Fletcher Street runs north-ish by south-ish through Fishtown, though it disappears and reappears repeatedly as you trek through the neighborhood. By the time we found the 1200 block of Fletcher Street, right off of Girard Ave., we’d made three wrong turns and almost ended up on I-95. We did eventually find 1238 E. Fletcher St., the empty lot we were looking for, a block off of Girard Ave.

There it is

Blue Truck Ents LLC purchased this lot at the end of last year for $82K, and are intending to build two homes on this 18′x100′ lot. According to their zoning application, they have plans for two four-story homes that are on the taller side for the neighborhood, one of which will front Fletcher Street and the other that will front Colona Street.

The vacant lot on

…

Today, developers are presenting plans to the ZBA for 1235-47 Crease St., in Fishtown. Located about a block away from Frankford Ave. and a block away from Girard Ave., this seems like an pretty intuitive location for some new residential development. These homes will replace an unattractive one story red garage building.

Looking north

The other half of the building.

According to the zoning application, the developers, who closed on the property last month for $325K, will be constructing ten three story homes at this location. In addition, seven of the homes will have garages and three more open-air parking spots will be included. The dimensions of the 9,000 sqft lot, with 90′ of frontage and 100′ of depth, means that either these homes will all be 9′ wide, or they absolutely won’t all front Crease St.…

On the southwest corner of Carlisle and Stiles Sts., Jin Feng Real Estate Investment LLC is planning seven new triplexes, ostensibly for student housing. Currently, this corner includes a vacant lot, a shell that used to be a speakeasy, and a garage that was turned into rental apartments at some point in the past.

The corner

Looking south down Carlisle St.

Looking west, on Stiles St.

All of these structures will be torn down and replaced, provided the developer receives approval from the ZBA. This seems like good news, as the new buildings will do away with the blighted corner building. Additionally, the same developer owns a number of properties directly to the south which also serve as student housing.

What’s particularly interesting to us about this project is that it’s closer…

According to a zoning application from earlier this month, Amz Dev Inc hopes to build what we can only imagine is student housing at 1401 N 15th St., currently a vacant lot.

Big lot indeed

The developer purchased this lot in December for $290K, and has proposed ten residential units and eight parking spaces. Looking at the lot, this seems very doable. And with plenty of construction and existing student housing in the general area, including the relatively new Modules at Templetown, the location seems like a slam dunk.

Looking north. Modules at Templetown look sparkly.

There’s only one problem with this project: The developers don’t own as much land as you might think. The plot that they own runs from 15th St. to Carlisle St., but only runs 27 feet north of Master…

Back in November, we told you about a large, eponymous project in the Spring Arts (as it’s listed in the MLS TREND system) neighborhood. Or is it the West Poplar (as it so listed in the Phila2035 publications), or the Spring Garden (the name many of our readers seem to support) neighborhood?

As that discussion evolves, neighborhood politics and marketing will be at play like hungry hippos chasing valuable marbles. Meanwhile, we have an update for you about Spring Arts Point.

Phase 1 of Spring Arts Point

Developer and realtor Lawrence Rust, one of the leading voices advocating the Spring Arts nomenclature, and understandably so, given the name of his project, has informed us that he tentatively plans to move forward with Phase II of his large-scale Spring Arts Point development this April. That means Phase I must have…

According to a zoning notice from last month, an unexpected change is coming to 1308 W. Girard Ave.

Kind of blue

Home to Drexel Bindery Inc. for twenty-five years and located on a fairly depressed commercial corridor, this location doesn’t exactly seem ripe for redevelopment. But that’s just what’s planned for this building, which sits on a hefty 40′x120′ lot, as the owners have requested a variance to add a story to the building, and build out twelve apartments units on the site. It seems possible that most of the printing operations that currently take place in the building will be relocated to another address to make room for these apartments.

Though tons of building taking place several blocks to the south in the Spring Arts area, and even more building is going on several blocks to the north…