We’re always down for a stroll around town, and the city looks extra magical with a few inches of snow on the ground. Ditto, a playoff win for the hometown football team. On a recent walk, we noticed progress at the mixed-use project at 6237-45 Germantown Ave., across the intersection from the historic Johnson House.

When we last covered the site in 2022, the ZBA had approved the construction of a 47 unit mixed-use building with ground floor retail and 41 parking spots. While this number of parking spots would usually be disappointing for a property within walking distance of two Regional Rail lines and the 23 bus, the property was zoned for auto-oriented development at the time, which required 203 parking spots for a project of that size. Yikes.

Aside from being totally infeasible, that sort of development would’ve been totally out of line with the City’s goal of reinvigorating the Germantown corridor. In the last few years, this property has been re-zoned for a neighborhood commercial building, which would have negated some of the variances that were needed for this project. It would’ve been convenient if the more permissive zoning had already been in place before this project got started, but fortunately the ZBA was willing to facilitate appropriate redevelopment despite the fact that the zoning didn’t make any sense.

With the construction of the new building progressing, we can get a decent idea of how it will appear when it’s complete. The paneling sticks out a bit now, but we’ll hold off on judgement until the rest of the facade work is complete. At least in terms of massing, the building will largely fit in with the three story buildings that dominate the block. In fact, there’s another 4-story building a block away at 6144 Germantown Ave on a former parking lot that’s also helping to establish a higher density context. Absent the rust colored accent bands along the front facades, the new 50 unit building at the corner of the Settlement Music School campus looks pretty similar to the rendering we saw back in 2022.

While walking down the street we also noticed that construction on a mixed-use building with 3 apartments over a commercial space at 6206 Germantown Ave seems well underway, next to a five unit mixed-use building completed a few years ago. It would seem like the adjacent lawn could also host future infill development, but it’s owned by the neighboring self-storage business, so they might have other plans for the lot. Or maybe they have no plans at all.

With Ken Weinstein planning to redevelop the New Bethel AME Church into a mixed-use property and the local Rite Aid having closed down last year and available for lease, it seems like this stretch of Germantown Ave isn’t done transforming. We’ll be sure to keep an eye on this pocket of Germantown Ave, though hopefully next time we swing by here we won’t need quite as many layers to stay warm!