As you’ve probably noticed, Fishtown and Kensington have experienced some radical changes over the last dozen or so years, with Frankford Avenue being the engine driving the proverbial development train. These days, the Frankford Avenue commercial corridor is one of the most exciting and vibrant in the city, offering a mix of destination restaurants, cafes, independent shops, and specialty stores. Not only does Frankford Avenue provide the retail space to accommodate all of this commercial activity, but it’s also home to hundreds of apartments, many of which have only arrived on the scene in the last decade.
The block of Frankford Avenue between E. Hagert and E. Cumberland provides a fantastic example of what has happened over the last several years. If we turn back the clock to 2011, a mere eight buildings stood on the north side of this block, many of which were not in great shape. The other eleven properties on the block were sitting vacant. Fast forward to today, and it’s a bit of a different story.
2456-58 Frankford Ave. was one of the last vacant lots left on the block, perhaps due to the fact that the property was owned by City agencies for a number of years. Thankfully, the City has been getting better about selling off vacant land, especially in more desirable locations. Private developers stepped in a couple years ago and consolidated the double-wide Frankford Avenue lot with some adjacent lots to the rear on Martha Street. Now, a mixed-use building with 16 apartments and ground-floor retail is under construction here, just about completing this block.
Bright Common did the design work for this project, which has been dubbed La Marceline. The developers and the architects are working together to create a rather unique building, which is evident even at this point in the construction process. It appears that a side wall, facing into an interior courtyard, is sheathed in a Hardi panel material. The material is fairly typical, but the pink color is not something we see too often. Also, based on the rendering and some language on the architect’s website, the Frankford and Martha facades will be clad in “a fish-scale, natural, diamond slate” material, which is certainly a bright choice, even if it’s not so common.
Gotta love the fish scales on a building in Fishtown, right? Materials aside, this building will be welcome addition to the neighborhood and the corridor, providing a fresh retail space to add to the mix, along with new customers to patronize the existing businesses nearby. Incidentally, Pig & Khao, the restaurant replacing Martha around the corner, will be opening this summer, right around the time that we imagine folks will be moving into apartments in La Marceline. Surely, a few more neighbors will only mean good things for the sustainability of this new business and many others in the area.