The Alcott Completes the Transformation of 5th & Spring Garden
The 329-unit apartment complex nearly finishes the corner's change...could Amazon Fresh be up next?
If you were hanging at the corner of 5th & Spring Garden back in Fall 2016, you were likely there to make a visit to Silk City, the wonderful diner/venue that’s been a shining light here for years (along with the dude who used to dance here in the median all the time). The south side of the street, however, wasn’t much of a draw for the casual passersby, with the recently vacated Destination Maternity offices and a Northeast Treatment Center location. While we are always for needed social services, the buildings that stood on the corner weren’t offering much from an architectural standpoint.
Ah, but this corner looks much different today, with Silk City still going strong and the newish Yards Brewery spot by DIGSAU now companion spots that draw tons of traffic. But the SE corner may be the biggest change yet (more on that in a minute), with a brand-new, 12-story residential tower on the verge of being complete.
What you see is The Alcott, a 329-unit, mixed-use apartment tower from the very busy Southern Land Company. This project, designed by SCB, is getting very close to the finish line, with plans to add commercial space to the ground levels along both Spring Garden and 5th St., as well. The design is a contemporary take on the steel and industrial look that is present nearby, offering a garage (accessed from 5th St.) for only 87 cars (awesome) and 111 bicycles (awesomer) for this spot just a couple blocks from the Spring Garden MFL station. This will bring a splash of luxury to the corner, with tons of landscaping, clean, airy finishes, and an amenity package that includes a pretty sweet looking pool with skyline views.
Unsurprisingly, units here start at over $2K for a studio, with two-bedroom spots starting around $4,200; move-ins for the first of the available units are starting within the next few weeks, per the website. This is obviously a massive change to the corner, with 300+ new units sure to add more foot traffic and action to what’s becoming increasingly a major intersection.
And part of that is due to what’s already happened catty-corner to this, which we alluded to before. Previously a shopping center only a bunker could love, the NW corner is now home to The Carson, which is recently opened and has brought an even larger 382 unit count across its twelve stories. A TD Bank just opened in one of the ground-floor spaces of this project from Victor Rodin and designed by BLTa (now part of Perkins Eastman), but it’s the other commercial space that has had so much intrigue over the years.
Long rumored to be an Amazon Fresh, the new liquor license sure seems to indicate that this may indeed be the case. Window coverings prevented us from catching a glimpse of any construction progress inside, but we are happy to celebrate any grocery concept coming to an area that sorely needs it. Despite this sitting within one of the biggest development hotbeds in the city, the Old City/Northern Liberties neighborhoods are shockingly devoid of large-scale grocery options, even with the upcoming Sprouts Market just five blocks to the east. With this many new people close by, we are likely to see more and more new commercial spots popping up along the east side of Spring Garden St. to compliment these new and upcoming additions. Silk City better not go anywhere, though.
