In Brewerytown, the 2700 and 2800 blocks of Girard Avenue are alight with signs of redevelopment. Now, renovations to transform the former St. Augustine's Church of the Covenant, first constructed in 1888, into residential units are leading the way for potential widespread redevelopment of the Girard Avenue commercial corridor that has seen consistent, albeit slow, improvement in recent years.
Part of the structure that runs up 27th Street has already been improved and the formerly faded brick and boarded windows have been replaced. Developer Jordan Brody is overseeing the project, and the vision was designed by Ian Smith Design Group.
This project will serve as one of two projects poised to entirely transform the intersection at 27th & Girard and almost this entire section of the neighborhood, which suffered from still visible decades of disinvestment until fairly recently. The other is across the street on the southeast corner where there are early plans to develop the huge vacant lot into a mixed-use multi-unit structure.
As one continues north up 27th Street, a vacant lot is followed by a string of bruised and vacant homes. We wonder if those homes might soon be the next project in this area. We first wrote about the church when it was for sale back in June 2012. It's great to see this building was in good enough shape at a right enough price for a developer to take a leap of faith by renovating it and getting in while the going is still good in Brewerytown.