A $9.5-Million Listing Next to North Station District
A 4-acre office park is for sale next to a newly funded reinvention around North Philadelphia Station
The intersection of N. Broad & Glenwood is a true definition of crossroads, with multiple streets, multiple train lines, and multiple neighborhoods coming together. While North Broad’s past was most certainly grand, it’s standing amongst Philly’s premier neighborhoods has sadly diminished over time. Let’s take, for instance, the formerly grand North Philadelphia Station, which received extensive renovations back in 1915 to give us the look we’re familiar with today. This station (which used to be busy serving the nearby Baker Bowl and Shibe Park) has since lost a bit of its luster, however. While this station still serves the occasional SEPTA regional train or a once-daily Amtrak stop, the amenity list serves as a solid allegory for the area’s post-War past.
But much like the surging Birds, this area is very much finding its stride as of late. Let’s make like the offense this past week and take to the skies to get a better perspective on things.
The impetus for this whole spiel is the Social Security Administration office at 2929 N. Broad St., which was just recently listed for sale. This irregularly shaped property in blue above was the result of the consolidation of two properties several years back, with the new footprint offering nearly four acres of industrial-zoned space. The building itself is approximately 70K sqft, with 25K sqft already occupied by the Social Security offices. Even with a somewhat bland structure and somewhat restrictive zoning, this parcel is listed for a whopping $9.5 million, likely due to its opportunity zone status. While it would be a large undertaking, perhaps an intrepid developer will look to change concepts to something mixed-use, with a little help from some zoning adjustments.
And if one needs some inspiration, all you need to do is glance west across Broad towards the ambitious mixed-use community that has been teasing us for years. After previous developers had grand plans for the site, local developers purchased the site last year for nearly $12 million. Perhaps realizing the previous scope was slightly too grand, the new plans call for the addition of up to 2 million sqft of mixed-use space (down from 4 million). Thankfully, it appears that Shift Capital & Essence Development have just received a big boost to get this vision moving forward.
While two somewhat decrepit properties on the site received zoning permits for demolition recently, the big news is thankfully much more exciting: the large, derelict building that currently anchors the site just received $3 million of RACP funding - an annual disbursement from the state for development projects. How did we glean these specifics? Well, the grant spreadsheet lists “Ink Building” as the recipient, which happens to be very similar to the name the previous developers had for this central building. While we don’t know exactly what the future holds here, the grant submission states that the “long-vacant industrial building” will become a “workforce development hub” - an awesome foundation to this even larger project. Just for fun, let’s tap into the plans the old developers still have on their website (?) to imagine what the future could hold for this currently forlorn structure.
While the image above is not concrete, it sure is exciting to see all of this action in this part of North Philly. Situated between Temple’s main campus to the south and the medical school to the north, this area is seeing all sorts of activity at various stages. And with the North Broad business improvement district now supporting the entire area, we have no doubt that these crossroads will continue to evolve into a neighborhood that once again reclaims its spot among the best in the city.
That North Broad Station building is absolutely beautiful - it should be restored it to its 1915 glory!