A few weeks ago, a reader checked in and gave us the heads up that an overgrown lot at Front & Spring Garden had been cleaned up. This lot was previously full of weeds, and featured little jersey barriers as well as a chain-link fence.

In the past

Recent shot

The owner of the property is a company called 101-115 Spring Garden Street LP, based in Jenkintown. Not only do they own this large vacant lot, but they also apparently own most of the parking lot across the street. They purchased these properties together back in 2005 for $2.2M, and we can’t imagine they’re getting any kind of a return on that investment at this time.

We don’t see any permits pulled for the lot, which makes us wonder whether this was simply an effort to expand the parking lot next door or make the lot easier to sell, rather than the beginnings of a meaningful development. With about 15K sqft to work with on this lot, we could easily see a developer finding success with a moderately-sized vertical project, maybe ten stories of condos or apartments. While the view of the river would be wonderful for higher units, we’re not so sure about the view for those closer to the ground.

Delilah's across the street, which is next to the El

Nevertheless, as development continues to occur across Northern Liberties, even a parcel with Delilah’s as a neighbor has become attractive for residential development. When something will actually happen here, however, is anybody’s guess.