The West Girard corridor in Brewerytown has been booming over the last five years with new eateries and other businesses continuing to join the neighborhood. The Monkey & The Elephant cafe operates out of an amazing space with a ton of original details and has a wonderful charitable mission. Pizza Dads, an off-shoot of Fishtown-based Pizza Brain, opened in a former hat shop in 2017. Crime & Punishment Brewing Company serves up our favorite hazy IPA in the city (Space Race), and dishes out some fantastic pierogis. Green Eggs Cafe recently expanded their breakfast empire to the avenue. Rybrew has some awesome sandwiches and a great selection of beer. The list goes on. Brewerytown has morphed into a neighborhood that you don’t have to leave for entertainment. There is now enough to do in this neck of the woods that there is no reason for residents to go elsewhere.
It looks like another business will be joining the action on West Girard in the near future. Argo Property Group is constructing a 14 residential unit, 21,828 square foot, mixed-use building at 2616 W. Girard Ave. The property is a double-wide, 4,000 square foot, CMX-2.5 zoned parcel within a qualified opportunity zone that was formerly a vacant lot. In August of 2018, Argo was granted a zoning variance to combine two lots and construct the 5-story, 57-foot tall building. New construction permits were pulled near the beginning of 2019 and the structure is already rising out of the ground. Argo is calling the project The Fairview.
The rendering of the project looks fantastic. The first three floors are clad in brick and seem to blend in well with the rest of the block. The cornice line over the third-story matches up with the notable adjacent buildings. The fourth and fifth stories are set back in order to preserve the neighborhood feel of the avenue. Canno Design is the architect behind the project.
Our favorite aspects of the development are the large windows and 13 foot ceilings in the 3,260 square foot retail space. Developers often skimp on the ceiling height, size, and street presence of their retail spaces. Argo took the opposite approach with The Fairview, and we believe it will help them attract a quality commercial tenant. We are also big fans of the overhangs on the first floor. They remind us of something you would see in the Meatpacking District of Manhattan.
We are excited to see this building come to Brewerytown. The additional residents will help fuel the growing retail scene on West Girard Avenue. Another quality commercial space will make the neighborhood even more attractive. We believe the lack of parking in this development is appropriate as the trolley runs right in front of the property. We look forward to seeing the finished product and hope it lives up to the design plans. How do you feel about The Fairview?
Kyle is a commercial real estate agent at Rittenhouse Realty Advisors, a homeowner, and a real estate investor in Philadelphia. Kyle uses his extensive Philadelphia real estate market knowledge to help his clients buy and sell multifamily investment properties, development opportunities, and industrial sites.
Email Kyle@RittenhouseRealty.com if you are looking to buy or sell a property
Instagram: @agent.kyle