Over time, we’ve had several readers reach out, asking us about the large commercial/warehouse building that sits between 5th and 6th Streets, south of Fairmount Avenue and just north of one of the uglier shopping centers you’ll ever see. From what we understand, defunct developer CREI had plans for a twenty story tower on this site once upon a time, but like the company, that plan is dead. But it seems that plans are on the way for 626-36 N 5th St. in the near future.

5th Street side

We were in the neighborhood the other day and spotted a collection of zoning notices on the 6th Street side of the structure. This gives us the feeling that the old building is probably not long for this world.

Corner of 6th Street

Lots of notices

Doing a little digging, it seems that a company associated with Tower Investments purchased the property, which sits on about an acre and a quarter, for $3.9M in the summer of 2011. If the plan here is for, say, 25 half-million dollar homes when all is said and done, the numbers will certainly work. The zoning notices that are up now are for 9 four-story homes, each with a parking space. According to the Northern Liberties Message Board, a meeting will be held on Halloween for interested neighbors to learn more about the project.

If you see someone there dressed in a fox costume, it’s probably us.