Work Begins on 45-Unit Development in South Kensington

This 45-unit development will rise at 5th and Thompson streets in South Kensington. | Rendering: Harman Deutsch Architecture via Frankel Management and Streamline Solutions

While the Techadelphia project is working its way through the permitting pipeline, the partnership of Sean Frankel’s Frankel Management Company and Sean Schellinger’s Streamline Solutions will have another South Kensington project with a community component to keep them occupied.

Ground was broken Friday (April 8) on a new 45-unit residential development at 5th and Thompson streets that will also contain retail space and a neighborhood amenity when complete.

Designed by Harman Deutsch Architecture, the project will be built in two phases. The first phase, scheduled for completion about a year from now, will consist of 28 condominium units located on 5th Street.

After that, work will begin on the second phase, which will consist of single-family homes and condos along Orkney Street and the retail space for a tenant to be determined. This phase will also contain the project’s community component: a dog park that will be open to neighborhood residents.

Each unit comes with an off-street parking space.

“This city deserves and demands development that advances and improves entire neighborhoods,” Frankel said of the project in a news release. “In this layout, all of the living space will be above the ground level. We aim — quite literally — to raise the standard of living in Philadelphia through fantastically smart development.”

While the units are not yet on the market, according to the release, interested would-be buyers can work with the design team to choose finishes and other details as the project gets under way.