizen First Citizen

    Part of me agrees about the Hess station, but the other part of me that likes to be able to buy gas in the city selfishly begs to differ.  When the Sunoco is overrun with cabbies filling up and hanging out inside the store, Hess always comes through.

  • http://twitter.com/F1rstCitizen First Citizen

    Yes, but the logic is the more inconvenient it is to own a car, the more likely people will be to either use alternative modes of transportation or possibly get by with a single car per household.

  • http://twitter.com/F1rstCitizen First Citizen

    Green roofs are likely required by PWD rather than being a sexy amenity offered by the developers. 

  • http://nakedphilly.com/bella-vista/near-big-hawthorne-development-two-puzzling-vacant-lots/ Near Big Hawthorne Development, Two Puzzling Vacant Lots | NakedPhilly

    [...] we told y’all about the massive residential development potentially coming to the 1300 block of Bainbridge Street in the near future, a reader checked in, asking about a couple of mysterious vacant lots nearby. [...]

  • Andy

    I actually like the smell of gas.

  • http://nakedphilly.com/bella-vista/development-opportunity-on-the-1300-block-of-bainbridge/ Development Opportunity on the 1300 Block of Bainbridge | NakedPhilly

    [...] though not outrageous. After all, the lot across the street, which is ostensibly slated to become twenty-two new homes in the near future, sold for five million. We can see a way to fit fourteen homes on the south side of the street, but [...]

  • http://nakedphilly.com/bella-vista/update-more-homes-coming-to-south-broad-street/ Update: More Homes Coming to South Broad Street | NakedPhilly

    [...] the summer, we told you about the ambitious plan from Clarke Real Estate Development LLC to construct twenty-two new homes on the 1300 blocks of Kater and Bainbridge Street, in the shadow of the 1352 Lofts. This project would not only replace a surface parking lot (always [...]

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