Old City has been going through tremendous change lately. Whether it’s from big projects like One Water or the Bridge, or smaller ones like the development of townhomes, parking lots are turning into functional cityscape at a surprising rate

One of the vacant lots yet to be developed is the one at the corner of 2nd & New, in the pocket of Old City between the Ben Franklin Bridge, I-95, and some Vine Street Expressway onramps. A quieter, more residential part of the neighborhood, it has nevertheless seen its fair share of new construction, with two townhouse projects under construction at the corner of 2nd & Vine. A little over a year ago, we told you about plans for an eight-story sixteen-unit building at this corner, which was until recently a parking lot for the departed Artemide. The project looked great but sadly it fell through.

View from last year

Old rendering, image from Skyskraperpage.com

Recently, we found a retail glossy for a new project here, touting a six-story mixed-use development with two retail floors and four stories of residential above. The retail component would be large and spacious, an excellent setup for a gallery or a store of some kind… and that’s about all the flyer tells us. We don’t know anything about the residential part of the project.

New project rendering

Will the residential units be rentals or condos? Will we see full-floor units or half-floor ones? Since this is clearly a flyer for the commercial space, it only provides site plans for the retail but none for the residential. We can only speculate based on the exterior renders.

Another view of the project

The developer purchased this property back in March, according to public record. Based on the recent track record of development in Old City, we’re optimistic this one will get off the ground soon. The fact that it will seemingly be a by-right build should make it even easier.