Workforce Housing Ahead for 44th & Ludlow?
A surface lot received zoning permits that could lead to sizable affordable housing project
As we sit in the waiting room as a key vote to determine the fate of 76 Place looms, we make our way outside of town (or Market East, at least) where a much different project is also making moves forward. After we got the big surprise of a delayed vote, we thought we wouldn’t make the same mistake and decided that everybody should be moving their attention to West Philly.
Now that we’ve butchered the lyrics to a classic song into oblivion, let’s mosey to the SW corner of 44th & Ludlow, where a surface parking lots sits within a rush of development activity. We were by here recently when an 11-story proposal at 44th & Market was downsized just across the street from the massive Westpark development proposal. This little corner, it seems, should be joining the action sometime soon, as well.
But thanks to a zoning permit, it looks as if this parking lot may not remain as such for much longer. Formerly three separate lots, this permit consolidates the parcels into one larger lot, creating a squarish 4,200 sqft of CMX-4 zoned land. While this in and of itself isn’t especially noteworthy, the daily zoning report that gave us a head’s up offered a bit more information: the property is currently owned by the Philadelphia Housing Development Corporation, a “full-service community development organization dedicated to our neighborhoods and the people in them.” They’re working here with Northern Liberties Co., a workforce and affordable housing developer - though there is no affiliation we could find between the company and the neighborhood.
No matter, as this news is exciting either way. By right, this property could offer over 21K sqft of mixed-use space, though bonuses could allow for even greater density and height - over 10K additional sqft and 60 additional feet of height for the low-income unit inclusion alone. We would absolutely love to see something dense move forward here soon, as the more housing supply we can have in this increasingly appealing area, the better. I mean, everybody’s always down with affordable housing, right?
