One of the best things about South Kensington is the Crane Arts Building. Built in 1905 as a plumbing warehouse and later used as a frozen seafood processing plant, the restored building is currently an arts hub in Philadelphia, hosting events and containing numerous studios and arts organizations. Its existence is surely a reason (along with relatively low rents) that many artists choose to live in this part of town.

Crane Arts. Image from shanna-waddell.blogspot.com

Rear of the building

It should come as no surprise then, that developers are looking to build on vacant land that’s close to this building. This isn’t only because Crane acts as the unofficial center of the neighborhood, but also because of all the development taking place on surrounding blocks. Frankly, when developers come upon reasonably priced lots in this area, they’re jumping on them fairly quickly.

Zoning notices portend construction behind Crane

Junogi Development LLC decided to sell off a few lots in this area, and it appears that a few different buyers stepped up to the plate. According to zoning applications that we noticed a couple of weeks ago, plans are coming for three new buildings on the 1400 block of Cadwallader Street. At 1430 and 1436, Broke Flats LP and Roxanne Masci are respectively planning triplexes. Both parties acquired their lots a few months ago, with the former getting zoning approvals a couple of weeks ago. Meanwhile, an unknown developer is building at 1437 Germantown Ave., which will include one new building fronting Germantown and another fronting Cadwallader. According to the approved zoning application, one structure will be a single family home with a parking spot, and the other will be artist studios. We’re guessing the studios will be the building on Cadwallader, but we can’t say for sure.

Either way, these three projects will represent some nice infill for a block that has been held back by an owner uninterested in developing for the last several years. Thankfully, progress appears to be on the way, with surely more to come. As always, we’ll keep a look out.