Yesterday, we brought some optimism for the future of a moderately terrifying parking garage at 8th & Arch. Coincidentally, today we have some new information to pass along about a project that should soon rise on a long-vacant lot pretty much next door to this garage. Back in October, we told you about plans to build a nine-story building at 810 Arch St. with 112 apartments, along with offices, lounges, community rooms, an exercise room, and thirty-eight bike spaces. But that was all we knew about the project at the time.

The lot

Finally, thanks to an article from Monday’s Inquirer, we’re able to fill in the blanks on this project. First of all, the building is being developed by a partnership between Project H.O.M.E. and the Philadelphia Chinatown Development Corporation. It’s perhaps a little surprising to hear that either of these groups are working toward a large development at this time; we’d think that Project H.O.M.E. would be too tied up with JBJ Soul Homes in Francisville, and PCDC would be focusing on their community center project planned for 10th & Vine. But despite these rather significant distractions, it seems that this project is a go.

The building will contain affordable housing units, and has been scaled down to 94 apartments. Despite this, it’s still expected to rise nine stories high. The article states that about half of the units will go to clients of Project H.O.M.E. with the other half going to elderly Chinatown residents, an underserved group in the neighborhood in terms of affordable housing. We suspect that the community rooms, offices, and lounges will be included as originally planned, though we’re not so sure about the 38 bike spaces.

Financing for the project is mostly assembled, with about $1.5M left to raise. We’re guessing that groundbreaking will take place sometime this year, with the building finishing some time in 2014 or early 2015. Hopefully, by the time the building is finished, its next door neighbor will look a little something like this:

Future of the garage

Hey, we can hope, right?