Folks have been living in Philadelphia for a long time, so under any patch of grass there’s at least a chance you might stumble upon some archaeological artifacts. That might seem like a banal observation, but with the recent proliferation of historic districts in Philadelphia, it’s proven to be a new challenge to redeveloping vacant lots. That’s because archaeological resources are one of the criteria by which a property can qualify as a contributing property to a historic district, which gives the Historical Commission greater say in what can and cannot be done with a piece of land. Several recently adopted historic districts liberally apply this Criterion I, including the parking lot at 26-34 Church Lane in the recently created Germantown Urban Village Historic District.

The inclusion of this property as a contributing resource has been a major barrier for redeveloping this site, with the Historical Commission having refused to approve several proposals, which we last covered before the Commission rejected a revised proposal in March. Instead of attempting to come back with yet another proposal in a dubious effort to win over the Commission, the developers sought relief in the courts. In December, the Court of Common Pleas reclassified the property to non-contributing, dramatically changing the game for this site.

With the parking lot merely an “undeveloped site” now, the Historical Commission no longer has a veto on what can be done with the parcel. Instead they can merely mandate the developers present their project for feedback. But this review and comment process for the latest redevelopment proposal on January 28th will likely be quite undramatic, as the developers are simply bringing back the first version of this five story mixed-use building they first presented to the Architectural Committee in January 2024.

The building, with 33 apartments over ground level commercial space, was already permitted back in 2023. The inclusion of only 8 parking spaces seems to show a willingness to rent an apartment in Germantown without a dedicated parking spot. With the impasse at the Historical Commission nearly resolved, we expect construction to start on this site later this year. And with the adjacent vacant lot having the same owners, we hope to see a similar project enter the pipeline soon too. These mixed-use buildings are exactly what makes sense for the Germantown Avenue corridor, so it’s nice to see the City’s self-imposed road blocks to redevelopment fall to the wayside.

We can’t help but assume some of the members of the Historical Commission regret not accepting one of the compromise designs presented by KJO Architecture, which would have at least incorporated some of their feedback into the project. Notably, the Commission did reclassify some of the parking lots during the approval process for the Washington Square West Historic District, so maybe they’ll be less aggressive in utilizing the archaeological criterion in the inevitable historic district proposals to come. At the very least, we expect that more owners of vacant lots challenge their property’s listing as contributing resources in historic districts after the successful appeal from the developers here.