If you've followed the University City thread here then you're likely familiar with the flash of redevelopment that whipped through the 4000 block of Baring Street two years ago and kept on going to the 4100 block, transforming a block of vacant lots and older homes into student housing. Located just north of Market Street and just west of Lancaster Avenue, these blocks have proven attractive to developers and then students, with all of the new units occupied and more coming down the pipeline.
Today, we look at a couple of projects just one block to the north. Two years ago, the 4000 block of Spring Garden was host to a few vacant parcels, and at the end of the block on the northeast corner of Spring Garden & Budd, a three-story home was under construction after a fire.
After a long time, construction still doesn't look finished. Unfortunately, the renovation efforts have totally stripped out the architectural details that made the building so wonderful before it burned. Fortunately, the others on the block still look pretty great, at least from a distance. Meanwhile, at 4080 Spring Garden St., a new building with a third-floor setback is under construction on a former vacant lot. More student housing to come, surely.
We've seen a few other projects pop up along along Spring Garden Street in University City over the past year. Last summer, 24-unit 3221 Spring Garden St. had just started to be framed out, but by this spring it looked as though it would be done in time for the upcoming school year. Then there's Drexel's expansion and improvements to the Dornsife Center at 35th & Spring Garden that includes renovations on a charming old building with a long front porch. Now, just south of 40th & Spring Garden, along the 400 block of N. 40th St., which is just north of that formerly swinging 4000 block of Baring Street, there's construction happening along both sides of the street. Come next year, the 400 block of N. 40th will look far different. And the few blocks around this area will be much more populated, showing how improvement on one block can easily spill over to the next.