New Development in "No Man's Land"

Blight: An all too familiar sight in "No Man's Land" (via Google Maps)

There is an interesting pocket of the South Philly nestled between Pennsport and Passyunk Avenue. Visit Philly may call it Pennsport, but in all actuality, it isn't - making it more of a "no man's land" when it comes to civic affiliation as well as residential and commercial development.

That could soon be changing, at least on the development end of things. A new (read: enormous) project is taking shape on the corner of 7th and McKean Streets. See that rundown building at the photo of this post? Well, take a look at it now.

New Development on 7th and McKean St.

From the looks of the reports from L&I, this place is going to be split in to multiple apartments from the basement on up. The new first floor brick facade and yellow windows give this corner a clean and attention grabbing bookend that will hopefully spur development, be it residential or commercial, in the surrounding area. The numerous abandoned lots and houses on McKean Street alone makes you think that there is the potential to develop a linking corridor from Pennsport all the way up to Passyunk Avenue.

One thing is for sure, it's a welcome sight to the neighborhood and could be a sign that things are starting to turn around.


On a related note - The Sino American Buddhist Temple is a half block north on 7th and Hoffman. Here's a picture because, let's face it, it's awesome looking and is another example of the progress on this stretch of 7th Street.

Not Your Typical South Philly House Guardians

A heads up from our bud Albert Stumm, of Passyunk Post fame:

Here’s one issue with this project, though. It’s not clear on city records how many apartments are getting crammed into the building. Permits for 1939 S. 7th St. say they plan to install six full bathrooms into the building’s 4,200 square feet. 

 

And there’s no civic association that covers the area — Pennsport stops at 4th Street, EPX at 8th and Dickinson Square West only goes as far as Mifflin. So there’s no one to make sure that development doesn’t go all willy-nilly around there.