The building at 1801 Fairmount Ave., right on the main drag of the neighborhood, is one that’s long caught our attention. We last checked in back in 2019, when a demolition notice was issued for the cool corner building. We held out hope that this would just entail minor demolition before an addition, which zoning permits seemingly confirmed. So color us surprised when we returned to the corner recently, and found something a bit different than what we expected.

While there is a slight curve to the brick on the upper floors, this is certainly not what we had anticipated. The old metal cornice is sadly no more, and any sign of the old buildings are either long gone or buried behind the new facade. While this is certainly a good-looking building, we are a bit wistful over the loss of the retro feel of the older buildings. Just across the street from here is the stately Mortgage Security Trust building, and Bar Hygge occupies the ground floor of 1720 Fairmount just to the east.

So what has happeend here, exactly? Some very nice condos, 10 in all from the best we can tell (though some may be rental units). The ground floor will likely be a restaurant, though there’s no additional news as of yet. Thanks to a Zillow posting, we can provide some idea of what’s to come. Check out the renderings below.

While these are certainly nice units in a desirable area, we were a bit surprised to see the prices from two sales in the past month. The penthouse unit went for a cool $1.45M, and a smaller unit went for $750K – $625/sqft and $563/sqft respectively. This is on par with some of the most sought-after Center City neighborhoods, truly highlighting the appeal of the project and area. It’s tough to know whether this kind of success with this project will portend a condo bull run in this part of town, and it’s certainly something to keep watch on, moving forward.