Back in the day, the Wilson & Sons carpet binding factory covered a large parcel just south of Cambridge Street, between Orianna and 4th Streets. Some time after the factory shut down, the rear portion on Orianna Street was demolished and just a few years ago, developers built a row of homes. These homes were nice enough, but the people living there had to deal with the ghost of the old factory in their backyards. But that's finally changing.

Newer homes on Orianna Street with old factory behind them

Closer look

What's left of the old Wilson & Sons building is actually quite large, with frontage on both Cambridge and 4th Streets. Sadly, it's been sitting vacant for many years, a reminder of the neighborhood's industrial past and an indication that the neighborhood still isn't finished growing despite an incredible number of projects in the last few years. Back in 2014, developers came before the community with a plan for 28 units in the building and another new-construction five-unit building, but that plan clearly went nowhere. A Plan Philly story from back then shows that the NLNA pushed back because of a lack of parking in the proposal.

Passing by earlier this week though, we see that this property is an active construction site.

Many windows have been replaced already

Looking at the (somewhat confusing) permits, the current plan is to convert the building into 32 residential units. Based on the IRMX zoning of the parcel, we're pretty sure the project requires nine parking spaces. This could indeed be a part of the project, as there seems to be room for it on the site, but we don't see parking mentioned on any of the permits.

The view on 4th Street

Looking into the site from 4th Street

Parking or no (easy for us to say, we don't live nearby), it's wonderful to see that this property is finally transforming from a blighted husk to an occupied structure. And it's especially sweet that the developers are able to preserve the old factory, maintaining some old architectural character in a neighborhood that's been flooded with new construction. We'd guess that the folks living next door in those homes on Orianna Street are pretty happy about this as well.