Massive 30-acre project with rowhomes, apartments, planned for waterfront

Nearly 1,100 new homes, including apartments and rowhouses, are coming to a currently vacant 30-acre site on the Delaware River.

The project, which just went in front of the Civic Design Review (CDR), spans a plot of land between the waterfront and Beach Street in Olde Richmond, just below Graffiti Pier, according to plans posted on the CDR website last week. The project is designed by ISA Architects and Hickok Cole.

The plans, which refer to the overall development as a “hybrid community,” call for four seven-story apartment buildings on the eastern side of the site with just shy of 850 units total, ranging from one to two-beds. The apartments also include a total of 744 parking spots, a community center with an outdoor plaza, and a community pavilion.

A road separates the apartment buildings from the complex of 248 rowhomes on the riverfront side of the land. Those range from three to five beds, and include roof decks and either one- or two-car parking.

As part of the Delaware River Waterfront Cooperation’s (DRWC) master plan, the project includes green space between the buildings, a pedestrian connection to trails on the water’s edge, and an access point to a public park, according to the plans.

“The project will create a new center of gravity to the DRWC plan at the north, encouraging linkages along the entire waterfront,” the plan said. The overall design acts as a nod to the rowhomes in the adjacent Fishtown and Old Richmond neighborhoods, but the site itself is, “disconnected,” from the fabric of those homes, the plans said.

At a CDR meeting Tuesday, the plan received largely favorable reviews, with Dan Garofalo praising its aesthetics and saying the site could end up becoming a new neighborhood, according to a report by PlanPhilly.

It’s the latest—and arguably the largest—project to tap the northern banks of the Delaware River for residential development.

A little further south, multiple projects like the Views at Penn Treaty, a luxury development with 19 townhouses, and Pier 35 1/2, a 41-townhouse development have all moved forward in recent months. Just to the north, in Bridesburg, a DRWC plan for a 10-acre park recently received a grant.