424 Belgrade St. is a fabulously located Fishtown property, by all accounts. It sits about three blocks away from Frankford Avenue, with Suraya a five minute walk away. Adaire Elementary, one of the better public schools in town, is located just around the corner. Ditto Hetzel Playground, with a mix of a sizable soccer pitch and a baseball field. And don’t forget Palmer Cemetery! It’s no secret that Fishtown is one of the fastest growing and most attractive neighborhoods in Philadelphia. And yet, this parcel, which measures over 4,000 sqft, has been sitting vacant for decades, aside from some limited use as a community garden.
The parcel has passed through the hands of a couple developers over the last few years, as folks have tried to unlock the highest and best use for this awesome property. Back in 2023, developers went to the ZBA with plans to subdivide the property into four lots, with three fronting Belgrade Street and one fronting Earl Street. The plan called for a quartet of three-story homes, with one on each lot. But it never moved forward, as you can see in the photos above.
Earlier this month, developers pulled zoning permits that are consistent with the zoning variance, albeit with some changes to the plans for the homes. The new plans call for four-story homes, though the homes will top out at 38′ tall, to conform with the zoning code. Each home will have parking on the first floor, accessed by a curb cut on Earl Street. There won’t be much living space on the first floors thanks to the parking; so figure the addition of the parking will just push up the original layouts to the upper floors. Sadly, we just have a site plan and don’t have any renderings for the project.
We’d say the revised project is a big upgrade, which will not only provide a great amenity to whoever buys the homes, but also reduces the impact of the project on the other homes nearby. The evolution of this project is also an encouraging sign of progress in terms of planning. Other homes on Earl Street were built maybe 20 years ago, with three homes including front loaded garages.
The easiest path for this property would have been a subdivision into four lots fronting Earl Street, with four garages. This would have been worse for parking in the area and had a material impact on the pedestrian experience. Thankfully, these types of homes have fallen out of fashion, with smaller drive-aisles providing similar utility to the new homes but having a less significant effect on the streetscape. While it’s unfortunate that the property has waited so long for redevelopment, the extended timeline probably resulted in a far superior layout, compared to what we might have seen twenty years ago. We look forward to seeing this lot finally redeveloped, hopefully starting sometime next year.