Manayunk is a neighborhood where people want to live, with its rolling hills, active commercial corridor, and location between downtown and the ‘burbs. The neighborhood was once home to a bunch of mills which are, needless to say, no longer in operation. We’ve seen several former mills get redeveloped over the years, with a few properties being the subject of repeated redevelopment attempts. The former Richard Hey Progressive Mills at 3900 Main St. is one such property, having seen a nine-story apartment proposal in 2011 and plans for 27 homes in 2016. Both of those projects required variances, as the property is zoned for commercial/industrial use. Neither came to fruition and the site still looks like this:
Once upon a time, it looked like this:
We last checked in on this property almost a year ago when a 120-unit multi-family project was going before the City’s Civic Design Review board, in advance of a visit to the ZBA. The board members seemed underwhelmed by the project, but as we’ve shared before, CDR is non-binding and can only require two hearings. That being said, numerous public meetings clearly has an effect, as the project has evolved over the long public consultation process. All below-grade parking was removed, a five unit reduction was implemented, and access to the river was ensured with the addition of green space and a river walk. The current proposal calls for a six-story mixed-use project with commercial space, offices, 115 apartments, and 46 off-street parking spaces.
The most obvious change, which we can see from the drawings from SgRA Architects, is that the project will now include two buildings instead of three. The two structures will be connected with several sky-bridges above a ground-level courtyard. The buildings will be slightly taller than the earlier proposal, but will remain shorter than the seven story Bridgefive Condominiums just down the street at 3750 Main St., which was completed in 2005.
The developers also committed to setting aside 5% of the units for affordability at 60% of AMI, which along with a commitment to 20% MBE participation during construction and significantly more parking than is required by the zoning code was crucial to winning support from Councilmember Jones. This is an excellent example of the horse trading that often happens with sizable projects unable to secure zoning permits by-right. The needless uncertainty undermines the City’s planning efforts, and indeed the City’s Lower Northwest District Plan calls for remapping this stretch of Lower Main Street to encourage multi-family residential development. But we don’t see councilmanic prerogative going anywhere anytime soon, so these types of ad hoc deals are here to stay, unfortunately.
The project finally got approval from the ZBA earlier this month, which represents a major milestone. But it’s been a real slog to get here in the three years since the initial submittal in September 2021. Considering the challenges this site faces due to its proximity to the river and the extra costs built into the project to win support, we can’t tell you that its construction is a sure thing at this time. We’ll remain optimistic though, and will check out the site every time we make our way through Manayunk, with the hope that this is the project that finally moves forward at this long vacant address.