North 28, a new-construction development in Brewerytown from
MM Partners, was fully leased within six weeks this year. North 28’s success is now the rule in a neighborhood taking dramatic steps towards renewal.
MM Partners' Jacob Roller says North 28’s 15 units bring the developer’s total to 25 units for the year in the neighborhood, and 70 overall since they started working here. "Our projects keep getting bigger and bigger," he says. "The demand is here and we’re just trying to meet it."
In addition to the Bailey Street Arts Corridor (which
we reported on a few months ago), one of the bigger projects that Roller expects to launch in the new year is 30 Baltz, a new-construction project that will create two single-family homes and eight apartments at 30th and Baltz Streets in the heart of Brewerytown.
Another is Cambridge Row, a rehab project of 10 single-family homes on the 2700 to 3000 blocks of Cambridge Street. MM Partners originally purchased the homes from PHA in partnership with the Fairmount CDC. Plans call for nine market-rate units and one affordable-housing unit.
Thanks to their residential successes, MM has dipped into commercial activity as well. "We have also brought eight new businesses to Girard Avenue," explains Roller, "mostly by filling vacant storefronts with
Mugshots, a bike store, a pharmacy,
Next American City, the artist Steve Powers'
ICY Sign Co., the garden store
Girard Supply Co., and our own office."
Along with the promising residential projects the company has planned for the coming year, Roller notes that they'll "have a few exciting new businesses to announce in the new year as well."
With all this activity, other developers are also getting into the action in Brewerytown. Recently,
news broke that the historic St. Augustine Church at 27th Street and Girard Avenue will be converted into 16 residental units. Although details about that particular project have yet to emerge, Roller says the development is a sign of things to come for the neighborhood. "We’re excited about another developer coming into Brewerytown," says Roller. "It’s clear that a critical mass of people are starting to see the value of the neighborhood."
Source: Jacob Roller, MM Partners
Writer:
Greg Meckstroth