In Northern Liberties, the blocks near the corner of 4th & Fairmount are in the midst of big changes. Last winter, we told you about the planned conversion of the former TransAtlantic Warehouse on Fairmount Avenue into 48 apartments, and a couple of weeks ago we told you about new homes under construction at 4th & Brown.
Now, the former Royal Bank branch at the northwest corner along with several properties along Fairmount Avenue are set for rehab. Wrapping around the corner onto N. 4th Street, there's currently a garage that stretches back to Olive Street which will be demolished and replaced with five new homes by developer Sam Weiner of IronStone.
“The project was pretty much by right,” said Larry Freedman, Northern Liberties Neighbors Association zoning chair.
The project will create one lot from nine different parcels. The NLNA asked developers to keep the former Royal Bank space at the corner as a commercial spot but we don't see that indicated in the approved plans from the ZBA. The 401 string of properties was last acquired for $800K in December of last year by IS3 Marian LLC. Just up the block, the TransAtlantic property went for $2.25M in April of this year. So you can see, there's a solid deal of investment here. Phase II of the TransAtlantic project will include the construction of 25 single-family homes around the corner just south of 5th & Fairmount.
Now, a few blocks north at 5th & Poplar, there has been major redevelopment in the past few years, including the demolishing of an old warehouse where now stands enough town homes to have two baseball squads and some relief too. So in all, development in Northern Liberties is continuing to fill in the remaining parts that haven't yet been redone. Expect it to continue.