Blackstone Development, known for student-housing projects around Temple University, wants to turn an entire block in South Kensington (aka Old Kensington) into a 277,000-square-foot mixed-use development with 247 residential units, a restaurant, a cafe, and other commercial and live-work spaces. This would be a major (but perhaps inevitable) transformation for the area, which is just across Girard Avenue from the northernmost reaches of Northern Liberties' erstwhile-Bart-Blatstein-land, but has remained relatively sleepy. It's also just south of another massive development, Soko Lofts, that got zoning approval over neighbors' objections.
The plan — bordered by Germantown Avenue, Thompson Street, Stiles Street and American Street — calls for a massive underground parking lot of 161 spots to accommodate three different six-story buildings, with an open plaza in the center. It's most but not all of a city block that currently includes a mix of vacant land and some commercial buildings (ie. the Lavish bath showroom), plus some existing row houses that would remain.
Michael Petri, owner of Blackstone, says the company has done other large projects in Brooklyn and Queens, but this is their first large development outside Temple area (where they're also putting up a 73-unit residential building). The company is assembling the land from three owners and hopes to break ground by the fall, and build in three phases over the course of two and a half years. The units will be rentals, but could be sold as condos in the future, Petri says.
Blackstone met with neighbors in South Kensington earlier this week on the Harman Deutsche-designed project. Petri says the costy underground parking was already a major concession to the neighborhood. "We tried to make a plan that everyone would like, but we'll work with the neighbors and try to address any issues."
Source: Citypaper.net
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