Last month, we made another trip to the 1400 block of Germantown Avenue and told you about ongoing demolition at 1400 Germantown Ave., a long vacant building that some commenters felt might have some historic relevance. Whether that's the case or not, the property is now gone and a vacant lot sits in its place, awaiting development. Expect new construction here sooner rather than later, but we still don't know exactly what's coming.
We also mentioned that developers had purchased 1401 Germantown Ave., a huge blighted building that was originally, we think, used for the production of store fixtures, for $1.35M. We wondered whether they would demolish the building and construct homes in its place, but hoped that they would instead reuse the building in some fashion. From the outside, the property seems to be in poor condition, though it has wonderful bones.
Soon after we posted the story, a reader commented with a rendering of an adaptive reuse project from G-8 Life, a developer that's built some funky homes in East Kensington. According to the permits, the plans call for a commercial space on the first floor, fifty apartments on floors two through four, seven car parking spots, and twenty-two bike spots.
This is obviously fabulous news. This building has been crying out for reuse for many years, and we're pleased to see it won't meet the wrecking ball. Reanimator Coffee has a cafe and roastery right across the street, which will be a wonderful amenity for the people who ultimately move into the building. And the whatever business fills the retail space on the first floor will surely benefit both the residents of the building and members of the surrounding community. Let's just hope that the project, like the rendering, has a bike (or at least a fake bike) installed at its highest point, bragging to the masses that the bike parking outnumbers car parking here by a 3:1 margin.