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Tue
May 8
2012

Thoughts on a Curious Shed in Hawthorne

A reader asked us about an odd, brown shed on the 1200 block of Fitzwater St., a building we’ve thought about ourselves from time to time over the years. It sits on the same parcel as the Hawthorne Lofts, the 54-unit condo building developed by the Rufo Company. This Hawthorne Lofts building, as you can probably guess from looking at it, was once a school.

The Nathaniel Hawthorne Public School was constructed on this site in 1908 and operated as a school until 1980. Shortly thereafter, according to the Rufo Company, it was converted into low-income housing units. This makes sense, since the Hawthorne Square PHA towers were right next door at the time. In 2008, Rufo acquired the building and completed the change-over to market rate condos. This also makes plenty of sense, as the neighborhood has come up significantly since the PHA high-rises came down in 1999.

The shed, with Hawthorne Lofts in the background

Back to the shed, we don’t know where it came from or what its function is at the moment, but we’d have to imagine it could have a more productive use for the general public. The reader who inquired about it had heard about plans to remove the fence that’s in front of the shed and to create a restaurant space in the building.

Is this something that could have legs on this block? If not a restaurant, is there some other commercial application that could succeed here? On the other hand, newish businesses on 13th St. in this area have a poor track record, with a corner store and a cafe coming and going in the last three years. With that in mind, would a commercial entity be doomed here from the start?

We’ll keep an eye out for anything that develops here, and an ear open for any rumors that could be floating around…

12
COMMENTS
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Posted in Bella Vista | Tagged , , , , , , | 12 Comments
  • guest

    I live in the Hawthorne building, last week Tony Rufo said that he’s not 100% sure what will go there, whether it’s townhouses or a commercial space, but it will absolutely be developed. 

  • guest

    I live in the Hawthorne building, last week Tony Rufo said that he’s not 100% sure what will go there, whether it’s townhouses or a commercial space, but it will absolutely be developed. 

  • Guest

    I would love to see a coffee shop there.  From Hawthorne to the Broad St line there is nowhere to get coffee and breakfast to go in the morning.

  • Guest

    I would love to see a coffee shop there.  From Hawthorne to the Broad St line there is nowhere to get coffee and breakfast to go in the morning.

  • 3rd&Brown

    It’ll probably be townhouses, because that will maximize his ROI, though I imagine that would also piss off a number of his own customers in the old school buildings who bought precisely for their views. That being said, a cool brunch spot/restaurant/coffee shop with chill outdoor seating out front would be amazing.

  • Guest

    I think the building previously served as a cafeteria. It’s
    currently used as storage for the Rufo Company. Hawthorne Lofts (the former
    Nathaniel Hawthorne school building) just recently reached 100% sold, but the
    HOA doesn’t have any control over the shed, which Rufo established as
    withdrawable real estate. Sales agents and Rufo employees did mention the
    possibility of a restaurant, but said that additional parking was most likely,
    since the Hawthorne Lofts building has 53 units, but only had 39 parking
    spaces. Rufo worked around this by squeezing in additional parking spaces that
    weren’t on the plan in the condo docs – in front of a first floor resident’s
    window, partially obstructing the entrance to the lot on Kenilworth, and by
    moving dumpsters under a second floor resident’s windows and right next to the
    fire department water connection.

    Residents of the Hawthorne Lofts later heard that two three-story
    townhouses were being planned for the west side of the lot (next to the church),
    with parking on the east side of the lot. Then it became three townhouses. Then
    four.

    As the previous commenter said, at this point nothing is definite and no plans
    have been presented.  Two weeks
    ago, Tony Rufo said it would probably be another month before he knows what he’s
    doing with the space (he has until April of 2017 to withdraw it). He said he originally
    was considering a restaurant, café, or variety store – but the residents of the
    neighborhood “were against it because they were afraid it would become a
    hangout.”

  • Guest

    I think the building previously served as a cafeteria. It’s
    currently used as storage for the Rufo Company. Hawthorne Lofts (the former
    Nathaniel Hawthorne school building) just recently reached 100% sold, but the
    HOA doesn’t have any control over the shed, which Rufo established as
    withdrawable real estate. Sales agents and Rufo employees did mention the
    possibility of a restaurant, but said that additional parking was most likely,
    since the Hawthorne Lofts building has 53 units, but only had 39 parking
    spaces. Rufo worked around this by squeezing in additional parking spaces that
    weren’t on the plan in the condo docs – in front of a first floor resident’s
    window, partially obstructing the entrance to the lot on Kenilworth, and by
    moving dumpsters under a second floor resident’s windows and right next to the
    fire department water connection.

    Residents of the Hawthorne Lofts later heard that two three-story
    townhouses were being planned for the west side of the lot (next to the church),
    with parking on the east side of the lot. Then it became three townhouses. Then
    four.

    As the previous commenter said, at this point nothing is definite and no plans
    have been presented.  A couple of weeks
    ago, Tony Rufo said it would probably be another month before he knows what he’s
    doing with the space (he has until April of 2017 to withdraw it). He said he originally
    was considering a restaurant, café, or variety store – but the residents of the
    neighborhood “were against it because they were afraid it would become a
    hangout.”

  • Guest2

    There was one on the northwest corner of 13th and Catharine that closed in the last year.  Hopefully that will get filled up too.

  • Guest3

     Problem with the place at 13th & Catharine is that it sucked. The person who was running it also moved out of the city for personal reasons.

  • Guest

    I’d vote for more parking spots for the residents. 39 spots for 54 units seems odd.

  • Guest

    I live on the 1200 block of Fitzwater. My understanding is that Rufo does not know what to do with the space yet. It could be a store maybe but probably not. More likely than the store is the restaurant but MOST likely it will remain as is “deralict” until all the pieces come together in the neighborhood. In five years our hood will be MONEY!

  • http://nakedphilly.com/passyunk-square/former-school-for-sale-near-a-park-in-south-philly/ Former School for Sale Near a Park in South Philly | NakedPhilly

    [...] really come up with a good reuse of this building, aside from residential. Could the nearby Hawthorne School, originally built in the same year and converted to lofts in 2009 be a good example for a possible [...]

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