$100M development planned on Washington Avenue in South Philadelphia – Philadelphia Business Journal – The Business Journals
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Developer Ori Feibush is planning to build up to 400 apartments on the site of a parking lot and former Asian market in South Philadelphia, continuing a wave of development along Washington Avenue.
The proposal is the latest at 1601 Washington Ave. and 1600 Carpenter St., a site that has seen versions of development plans over the years.
A partnership between an entity of OCF Realty, developer Howard Silverman and West Virginia-based Mountain Shore Properties is under agreement to buy the two properties from an entity of Streamline, a developer that previously planned to build on the site.
Feibush, president of OCF Realty, declined to share how much the group is paying for the land. Between acquisition and development costs, he estimates the entire project will be more than $100 million.
Feibush said the land sale is planned to close in the first quarter of 2025 and isn’t contingent on city approvals. The buyers replaced Streamline on the debt placed on the property, Feibush said. The lengthy timeline to complete the sale is meant to align with the debt schedule, he said.
The apartment building is planned for between 350 and 400 apartments.
In addition to apartments, Feibush is planning a second building with “several dozen” condominiums. The condo building would be on the west side of the property creating a buffer in between the large apartment property to the east and the back of rowhomes along South Chadwick Street.
The project would also have underground parking, an anchor retailer with up to 30,000 square feet and a mix of small retailers with up to 2,000 square feet, Feibush said. The anchor retailer would likely be a grocery store, but Feibush said he’s open to a different use.
“We’ve built no shortage of homes and small apartment buildings over the last many years but the opportunities to really transform pockets of our city are few and far between,” Feibush said. “This is certainly an opportunity to have a seminal project. Really create a shot in the arm for activity on this corridor.”
The site is zoned for medium industrial use and would require a zoning change. Feibush argued the existing zoning is inconsistent with Philadelphia’s 2035 plan. The South District Plan, adopted in 2015, suggested rezoning the corridor to allow for low-impact industrial, residential and neighborhood commercial uses.
Thus far, Feibush’s plans are preliminary and he plans to change them as he receives feedback from meetings with neighbors and potential retailers. It’s easier, he said, to tweak plans before submitting them to the city by this summer.
Feibush anticipates receiving approvals in the first half of next year and beginning construction in the fourth quarter of 2025, “if things go reasonably well,” he said. Construction would likely take 22 to 24 months. Feibush acknowledged it’d be a long process with a lot of community discourse.
OCF Realty, Silverman and Mountain Shore are also developing a six-story, 247-unit building with 37,000 square feet of retail at 2101 Washington Ave. at the site of a former chocolate factory. Aldi and CVS are planned to open there this summer with residential leasing taking place in the fall. OCF Realty’s office is on the southeast corner of 20th Street and Washington Avenue, furthering Feibush’s familiarity with the corridor.
Adding residential to Washington Avenue and creating a better pedestrian experience with retail businesses, Feibush said, would help connect Graduate Hospital to the north and Point Breeze to the south.
“We’re trying to continue to bring activity and life and to help Washington Avenue really come into its own,” Feibush said. “It’s very strange that you’ve got an industrial corridor that the neighborhoods to the north and the south have continued to develop and it’s been left behind.”
Streamline previously planned to demolish the single-story Hoa Binh shopping plaza and build townhomes and multifamily buildings totaling hundreds of units. Controversy surrounded the project as the shopping plaza was popular among South Philadelphia’s Asian-American community. The shopping plaza closed in recent years since Streamline’s proposal.
The site is two blocks west of Post Brothers and Tower Investments’ One Thousand One development at Broad and Washington streets, where 1,457 apartments and 66,000 square feet of retail space are being built. A 40,000-square-foot Giant grocery store is also planned at the project.
“In the next decade, you’ll have a fully connected, vibrant, active commercial corridor that doesn’t feel like industrial warehousing and wasted space here. But we’ll in fact create opportunities for housing and vibrancy and activity and businesses,” Feibush said. “It’s a bit crazy that you’ve got such a centrally located corridor with so much available space and there’s almost no activity on it.”
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Developer Ori Feibush is planning to build up to 400 apartments on the site of a parking lot and former Asian market in South Philadelphia, continuing a wave of development along Washington Avenue.
The proposal is the latest at 1601 Washington Ave. and 1600 Carpenter St., a site that has seen versions of development plans over the years.
