7-story apartment building planned for site of semi-demolished West Philly church

A West Philly lot, which currently holds a partially demolished 19th century church, will soon be home to a 7-story building with apartments and retail, according to reports.

The project at 43rd and Chestnut streets calls for a mixed use building with 278 residential units, a green roof, 54 underground parking spaces, and commercial space on the ground floor, according to building permits filed last week and reported on by PlanPhilly.

It’s the latest in a long saga for the site and its 132-year-old building, The Christ Memorial Reformed Episcopal Church. A storm damaged part of the church in 2004, and it was never fully restored, leaving much of the building crumbling and in disarray, according to HiddenCity. A demolition permit was issued for the church last year, and developer Guy Laren of West Philadelphia’s Constellar Corp. began to tear it down last summer.

The site was purchased for $17 million by the Alterra Property Group in February, who continued the project to raze the structure. Only part of the original gothic church currently remains.

It’s unclear when the demolition project will be finished and when construction on the new development will begin, but Alterra has a meeting with the Spruce Hill Community Association on May 20, PlanPhilly reported.

The Alterra group is responsible for several other major Philly developments, including the Lincoln Square project on Broad and Washington, and the LVL apartment building nearby, on 41st and Chestnut.