For years, a former Peco substation on the southeast corner of 6th and Federal Sts. has sat empty, a lovely husk of a building, no longer needed for its original use.

A look at the building in 1962

Little has changed in 40 years on the outside

Peco sold the rather large property to June Ngheim back in 1998 for $82K. In 2008, Ngheim went to the ZBA to get a zoning variance to convert the building into 16 apartments. All told, the two story building has about 13K interior sqft, so this seems like a pretty reasonable use and a wonderful way to preserve the hundred plus year old building (insert NIMBY comment about parking here). We don’t know what’s taken three years, but something finally appears to be happening here.

Yesterday, we saw a cleaning crew doing their thing at the property and we were able to glance inside through an open door. Needless to say, it’s a disaster inside, but quite a bit of the interior demo work seems to be complete. Assuming the plan remains the same from 2008 and that the rehab will keep the building at two stories, those ceilings are going to be awfully high, especially on the first floor. Bi-level apartments, anyone?

We’re thrilled to see this building repurposed and not torn down- we can’t overstate the importance of the architectural diversity that a building like this brings to the neighborhood. On the other hand, the rear of the New World Plaza across the street probably doesn’t contribute to architectural diversity in quite the same positive way. We’re assuming the apartments will be rentals, by the way, thanks to the view.

It's the loading area of the New World Plaza! And it's across the street!