The 300 block of Wharton Street is dominated by Saint Casimir's Lithuanian Church, which has been a fixture in the neighborhood for over a hundred years. The associated school closed a few years back and membership has shrunk some, according to the South Philly Review, which led to an administrative merger with Saint Andrew's Parish back in 2011. The other day, we spied a zoning notice on the building next door which was surely once associated with the church but we couldn't tell you how.
A few years back, plans came forward to split off the church's former school, located behind the building you see above, and add on a few stories and create an apartment building. Despite the fact that some near neighbors opposed the plan, it was approved by the ZBA. But nothing has happened with the project since it got those approvals. Upon seeing a zoning notice at 338 Wharton St., we thought that the school project was coming back into the picture. We were way off base.
No, the zoning notice is for a simple conversion into four apartments. According to public record, the building has nearly 5,000 sqft of interior space, so those units are gonna be pretty sizable. And with a lot that's over 5,000 sqft to boot, we're kind of surprised that the building isn't getting demolished and replaced with a couple of condo buildings.
As for the lagging apartment project, it actually came on the market earlier this month as a turnkey project with approved plans for nineteen apartments and six parking spots. If you're interested, the asking price is just shy of $1.3M.