Development Opportunity at 9th and Spring Garden

The Spring Garden St. corridor surrounding the elevated viaduct at 9th St. has been flourishing lately with new residential units, offices, and retail hitting the market. 990 Spring Garden St. is a large seven-story warehouse built in 1927. It now houses creative, loft-style offices on the upper floors. Roy-Pitz Barrel House occupies the first floor retail space. Win Win Cafe, a cozy coffeeshop and eatery, sits across the street. The old Spaghetti Warehouse at 10th and Spring Garden was converted into the Union Transfer concert venue in 2011. Two blocks south, Love City Brewing recently opened a beautiful brewhouse and brewery. Word on the street is that Triple Bottom Brewing will be opening up at 915 Spring Garden in a former Reading Railroad office building. There will also be 40 artist studios on the upper floors. A lot of the development in this area can be attributed to Arts + Crafts Holdings who owns 915 Spring Garden, 990 Spring Garden, and a ton of other properties in Callowhill.

To say this area is hot is an understatement. We expect to see more development and density come to this neighborhood in the coming years, especially as the Rail Park on the old Reading Viaduct creeps northward. One potential development opportunity lies at 900-902 Spring Garden St. This is a 3,337 square foot CMX-3 zoned corner lot which could support a dense commercial mixed-use building by-right. The parcel is listed for sale at $2.05 million.

In September 2017, the owners pursued a zoning variance for the construction of a 30 residential unit building with a commercial space on the ground floor at this location. However, the appeal was withdrawn later in the year and the land has continued to sit vacant. We would love to see more residential density come to this neighborhood to help support the businesses in the area. We would also definitely prefer a mixed-use building here to an empty blighted lot. What kind of business would you like to see open at this location?