On the recommendation of a reader, we made our way to Brewerytown the other day to check in on some ongoing residential projects that we’ve covered in the past few months. First we stopped at 31st & Baltz, where last month two foundations sat, waiting for new houses to be built by developer Steph-Sin. In the weeks since, the homes have been framed, and facades have gone up as well. Pretty good progress, if you ask us.

Middle of March

Plugging away

Around the corner, on the 3000 block of Girard, three properties owned by ML Builders LLC were vacant lots a month ago. Now, foundations have arrived for all three, and the two easternmost parcels are being framed out. Still no framing for the last lot, but we’d guess it’s next on the list. These…

Just last week, we told you about Cambridge Row, a partnership between Fairmount CDC and local developer MM Partners to purchase a number of PHA properties, rehab them, and sell them on the open market. This project will be taking place on the 2700-3000 blocks of Cambridge Street, and will involve the revival of ten properties that have been sources of blight for years. And it seems that the spirit of rehabbing properties on Cambridge Street is contagious.

2800 Cambridge St.

2800 Cambridge St. is an imposing corner property, dwarfing the two story homes next door due to its height and the fact that the other homes on the south side of the block are set back from the front of their property line. The building was purchased by Cambridge Partners LLC back in September for $135K, and these developers seem serious about…

Last year, the Philadelphia Housing Authority sold off hundreds of homes in a successful though flawed auction process, relieving itself of a fraction of its inventory of vacant and blighted homes. Despite this effort, PHA still owns over a thousand vacant properties that it clearly doesn’t have the capacity to repair to make fit for residents, and which will therefore will sit vacant and blighted for who knows how many more years.

Some PHA blight

Enter a partnership between Brewerytown developers MMPartners and Fairmount CDC. According to a press release, the two have come together to purchase ten properties from PHA on the 2700-3000 blocks of Cambridge Street. The intention is to renovate and sell these ten homes, with nine to be sold at market-rate prices, and one to be sold at an “affordable price,” to individuals…

MM Partners, probably the most active developer in the Brewerytown neighborhood, are at it again. We’ve covered numerous projects from these guys over the past several months, including North28, and the ongoing renovation of the MG Schweiker Building. This time, they’ve turned their attention back to Brewerytown’s commercial corridor, cleaning up a gross storefront and opening a pop-up garden store at 2710 W Girard Ave.

In the past

Current shot

Girard Supply Co. is an effort to give urban gardeners a neighborhood alternative to Home Depot or Lowe’s. With numerous plants as well as gardening design elements from SHIFT_DESIGN, this new store brightens up a commercial space that’s still, for all intents and purposes, in shell condition.

Not only does the store brighten up…