Though Kensington is generally considered the epicenter of 19th-20th century industry in Philadelphia, there were manufacturing pockets scattered all over the city, often butting against residential neighborhoods. One such pocket was in the Hartranft neighborhood in North Philadelphia. Today we zoom in on the 2200 block of N. 9th St., which was home to several industrial concerns over the years.
2216-40 N. 9th St. once housed a collection of buildings as part of the John Sullivan & Sons Manufacturing Company, a hosiery mill. Textile manufacturing in Philadelphia is ancient history, but old an Congressional Record from 1878 noting “the petition of John Sullivan & Sons, of Philadelphia, for a change of the tariff on fine stay-binding and fine cotton-yarns” shows us that things aren’t all that different today than they were 150 years ago.
By the 1960s, the factory operating at this address was still named for Sullivan and his sons, but production had shifted to tapes and bindings. As was the case across the city during the latter part of the 20th century, this business ceased operations at this location at some point, with the City taking ownership of the property in 1977. At some point before the late 1990s, this former factory and the industrial buildings to the north were all demolished. Sadly, these properties have remained vacant ever since and remain empty to this day.
But change is in the air for this long depressed block. At 2216-40 N. 9th St., the City will be partnering with Stuart Alexander to build 49 units of senior housing, affordable for residents 62 years and older who earn 50% of the Area Median Income (AMI) or less (or approximately $42K/year) financed through low income housing tax credits. Additional subsidies secured by the developers will guarantee 12 of the units will be affordable for households at 30% of AMI, translating to a rent of only $400 to $600 a month. The Zoning Board of Adjustments granted a few variances for this project last week.
Though the building will be affordable, the design by KMA Architects shows some amenities commonly seen in market rate housing, including a roof deck, outdoor space, and a fitness center. The building will also include a senior center on the ground floor. The project calls for 11 parking spots which we imagine will be in high demand between residents and building staff. If anything, we are a bit surprised that there’s not more parking included, though we’re not complaining, considering the property is relatively close to both a Regional Rail station and the Broad Street Line.
While this project would represent a sea change for this block, there’s even more in the pipeline, immediately to the north. Last year, the ZBA gave a variance to a 54 unit project at 2242-50 N. 9th St., which will take a very different approach to multi-family development. While the senior housing project will provide housing in one building with shared amenities, the northern project will instead opt for two rows of triplexes and quadplexes, with a parking courtyard in between. This project appears to be a market rate development, which could potentially target Temple students.
The northern project got a variance about a year ago but does not yet have a building permit in place. It’s certainly possible we’ll see things ramp up here soon, but it’s also possible that nothing happens for years to come. We’re more bullish on the senior housing project’s likelihood of moving forward. It will surely be some time before we actually see any progress at the site, as there’s permitting to complete and boxes to check for grants and tax credits. But barring a shocking City-led effort to kill the project, we expect it will move forward. At the same time, we’ll hope that some of the Mayor’s housing reforms recently passed by City Council will mean more of these no-brainer projects can secure permits without the hassle of of a drawn out variance process. Given the affordability crisis in this city, we can’t imagine there are too many folks who would disagree.