Apartments, townhouses proposed for Frankford Chocolate Factory

The developer and designer responsible for the redevelopment of the Frankford Chocolate Factory have preliminary plans to bring townhouses, apartments, and retail to the site along Washington Avenue.

The initial plans were revealed at Monday night’s second public community meeting, according to Naked Philly. It was the second of three meetings, with the first being held late last summer.

At that first meeting, SOSNA representatives led group discussions pondering potential future uses of the site, together with local real estate consulting firm U3 Ventures, local architect Cecil Baker, and two representatives of the owner group, Jake Ketchem and Anthony Nguyen.

Using that input, the developer and designer came up with a plan to bring 150 apartments and 20 townhouses to the site. The townhouses would be located along Kimball Street, which is already lined with rowhomes.

There would also be 13,500 square feet of retail along Washington Avenue and a mix of underground and surface parking.

The Frankford Chocolate Factory was the largest chocolate bunny manufacturing site in the world and was open from the 1970s until 2006. But the factory dates back to the 1865 when it served as headquarters for a wallpaper company. It has sat vacant since it shuttered its doors 11 years ago, leaving its future up in the air.

Final plans will be presented at the third and final community meeting (date TBD) and then the project will move into the zoning process. Stay tuned.

• Developers Present Initial Plan to Redevelop Chocolate Factory [Naked Philly]