South Kensington has experienced tremendous growth in the last few years, with small and large projects alike filling up vacant lots and replacing blighted buildings. Despite all this positive change, there's still a huge blighted building looming over the neighborhood, like Lurch on the Addams Family. The building at 5th & Master was once an umbrella factory, but it's been sitting vacant for decades. We last visited the property about a year and a half ago, hoping that renovation was imminent, but it looks pretty much the same now as it did back then.
A refresher, there was a plan for a residential conversion here back in 2006, which would have meant 141 condo units and a parking garage next door. The project encountered considerable community opposition, but it was ultimately mothballed because of the recession in 2008.
The property went up for sale a couple of times since then, first for close to $8M and then for around $5M, but no buyers emerged. We're pretty sure it went to sheriff's sale a couple of times too, but it was always stayed. You'd have to imagine, given all the aforementioned development in the neighborhood, many developers have been eyeing this property, imagining the possibilities. And it seems that one of them has finally pulled the trigger.
A reader tipped us off recently that new owners took over the old umbrella factory at the beginning of the year, paying $3.9M for the property. The entity, Umbrella Factory Lp, tracks back to the same address used by Core Realty, the company behind the Penn Treaty Village projects and more specifically the Penn Treaty Village Pennthouses. So these guys certainly know what they're doing when it comes to adaptive reuse for residential purposes. We've seen a couple of minor permits, like interior demolition, and the addition of a roof deck, but we don't have concrete info as to what these guys are planning for the property.
Still, the fact that the building has turned over and that its new owners are legit and experienced developers tells us that the long wait for this property's redevelopment should be approaching the finish line. As soon as we get some more info, and hopefully some fresh renderings, we'll be sure to pass them along.