If you’ve ever visited the Paesano’s location on Girard Avenue, you may have noticed a large, fenced-in, vacant lot right next door. This parcel, 148-50 W. Girard Ave., has been vacant for at least a decade according to Google Earth, and we’ll let any neighbors reading along chime in to share how much longer it’s been empty.

Current view

Looking west

It seems, however, that this unfortunate lot will not remain vacant for much longer. At Monday’s Northern Liberties Neighborhood Association zoning meeting, a representative from Fusa Designs presented plans for a four-story mixed-use building on this site. This was the developers’ second appearance in front of the community, as they had previously appeared back in November and were invited to return with some tweaks to their plan. The primary change was a slight reduction in the height of the building, from 46′ down to 42’8″, which was accomplished by lowering the ceiling heights of the building’s three apartment units.

Proposed building, rendering lady walking her dog

Without the surrounding streetscape. You can see the odd shape of the building due to the lot shape.

Looking east

On the opposite side of Paesano’s, the neighborhood previously approved a 48′ building that has not yet been constructed, which likely accounted for the committee apparently accepting the plan for the building at 148 Girard. As for a tenant, the developers are hoping for a restaurant, but are not seeking restaurant variances at this time. Is there anything in particular that neighbors would like to see here?

Apartment floor plans

Meanwhile, the the floor plans for the apartments upstairs show a creative and functional use of a little over 800 sqft, not an easy task when dealing with an irregularly shaped building. The building will also include a shared roof deck for residents.

It’s really great to see this vacant lot on Girard ready to become a useful, productive building for the neighborhood. Unfortunately, there are still too many lots on this stretch, and too many buildings in need of renovation. But momentum is a funny thing, and sometimes it just takes one more property before the dominoes begin to fall for an area. It’s too soon to know whether this one will be the tipping point, but if it isn’t we’ll just wait until the next one. Or the one after that. Or… you get the idea.