Despite all the growth that Frankford Avenue has seen in recent years, many vacancies still remain. If we may generalize- the farther you get from Girard and the closer you get to Lehigh, the more vacant lots and retail spaces you'll see. But there are positive signs for the further end of Frankford Avenue. The Kensington Community Food Co-op is coming soon to a building located at the intersection of Coral, Frankford, and Lehigh. Steak & Shake opened a couple years back where Amber hits Frankford. And just the other day, we spied some construction activity on a long vacant and overgrown patch of the 2500 block of Frankford Avenue.
Developers purchased 2568 Frankford Ave. about a year ago at sheriff's sale and then attempted to get a zoning variance for a triplex, needed because the parcel is zoned for commercial use. But those efforts were abandoned back in July. Now they've got permits for a building with commercial on the first floor and two apartments above. Interestingly, the property is currently listed for sale pre-construction but the fact that they've broken ground tells us that they tried to sell it but they're just gonna build it themselves. Here are some renderings from the listing:
You may have noticed, there's a zoning notice posted at 2566 Frankford Ave., immediately next door to the construction site. Here, different developers are looking to build a mixed-use building with ground-floor commercial and three apartments above. This seems like a perfectly reasonable plan, especially if you consider the large size of the lot. We'll see what the ZBA has to say, but we're cautiously optimistic.
When these two projects are done, this block of Frankford Avenue will have two new retail spaces. Lest you think that this is too close to Lehigh Avenue for businesses to be interested in renting space, it's worthwhile to mention that a tattoo place moved in at the corner a few years ago and a comic store is also apparently in the works on this block. Also, don't forget the aforementioned Steak & Shake.
What other businesses would people like to see join this block?