We were looking through the daily zoning report today and discovered some new zoning permits on the 2600 block of Sears Street. This was a delightful find, as nearly an acre has been sitting vacant on this site for at least the last couple decades. A portion of this land was owned by an agency associated with the City of Philadelphia, and was subject to a Request for Proposals last year. This RFP covered only a portion of the vacant land here, relating to lots on the north side of the 2600 block of Sears, running about halfway to 27th Street.
As you might expect from an RFP from the City in Grays Ferry, the goal here was the construction of affordable housing. Specifically, the aim was for-sale workforce housing, which we’ve already seen in scattered site development in this neighborhood. Civetta Property Group was the developer responsible for the last wave of workforce housing in Grays Ferry, including some homes on this very block. Those homes, designed by Moto, sold in 2021 at $185K price points.
Rather than going the scattered site route this time, Civetta will be building a bunch of homes in one area. All of the homes, again designed by Moto, will rise two stories. Three homes will be built on 26th Street and nine homes will have frontage on Sears Street. It appears that the prices have gone up – looking at the Civetta website, it looks like homes will be sold for $230K, and the price will go up to $250K for people who want a basement. Here are some elevations, which show homes that look like they’ll be similar to the other homes that Civetta built nearby.
We imagine that this project will start moving forward posthaste, as the zoning appears to be by-right and the City has every motivation to churn out the permits as quickly as possible. Once that happens, we suspect the homes will sell very quickly, as new construction homes below $300K aren’t exactly falling out of trees.
While we are excited to see this project rock and roll, we can only hope to soon get some updates on the property around the corner, which runs from 27th & Sears up to Wharton Street. This 24K sqft parcel was once home to a public school, but has been vacant ever since the school was demoed. A center for veterans was proposed here in 2015, but never moved forward. Last year, a plan for apartments over commercial started its way through the permitting process, but was withdrawn before it was heard by the ZBA. We don’t believe that the construction at 26th & Sears will necessarily influence a project happening here any sooner, but it certainly can’t hurt.