If you were going fishing in Fishtown for development, this would have been the year. Perhaps spurred by the success of the nearby Piazza at 2nd & Girard in Northern Liberties, and the 2011 arrival of Frankford Hall at Frankford & Girard from Stephen Starr, now Frankford Avenue has redevelopment happening on almost every block from Girard to the Berks.
From plans from La Colombe to open a next generation cafe and distillery on the 1300 block, to plans from Stephen Starr to open a second place wither Aimee Olexy on the 1500 block (Starr's third Fishtown play), to a complete transformation of the 2400 block, last year provided mucho projects in the river wards.
As such, 2013 marked the busiest year ever for the folks in the Fishtown Neighbors Association zoning committee who heard more proposals from more developers this year than any other year in their history. This year, members hosted 54 community meetings, which accounted for 20 percent of the group's total meetings all time, and included four of its ten most attended meetings ever. On April 21st, 228 people showed up to discuss the Wynn proposal. It was supported 173-55 but has since been abandoned. All of the projects presented at those four big meetings were supported. In 2012, FNA hosted 40 meetings, and there were 30 in 2011. But the real story comes in the number of votes cast. Last year, 2125 votes were cast at zoning meetings compared to 1212 the year before, and 515 in 2011. This shows the Fishtown community is becoming much more active in the civic realm.
In all, the FNA votes reflected support for three-quarters of the proposals put before them in 2013. We’ll see what this year will bring.