How close to I-95 would you be willing to live? While many properties immediately adjacent to the highway have remained vacant or been relegated to surface parking, the last few years have seen residential projects rise near I-95 in Old City, Northern Liberties, Fishtown, and other neighborhoods. So close proximity to the highway clearly isn’t a deal breaker for a number of folks. A recent proposal to build 12 homes on a currently vacant parking lot may soon test that theory in the southern part of Port Richmond.

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The parking lot today

The surface parking lot at 2851 Salmon St has been sitting vacant for many years, dating back to well before the construction of the adjacent highway. It had already been vacant for decades in 1973, when it was downzoned from a multi-family to a single-family zoning district. With this being the zoning for the property, the developers will need some variances from the ZBA to move forward with their plans.

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Present view of the site from Cambria St and I-95

The twelve homes from Hightop Development will be arranged in two rows, with half the homes fronting Cambria and the other half fronting a pedestrian walkway that will be carved out of the western side of the property. In between the new homes will be a drive aisle which will utilize an existing curb cut and provide access for single car garages for each of the homes. This orientation ensures that none of the houses will back up directly to I-95, though two of the homes will “enjoy” great highways views out of many southern windows. The homes, which will only rise three stories, will dimensionally look pretty similar to many of the legacy rowhomes on the surrounding blocks, aside from the whole drive-aisle thing.

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Rendering of the facades along I-95 and Cambria St
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Rendering of the garages, accessible with a shared drive aisle
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Rendering of the buildings from across Salmon St

While nearly all of the block is zoned for single family homes, the ZBA allowed the construction of a duplex immediately next to the project site back in 2017. The aforementioned eight foot side setback from this neighboring building will allow homeowners to access the fronts of their homes, as well as improving light and air access for the lower floors.

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2849 Salmon St, adjacent to the parking lot

With the support of the South Port Richmond Civic Association it seems likely that the ZBA will sign off on this project. Unfortunately, a technical mistake by L&I means the actual vote by the board can’t happen until January. Still, it’ll eventually be nice to see this corner of the neighborhood return to housing again, hearkening back to a time before most of us were even born.