Something we’ve started to notice when we research abandoned, deteriorating properties, or sites where years old zoning notices hang beaten and weathered, is that there tend to be property tax issues. Similar to the owners of this overgrown Brewerytown lot that we told you about last week, the owners of 1101-1103 Frankford Avenue have accumulated a hefty sum of unpaid property taxes, according to the BRT. Owners 1101 Frankford LLC acquired the property for $595K in 2004 and made payments until 2008. In just four years, they’ve piled up $79,833.35 in delinquent taxes.

The building

This civil court case, which lists 1101 Frankford LLC as one of the defendants, gives us the idea that the story of this property is complex indeed. There are at least three other lawsuits that the owners of this property are involved in, which sheds a little light on why the zoning application dated April 19, 2005 hangs worn and pummeled, no longer orange, on the bottom left window of this four-story building with arched ground-floor windows. That application called for the transformation of the old industrial warehouse, once home to a hosiery mill and an elevator factory (but not at the same time) into eight attached single townhomes contained within one structure, with an interior garage and balconies on the second- and fourth-floors.

The building across the street was owned by the same folks who own this property

Perhaps now is the time for a developer to swoop in and take this location off the hands of those who have let the site wither for the past several years. As we said last week, Frankford Avenue between Girard and Delaware Avenue is in midst of a transformation of sorts. Those old industrial buildings, generally with high ceilings and large windows tend to renovate into attractive apartments. Who knows, perhaps Michael Samschick could incorporate this site into his Delaware Waterfront Vision. Whatever happens here, we dig the old industrial feel, and favor renovations. Let’s just hope that nobody steps in and decided to demolish this 150+ year old building.

–Lou Mancinelli