In recent months, we’ve covered a couple apartment projects in Port Richmond, and this week’s Civic Design Review Committee meeting provided the opportunity to cover yet another. At 2650 Castor Ave., across the street from Target and its massive parking lot, developers are planning 68 units across two rows of duplexes & triplexes. This vacant lot sits at the crossroads of suburban sprawl, industrial ghosts, bustling commerce, and quiet residential streets – a combustible mix that promises spirited debate from various stakeholders. It could be awhile before some version of this project gets approved, and considering that it will need several variances to move forward, there’s a possibility that day will never come.
From old maps and aerial photos we can see this property remained undeveloped into the early 20th century, with a transport company and a freight terminal eventually occupying portions of the site. As recently as 20 years ago the property was still being used to store trailers, but it’s been largely vacant, aside from some illegal parking, since around the time that Ryan Howard won the Rookie of the Year award. Despite its industrial history, City Council remapped the property to allow single family homes by right in 2018.
If they were interested in pursuing a project by right, the developers could subdivide the property and build 32 homes, with half the homes fronting Edgemont and half the homes fronting Thompson. In the abstract, this might be a sensible plan, with a bike lane running along Castor Avenue and a stop for the 26 bus nearby. But let’s get real. This isn’t a particularly pedestrian friendly area, and any new construction in this neck of the woods is going to include parking, if at all possible. In this case, the developers are pursuing more than twice the allowable density and also adding a parking component. Check it out:
The 47 spot parking lot will sit between two rows of buildings, accessible via two-way curb cuts on Castor Avenue and Pickwick Street. While the parking lot triggers the need for more variances, the effort to mitigate competition for on-street parking is a good way to win support from local neighbors. We were surprised there was no request from the CDR Committee for some of the spots to be rededicated to provide the 23 bike spots required by the code, as there are none in the current plan. The CDR members did urge the developers to eliminate the curb cut along Castor Avenue, which would improve safety in the adjacent bike lane. The committee also talked about the lack of a larger shared public space, but that would also reduce the number of parking spots for the project.
KCA Architects did the design work here, aiming to create units that look similar to legacy buildings. We fear that the financial necessities of the project will result in some value engineering, which might make the buildings stick out more prominently as new construction, but so it goes. Already, the backs of the units, facing the utilitarian surface parking lot, will use more economical materials, and those will be visible from Castor Avenue. The CDR committee suggested that brick wrap around to the back, but with nobody from the community at the meeting, we’re not sure how much weight this recommendation will have, down the road.
The committee voted to conclude their review of this project, and the next step will be a presentation to the ZBA in December. It’s hard for us to appreciate how the zoning board will respond to the proposal, though we expect feedback from the local RCOs and the District Councilmember will likely provide guidance. Even if both are supportive, there’s no guarantee the board will be sympathetic to an appeal that requires multiple variances. Then again, we can also imagine a scenario where the project sails through the zoning process and starts construction sometime next year.