A partnership between an entity of OCF Realty, developer Howard Silverman and West Virginia-based Mountain Shore Properties is under agreement to buy the two properties from an entity of Streamline, a developer that previously planned to build on the site.
Feibush, president of OCF Realty, declined to share how much the group is paying for the land. Between acquisition and development costs, he estimates the entire project will be more than $100 million.
Feibush said the land sale is planned to close in the first quarter of 2025 and isn’t contingent on city approvals. The buyers replaced Streamline on the debt placed on the property, Feibush said. The lengthy timeline to complete the sale is meant to align with the debt schedule, he said.
The apartment building is planned for between 350 and 400 apartments.
In addition to apartments, Feibush is planning a second building with “several dozen” condominiums. The condo building would be on the west side of the property creating a buffer in between the large apartment property to the east and the back of rowhomes along South Chadwick Street.
The project would also have underground parking, an anchor retailer with up to 30,000 square feet and a mix of small retailers with up to 2,000 square feet, Feibush said. The anchor retailer would likely be a grocery store, but Feibush said he’s open to a different use.
“We’ve built no shortage of homes and small apartment buildings over the last many years but the opportunities to really transform pockets of our city are few and far between,” Feibush said. “This is certainly an opportunity to have a seminal project. Really create a shot in the arm for activity on this corridor.”
The site is zoned for medium industrial use and would require a zoning change. Feibush argued the existing zoning is inconsistent with Philadelphia’s 2035 plan. The South District Plan, adopted in 2015, suggested rezoning the corridor to allow for low-impact industrial, residential and neighborhood commercial uses.
Thus far, Feibush’s plans are preliminary and he plans to change them as he receives feedback from meetings with neighbors and potential retailers. It’s easier, he said, to tweak plans before submitting them to the city by this summer.
Feibush anticipates receiving approvals in the first half of next year and beginning construction in the fourth quarter of 2025, “if things go reasonably well,” he said. Construction would likely take 22 to 24 months. Feibush acknowledged it’d be a long process with a lot of community discourse.
OCF Realty, Silverman and Mountain Shore are also developing a six-story, 247-unit building with 37,000 square feet of retail at 2101 Washington Ave. at the site of a former chocolate factory. Aldi and CVS are planned to open there this summer with residential leasing taking place in the fall. OCF Realty’s office is on the southeast corner of 20th Street and Washington Avenue, furthering Feibush’s familiarity with the corridor.
Adding residential to Washington Avenue and creating a better pedestrian experience with retail businesses, Feibush said, would help connect Graduate Hospital to the north and Point Breeze to the south.
“We’re trying to continue to bring activity and life and to help Washington Avenue really come into its own,” Feibush said. “It’s very strange that you’ve got an industrial corridor that the neighborhoods to the north and the south have continued to develop and it’s been left behind.”
Streamline previously planned to demolish the single-story Hoa Binh shopping plaza and build townhomes and multifamily buildings totaling hundreds of units. Controversy surrounded the project as the shopping plaza was popular among South Philadelphia’s Asian-American community. The shopping plaza closed in recent years since Streamline’s proposal.
The site is two blocks west of Post Brothers and Tower Investments’ One Thousand One development at Broad and Washington streets, where 1,457 apartments and 66,000 square feet of retail space are being built. A 40,000-square-foot Giant grocery store is also planned at the project.
“In the next decade, you’ll have a fully connected, vibrant, active commercial corridor that doesn’t feel like industrial warehousing and wasted space here. But we’ll in fact create opportunities for housing and vibrancy and activity and businesses,” Feibush said. “It’s a bit crazy that you’ve got such a centrally located corridor with so much available space and there’s almost no activity on it.”
Best Real Estate Deals and Dealmakers
Join us at Vie on Thursday, March 21st to celebrate 2023's best deals!
© 2023 American City Business Journals. All rights reserved. Use of and/or registration on any portion of this site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement (updated January 24, 2023) and Privacy Policy (updated December 19, 2023). The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of American CityBusiness Journals.
This article was autogenerated from a news feed from CDO TIMES selected high quality news and research sources. There was no editorial review conducted beyond that by CDO TIMES staff. Need help with any of the topics in our articles? Schedule your free CDO TIMES Tech Navigator call today to stay ahead of the curve and gain insider advantages to propel your business!
