Back in December, we brought 1526 Frankford Ave. to your attention, noting that the former Samuel Machinery Co. warehouse had recently gotten its facade ripped off. At that time, a tarp was temporarily covering the front of the building, and we had no idea about what plans might be in store.

In the past

In December

Fast forward five months and the building has most of a new facade and we have a halfway decent idea of what’s to come. Next week, the developers will come before Fishtown Neighbors Association to present plans for a restaurant/cafe with residential units above. We’re not going to speculate on the restaurant concept that’s in the works, because no matter what it’s gonna be a huge upgrade over what was there before.

Facade is progressing.

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The south side of Frankford Avenue has been on our radar for months. Considering all of the commercial activity on the block where already sit the Handle Bar, Barcade, Barbary and more, we wondered what else could soon happen around these parts.

The answer to our question is… there’s a ton of potential. First, we stumbled upon the fact and broke the story the Michael Samschick, of Core Realty, has acquired the large warehouse that extends almost the length of the block between Richmond Street and Delaware Avenue. We also came upon 1101-1103 Frankford Ave., a warehouse that’s ripe for renovation. And just across the street, 1039-55 Frankford Ave. sits unfinished, a stalled condo conversion that’s been tied up in court for several years.

1039-55 Frankford Ave.

Gibor Partners, based in Bala Cynwyd, purchased the 52K sqft property about a…

In the past few years, Girard Avenue east of Front Street has experienced the fruits of entrepreneurs and developers who envision the area as a good spot for business. Perhaps it was anchored by the construction of the Piazza, or maybe it’s just the natural extension of Northern Liberties development bursting from its britches. That being said, development sometimes takes time. And in the case of the vacant property at Girard Ave. and Shackamaxon St. we’ve been waiting over five years.

The lot

In 2007, owners of the lot situated at 114-120 E Girard Ave. (or 1140-44 Shackamaxon St.) received overwhelming community support from Fishtown Neighbors Association for their project which depicted a three-story mixed-use development with a ground-floor commercial space occupied by Palm Tree Market, two residential units above, and underground parking. At the time, the site featured a vacant overgrown lot and presented a water…

Earlier this month, developers Keystone Contractual Services LLC presented a proposal for three homes at 2638-42 E. Norris St. to the Fishtown Neighbors Association. This was the second time they presented to the community for this diamond-shaped parcel, having previously come with a four-home project that was shot down. Currently, the lot is one of two quirky “bathtub parks” in the area, with its sister park at the corner of Norris & Aramingo.

The site

The tubs

With the unanimous support of the community that showed up for the meeting, it looks like the smaller bathtub park will soon be replaced by three homes. We’re guessing that these homes will be offered for sale, with proximity to the highway and Girard Avenue as major selling points. Also, being close to the remaining bathtub park will…

On the agenda for the Fishtown zoning committee meeting a couple of weeks ago was a proposal for the establishment of a new bakery at 1255 Marlborough St., formerly a corner store. This corner store, fortunately, had relatively tasteful signage, in contrast to some other stores we’ve seen of late.

The space

While we weren’t able to get ourselves to the meeting, we were able to catch the drift of the proposal from a lengthy conversation on Fishtown.us. Near neighbors were hoping for a full service bakery, specifically a retail outlet from Metropolitan, which does wholesale baking just a few blocks away. Instead, it seems they’ll be getting a more sweets-styled bakery from Zynthia Martinez, according to this story from the Northeast Times Star.

From further away

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In March, we speculated about a proposed ten-home development at 1235 Crease St., in Fishtown. Developers were, at the time, planning to build ten units, with five homes fronting Crease Street, and five additional homes fronting an interior courtyard of sorts. According to the very active comments section for that post, near neighbors generally did not support this plan, due to density concerns, worries about light and air, complaints about the architectural style, and a belief by some that these homes would be rentals, rather than owner occupied homes. Noting this opposition, we were concerned that the developers might give up, leaving this block with the undesirable status quo.

Houses seem better than this

As was suggested in the aforementioned comments section, the developers didn’t run away, but instead modified their plan to take some of the neighbors’ concerns into account. In place…