It would be difficult not to notice the amazing amount of construction taking place towards the western edge of University City. Numerous project of all shapes and sizes are adding hundreds upon hundreds of units along the main corridors as you head deeper into West Philly. We now know of yet another joining the party, thanks to the always helpful Civic Design Review. We were actually at this site just a couple months ago when we speculated that the lot consolidation at 4200 Market St. might portend a project in the near future.

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An aerial of the site shows the property highlighted
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The view from the corner of 42nd & Market
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Three buildings on the east side of the property will remain

As you may have guessed, there’s a sizeable project now heading our way at this address. Alterra Property Group is once again teaming with JKRP Architects to add yet another building to their LVL series. This time, plans call for 352 units over 20K+ sqft of retail space, along with car parking for 104 accessed from 42nd Street and ample amenity space. The ground level of this six-story, CMX-3 building will consist of a red brick facade, with multicolored metal paneling on the upper floors. This retail and parking podium will form a nice contrast to the more modern materials on the higher portion of the building. Let’s check it out.

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An aerial shows the new building with its ample green roof
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Rendering of the view from 42nd & Market
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Future view from 42nd & Ludlow
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Site plan shows large space dedicated to retail - perhaps a grocery store?
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Elevation drawings give an idea of the materials to be used

This is yet another game-changer for a formerly underutilized lot along a key strip. Adding several hundred new residents to one of the main commercial corridors in the city is only a good thing in our mind, and we hope that the retail space caters to both the new residents as well as the folks who already live close by. We also love the addition of street trees along Market Street to freshen things up a bit… let’s hear it for a little green!

It still amazes us how many projects of this scale are rising in this area, but it goes to show that the pipeline of people who want to move here doesn’t seem to be slowing down. Traditionally, this might have been a project that targets undergrads – but we’d wager that, given the life sciences boom on this side of the river, there will be more young professionals here than college students. Things are definitely evolving in this part of the city, and we expect even more office/lab space will beget even more apartments, and vice versa.