When we told you earlier this week about the upcoming renovation of the Pyramid Electric building at 31st & Glenwood, we made a point about the continuing northward movement of development in Brewerytown. We thought of Oxford Street as the northern border for development at the time, but completely forgot about the former Eastern Building, located at the intersection of 30th Street, Glenwood Avenue, and Cecil B Moore Avenue. We last checked in on this property back in 2013, and boy did it look like crap back then.
The building actually has a pretty interesting history, having been built in 1922 by the Philadelphia Realty Company, and intially used as a parking garage for the American Railway Express Company. Next, Esso Standard Oil used the building through the early 1950s. After that, it was a factory for the Eastern Electric Company, which is the reason we refer to it today as the Eastern Building. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2006 despite being in horrendous condition by that point.
But ah, what a difference a few years and a little elbow grease can mean! Mosaic Development Partners (at least it was them a three years ago, perhaps someone else has taken over the project) have been working on the building for the last few years, creating the Eastern Lofts. The project has 37 residential units, office space, a day care, and parking. They've added a roof (a necessary bit of work until quite recently), installed new windows, restored the old sign, and touched up the place in too many other ways to list. Check it out:
Though there are still fences up around the property, we believe some of the units are already occupied. Others are currently listed for rent, with prices ranging from $1,300/month for a 2 bedroom, 1.5 bathroom unit, to $1,700/month for a 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom unit. This is such a cool adaptive reuse, we might just have to schedule a visit to look at some apartments in person.