On the other side of the tracks from Fishtown, 100-110 W Oxford St. sits vacant. Most recently occupied by Pieri Creations, a lamp design company, this site was home to the Quaker City Dye Works way back when. In later years, the buildings contained different companies, with a wool mill, a hosiery mill, a glue manufacturer, and others. All the buildings at this site have been vacant for a few years.

From Front St

Looking south, under the El

On the southern end are two large empty lots

Still from the south. Are those newish vinyl windows a response to a Doors & Windows violation?

On Howard St., looking at the eastern side of the buildings

A closer look

According to a zoning application we heard about this week, developers 100 W. Oxford Street Partners LP intend to reuse this site in some exciting and interesting ways. The eastern building, closest to the El, will feature offices, conference rooms, a first-floor restaurant, and twenty-two apartment units. The western building will have ninety-six new apartments. One of the lots to the south will have fifty-nine parking spaces.

Infill Philadelphia (which would be better if it were called Infilladelphia), a project of the Community Design Collaborative, examined this site a couple of years ago, with Digsau coming up with some renderings for what could happen here. No idea whether Digsau is actually being retained for this project, but their proposed concept for the site appear to be somewhat close to what we see on the zoning application.

An elevation drawing cross section, looking south

Ground level rendering, looking north, includes lots of green space

Provided that this project moves forward, it would represent a tremendous step for this neighborhood. Especially in light of the recent tragedy at a nearby vacant warehouse, the revitalization and careful adaptive reuse of these existing buildings becomes all the more important. Here’s hoping that this thing gets off the ground quickly, and that it provides a blueprint for other property owners in the area to likewise rehabilitate and reuse their old buildings.

And maybe the city could collect their property taxes, as well?