Back in May, we updated you about the progress on eight new homes on the 900 block of N. Front St. which were joining a bunch of other homes built recently on Front Street, adjacent to I-95. Back then, we regaled you with the tale of another project planned for next door that had gone before the community and gotten some feedback but was ultimately happening by right. The most unusual thing about the seven-home project at 927 N. Front St. is that a big billboard towers above the proposed homes, and its base sits right in the middle of the lot upon which the homes are being built.
As we predicted earlier this year, the project is indeed a go, and the developers are simply building around the billboard. Four of the homes are going up on the Front Street side, then there's a gap where the billboard stands, and then the remaining three homes are happening. Already, there are foundations in place for the western homes.
According to architects JKR Partners, the seven homes are coming from the same developers as the row of eight next door. The two western homes will be connected (outside not inside), and the other homes will have a U-formation with their rear yards facing each other. All of the homes will have parking included.
Will people rush to live in homes a stone's throw from I-95 that also sit underneath a billboard? Who knows. What we do know is that a bunch of homes are replacing two huge lots on Front Street, and when this is considered alongside all the other development nearby it represents part of a major change in this part of the neighborhood. All told, especially considering the Penn Treaty Village Pennthouses at Brown Street, a couple hundred new people are moving to this area. We wonder, will more retail soon follow? Or will these folks be content to trek under the highway to Northern Liberties? Either way, things are seriously looking up on Front Street in Northern Liberties.