3rd Street in Northern Liberties has seen an explosion in development over the last several years, with maybe two fistfulls of significant projects appearing between Green Street and Girard Avenue in recent memory. One could credibly make the argument that the 800 block of N. 3rd St. is the epicenter of 3rd Street development in this neighborhood, with half a dozen different projects on the block. And don’t look now, but yet another property is set to join the fray. This time it’s a one-story garage building at 817 N. 3rd St., a structure that was once associated with the Ortlieb’s brewery.

A2Z Development, a development company associated with Atrium Design, purchased the sizable parcel at the end of 2017. They’re now pursuing a plan to demolish the building on the site and replace it with a six-story building with ground-floor commercial space, 48 apartments on the upper floors, and 36 parking spots in the basement. The project, which will proceed completely as a matter of right, should serve as a sister building to the apartment building next door, currently under construction.

Remember, we told you about the project at 807 N. 3rd St. a little over two years ago, when it was still in the planning stages. As you can see in the photos above, the project has broken ground and its unique cement pour first floor is already in place. When we first covered this project, we expected a five story building with 14 apartments and 7 parking spaces. Somewhere along the line, the plans changed and now the building will contain an artist studio on the first floor, 32 units on the upper floors, and 23 underground parking spots. In other words, it sounds an awful lot like the proposed project on the property next door, and that makes sense because it’s from the same developer. In case you forgot, we’re re-posting the rendering of what 807 N. 3rd St. will look like, and we imagine its neighbor will offer a similar level of architectural interest.

That’s not all Atrium will be bringing to this block- they’ve also designed the project that’s currently under construction at the corner of 3rd & Poplar. Like anything else designed by Atrium, that project will also possess some architectural heft, leaving the neighboring residential projects in the dust. Not that those utilitarian units are offensive by any means, but when we consider them alongside the Atrium buildings, it ain’t much of a contest.