The building at 990 Spring Garden St. was built almost ninety years ago, initially functioning as a warehouse for the Philadelphia Wholesale Drug Company. In its last incarnation, the interior of the building was chopped up into a collection of small office spaces, though the outside maintained a certain gravitas that we've always appreciated.
When Arts and Crafts Holdings bought the building last year, they brought a new vision for the property. The old tenants are out, and the interior of the building has been stripped down to cement floors, exposed ceilings, and mushroom columns. They've branded the building as 990 Spring Garden, and they're actively marketing sparkling new office space in this up and coming neighborhood. In their marketing materials, they consider themselves part of the "Spring Arts" neighborhood, so maybe this moniker could stick after all.
So far, we know that Azavea, a software development company previously based a few blocks away, has taken over a floor of the building. Looking at the floor plans on the project website, we see that the Arts and Crafts people are open to full floor tenants or companies looking for a smaller space. Those plans also call out four retail spaces on the first floor, and we'd have to imagine that at least one restaurant will eventually show up on the scene.
If you don't get to this area too often, you might not realize just how many amenities exist around here. Win Win is across the street. Union Transfer is a half a block away. There are some restaurants nearby, like Llama Tooth, Sazon, and Bufad. And don't forget the gun range! <sigh> But perhaps the best amenity is the one that's still forthcoming, the Rail Park. You can see in the image above, the viaduct runs right next to 990 Spring Garden, and the future park will be visible from many of the offices on the upper floors. And as good as the area is today, it only figures to improve once the park happens. Some sweet new office space won't hurt either.