The Paul Rabinowitz Glass Factory at 1401-15 N. American St., a building that sits across the street from Crane Arts, will soon get an earring of sorts, in the form of four new homes. The new units will face the alley-sized N. Philip St., replacing a large vacant lot on the block. This spring South Kensington Community Partners supported the proposal from Momentum Development, a group that has done other projects in the area, like 924-28 New Market St. in Northern Liberties. Developers began the community process this spring, and tweaked designs a small amount to meet the rear yard depth requirement. Designed by KJO Architecture, the project received ZBA approval in June.
Standing in front of the parcel, at the corner of American & Master, you can see development taking place at various points around you. While building has yet to start, the yellow concrete garage that stood at 1500 N. American, a block north at Jefferson, as early as this spring, is demolished now. In its place a new structure will include a ground-floor art gallery. Turn around and look south and you can see the future home of Liberty Square—191 units with 153 parking spots—a few blocks away at American & Thompson.
In July we wondered about Liberty Square's neighbor project, SoKo Lofts, a plan for 311 units and 4-6 retail spots on a very large lot surrounded by 2nd, Thompson, American, and Master Streets. So far, no construction has occurred for this project, though we heard the parcel was listed for sale at some point last year. As we've said many times before, the neighborhood doesn't seem to need these huge projects to continue to make its way forward, it's been bolstered significantly by much smaller projects, like the four homes coming to Philip Street. That being said, it certaintly wouldn't hurt if one of these huge projects finally got some traction.