With development having about filled in Northern Liberties like a full connect four grid with nowhere else to go, we imagine we will see additional small retail spots pop up at different corner locations throughout the neighborhood in the near future. Two years ago, we told you about two vacant commercial spaces at 5th & Fairmount. Soon after, the northwest corner was occupied by Poplino, an Italian restaurant from the guys behind Modo Mio. The northeast corner will, it seems, soon get a new tenant as well. At 457 Fairmount Ave., the Northern Liberties Neighbors Association offered its support for a nail salon to tenants who appeared at last month’s zoning meeting.

The space

Neighbors were fine with the proposal, according to Larry Freedman, NLNA zoning chair. A proviso was added to ban any special ventilation and any activities that could require special ventilation. This is an important distinction because variances like this are not tied to owners or tenants but to the property itself. A no-ventilation proviso makes it more difficult for something like a corner store to occupy the location in the future and begin cooking food without first coming back to the community.

While we think another nice cafe or restaurant would make for a more vibrant neighbor, it’s good to see a tenant come to this vacant space. Just down the block to the east, builders are hoping to build as many 12 new units. And with plans from Tower Investments to build nine homes on a former warehouse site, one can see how there is a large amount of investment infiltrating the area and how the 400 block of Fairmount Avenue is poised for additional redevelopment.

–Lou Mancinelli