There are few things that excite us more development-wise than when an older building that has fallen on hard times gets a new lease on life. As we reported last summer, the project at 2501 Oakford St. most definitely falls into this category. Sitting just to the west of the 25th Street Viaduct, this former clothing factory and storage facility wasn’t looking its best after years of neglect.

As you can see above, we are happy to report that things are looking up for this former warehouse. Stanev Potts has designed a one-story addition to this four-story building. Look for 54 apartments to join some basement studio space for this wonderful rehab. Large, industrial-style windows take up a majority of the facade, with the original brick work complemented by what looks like some sort of bronze-ish horizontal bands between the windows. While still very much in progress, things already look much better than our previous visit to the site last year.

This is yet another huge piece of the puzzle for the development of Grays Ferry along the CSX-owned viaduct that hovers ominously above 25th Street. While there has most certainly been on-going development in the area, the close-by and crumbling tracks certainly aren’t doing the neighborhood any favors. Several new townhouses have gone up on the east side of 25th St., but the repairs to the viaduct that CSX promised all the way back in 2015 haven’t gone quite as quickly as the neighbors had hoped.

In fact, the city filed a formal complaint against CSX this summer to expedite the repairs, as the deteriorating structure continues to cause danger for those walking/biking/driving below. While we don’t think things will change overnight, we’d imagine that a safer and better-looking viaduct would make this area even more appealing from a development perspective. Let’s hope that CSX gets their act together soon so that this neck of the woods becomes a bit more pleasant, though given their, uh, track record, we aren’t gonna hold our breath.