Another One Bites the Dust: Homes Planned for Long-Vacant Pennsport Lot
Homes are coming to 4th and McKean
A long-vacant lot on the outer edges of Pennsport will no longer be used as a public free-for-all parking area/trash dump. Instead, it looks as though houses will be built in its place, something that’s becoming a bit of a theme throughout the surrounding area.
Orange zoning appeal stickers posted on site at 4th and McKean Street (officially 2001 South 4th Street), show that the lot will be split into four separate parcels, each housing a single-family residence.
The lot has been in its current state for almost exactly five years, when a fire consumed the 11-unit apartment building on October 7, 2010. The damage wrought by the blaze ultimately led to the demolition of the structure. 17 people were displaced due to the fire, and the neighborhood was left with the empty lot, a sight that is becoming more and more rare these days throughout South Philly.
Construction at Moyamensing Estates, a 15-home project at Moyamensing Avenue and Moore Street at a former trashy lot near the Pennsport Mall, is rounding into the home stretch, and the Passyunk Post reported last week that the vacant plot near 6th and Moore Street is expected to get nine new town homes in the near future. KellyTown is planning 15 high-end homes on Front Street and virtually any lot within a block or two of Dickinson Square Park is being gobbled up as well.
Interestingly enough, there have also been a string of in-fills in the immediate area of 4th and McKean Street since the summer. Literally steps away at another lot at 2014 South 4th Street, construction is wrapping up on a three-story, two-unit building with a roof deck and a ground floor retail space.
Naked Philly recently reported that two new town homes have risen a few blocks west of these lots on the 600 block of Mercy Street. So yeah, no vacant spit of land is safe these days, and rightfully so.
It seems as though the last holdout is a large vacant parcel adjacent to Terryin, a sushi restaurant located at the wonky intersection where Moyamensing Avenue meets 4th Street and Snyder Avenue. The Google Street View time machine shows it’s been empty since at least 2007, and, unlike the other nearby lots, has shown no signs that a project is on deck.
As for the development at 4th and McKean Street, the zoning sticker explains that each home will have a roof deck and one off-street and enclosed parking space. The hearing before the Zoning Board of Adjustment is scheduled for October 28th at 4 p.m.
