We’ve told you many times over the years that American Street north of Girard Avenue in South Kensington was set to transform before our eyes due to the area’s large, underutilized parcels and proximity to other booming neighborhoods and public transit infrastructure. Well, walk or bike down the thoroughfare today and you’ll see the evolution in progress. Multiple 5+ story buildings have risen on American Street over the last few years with more under construction and in the pipeline.
Today, we’ll share updates on two projects we told you about back in 2020 that are situated on the east side of American Street between Berks Street and Cecil B. Moore Avenue. These developments are now topped out and are already having a dramatic impact on the built environment.
First up is the northern building at 1801 North American Street. This is a 5-story project that will include 110 residential units, 2 commercial spaces, 60 automobile parking spots, and 39 bicycle stalls. The building stretches back to North 2nd Street and one of the commercial spaces will be located on that side of the structure. Right now, the building is framed out in wood and steel on the first level. We imagine we’ll see windows going in and facade work taking place in the coming months. This project is replacing a vacant lot. For more details about that project, check out our original article about it when it was in the planning phases.
To the south, we have 1735 North American Street, which is slightly ahead of 1801 from a construction progress standpoint. This is a 6-story development that will include 179 residential units, 9,900 square feet of commercial space between 3 storefronts, 42 automobile parking spots, and 100 bicycle stalls. Most windows have already been installed on this project and the facade work has also begun. To make way for this project, an old meat processing plant was demolished. For more information about the development and pictures of the old meat plant, check out our article from August of 2020 about the project.
As you can imagine, this block looks completely different than it did a couple of years ago, and we think it will only become better as these developments finish up, fill up with residents, and the buildings’ ground floor commercial spaces are activated.
Just north of both of these projects, on the corner of American and Berks Street, a new Grocery Outlet supermarket just opened. So, the new development in the area has already started to attract neighborhood amenities.
If you haven’t recently, you should definitely go take a stroll down American Street or utilize the new bike lane that runs through the middle of the street. The amount of new development from Girard to Berks Street is pretty impressive and worth checking out.
How do you feel about all of the changes taking place in this pocket of Philadelphia? What kinds of businesses would you like to see open in the commercials spaces within these projects?
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