For years, the large warehouse at 1923 Washington Ave. was home to a building supply company which included a tool rental rental place where we once snagged a floor nailer for a home improvement project. And this made sense, as Washington Avenue has been the place to go for building supplies for decades.
In the past
But if you live in the area or read this blog regularly, you know that things are slowly changing on Washington Avenue and the construction companies are starting to phase out. At some point in the last few years, the store closed down at 1923 Washington Ave., and half of the building turned into Crossfit Supercharged, which also includes an MMA gym, with the other half becoming an auto shop. Recently, the auto shop realized that they needed a variance to operate their business because of a 2015 zoning overlay restricting uses on the corridor, and rather than going through the zoning process, they opted to either relocate or close. A furniture store opened in the space about a month ago, but the store is already gone. Now, that space is available for lease.
We told you at the end of last year that Fishtown is losing Lou Wolff Auto, a used car dealership that's been doing business on Girard Avenue since the 1980s. That property is being sold and redeveloped, which definitely makes sense given the changes we've seen on the East Girard commercial corridor over the last few years. Still, it's probably a bummer for a) people who hate change, and b) people who liked the idea of buying a car from a dealership in Fishtown. But it seems the car dealership hole in the neighborhood will be quickly filled, at least according to a recent story from Philly.com.
Last summer, we wondered about 1000 W. Girard Ave., a large property that was home to the Althea Gibson Community Education and Tennis Center for about a decade. This place was an amazing neighborhood resource while it was around, teaching tennis and simultaneously creating a safe space for kids. Sadly, funding dried up and the community center closed in 2013. Developers purchased the property a year later, paying a very reasonable $1.5M for the acre-sized parcel.
Looking east on Girard
Former tennis courts
We told you previously that these developers had built a row of high-end row homes on the 600 block of Poplar Street a few years ago, so we suspected that they would be looking at some kind of residential project for this property. High end homes for sale didn't seem like the optimal approach for this location, though. While the blocks immediately to the south are pretty much all PHA-owned low income housing, the property is located close enough to Temple University that a student housing development, probably with a bit of height and density, felt like the right approach. But oh how wrong we were.
At 1722-40 N. Hancock St. you can find a handsome row of old industrial buildings that have sat mostly undisturbed for about a century. But you'd better go check them out soon, because the wrecking ball is coming.
1722 N. Hancock St.
These buildings were constructed over a period of time at the beginning of the 20th century, and were originally used for the manufacturing of textiles, specifically waste and shoddy. More recently, the buildings were home to Quaker Jobbing Co. Upholstery and Mattress Supplies, as a painted sign on the building indicates.
Sign on the building
When word came out that developers had the property under agreement, there was a submission to designate the property as historic which delved deep into the history of the buildings and the textile industry in Kensington. This came before the Historical Commission in October, with the designation getting voted down by a vote of 6-4. There was an incredibly dense conversation about the merits of the application which you can read here in the minutes, starting on page 25.
Money Max Funding operated out of the two-story building at 641 N. Broad St. for over a decade, primarily offering taxi medallion brokerage and other financial services for cab drivers. As Uber and Lyft have taken on a much larger role in getting people from one place to another over the last few years, the taxi industry has felt a dramatic pinch. And we have to think that this trickled down to Money Max Funding, as they're no longer operating out of their longtime home and the phone number on their website goes to a cab company. You can see, their signage has been stripped off the building.
