We love it when something we vaguely remember from the past comes back into the picture. When we saw a zoning notice pop-up for 4200-14 Market St. in West Philly, we had a flood of memories rush back. It was only last March when were on this block, discussing how it was an anomaly of sorts compared to the denser, residential streets close by. When we visited previously, we told you about plans on the north side of the street for sixteen units on two demolished lots. These plans haven’t yet moved forward just yet.

Shortly after we talked about 4200 Market St. last year, a quick story appeared a month later from the Philadelphia Business Journal, stating that this very property was for sale for a cool $30 million. Thanks to the wonders of sales materials, we have some aerials which provide good context for the site. Let’s get a different view.

It appears that there hasn’t been a change of hands yet, but the parcels are (mostly) under common ownership. You’ll see below, we say “mostly” because a trio of rowhomes on the eastern side of the lot are holding out and wouldn’t be included in a future project. But as we alluded to at the top, a zoning permit was issued, consolidating approximately two-thirds of the block, for a total of 73K sqft for the parcel. This is a major step, as it now allows for the owner of this lot to build, and build fairly big. Without any bonuses or zoning refusals, you could build up to 365K sqft on this CMX-3 parcel, a major footprint for a project in this part of town. This is a pretty strong indication that the property is under agreement, or maybe that it has traded but public record hasn’t updated yet.

Color us excited to see this severely under-utilized lot hopefully get a major makeover soon. There aren’t many huge lots like this remaining anywhere in the city, let alone within several blocks of one of the region’s job centers, not to mention tens of thousands of students. One of those soon-to-be offices is actually right across the street. Interestingly, one of the people that had been marketing this property is involved with University Place Associates, the team behind the 3.0 University Place offices now rising catty-corner from this property. We were here not long ago to check out the site, but we couldn’t resist snapping a quick update.

These additions are rapidly changing this part of West Philly. In fact, there are several other projects in the immediate vicinity that are also altering the trajectory of this area. We are excited seeing how things continue to move forward and we hope to see this further add to all of the excitement happening all throughout West Philadelphia.