Development Site Still for Sale in Rapidly Changing Spruce Hill
The former home of Intercultural Family Services is re-listed for $2.2 million - directly across from its new, larger home
Today we return to West Philly’s Spruce Hill neighborhood to visit a site we last discussed almost exactly one year ago to the day. We make our way to 4225 Chestnut St., the former home of Intercultural Family Services, a non-profit helping those in the Philly area for the last 46 years. We told you last year that the site was for sale, and we were surprised when just a week ago this property popped back on our radar with a new listing. Let’s give ourselves a reminder of what the property looks like today.
As of earlier this year, the organization moved out of its longtime home. Normally, we’d be a touch upset about the loss of such an important organization, but there’s good news that we’ll get to in a moment. What this means is that this now empty building is nearly a blank slate for future uses - nearly move-in ready for an office/community purpose, or an appealing spot for future development, with the $2.2 million price tag suggesting a possible new use for this 27,820 sqft building.
The permissive CMX-4 zoning was certainly appealing to other developers in the area, as the aerial above shows the incredible amount of new construction that has risen over the last several years. We don’t believe that the older listing had a price associated with it, so perhaps this new listing (with maybe a new price) will lead to some action here.
As for the new home for the organization, one has to go…all the way across the street to 4240 Chestnut St., which one can see in the above aerial. Called The Felix, this new building features 128 residential units over two floors of office space for IFS. The design from DAS Architects is another contemporary look like many of the other buildings close by, with a panel heavy approach and a clean, white and wood motif inside.
While we can’t say we’re blown away with the look of this new spot, we understand that non-profits might not have stacks of cash hanging around for a more expensive material selection. That said, we are thrilled that this important group has a new home, and more residences along a main corridor are rarely a bad thing. We hope that if the old spot is indeed redeveloped, that a bit more love is given to the exteriors, as the design of some of these newer spots is less than ideal, at least in the eyes of this humble real estate blogger. This stretch of West Philly is already unrecognizable from just a few years back, so let’s make sure that there’s some built environment eye candy for all of us to enjoy.
