Regardless of whether or not you believe that the current real estate crisis is finally coming to a close, the fact remains that there will probably always be neighborhoods in Philadelphia that are optimally ripe for renewal. According to Jacob Roller of MM Partners LLC, a real estate development and management company with offices on West Girard Avenue, Brewerytown may very well the next ideal neighborhood in line for something of an aesthetic and cultural transformation.
Already, MM Partners has been responsible for bringing an outpost of the local Mugshots CoffeeHouse & Cafe chain to Brewerytown; they've also rehabbed countless residential and retail properties up and down the main drag of West Girard. The company's current residential project, however, is its most ambitious yet in the neighborhood.
Known as North 28, and located just north of the Fairmount neighborhood at 1238 North 28th Street, the project is a "15 unit building with 15 gated parking spaces," according to the MM Partners website. It's also the first residential development to be built north of Girard in the past five years; the last was the Westrum Development Company's 144-unit Brewerytown Square project. Interestingly enough, North 28 is being built as a modular construction project, and the units have been approved for both sale and rental.
But as Roller explains it, the focus of his company, which he co-owns with business partner David Waxman, doesn't actually begin and end with residential construction. Rather, it's concerned with the overall revival of the Brewerytown neighborhood because, as Roller says, "We think retail drives residential growth."
The company plans to break ground on the 14,500 square-foot lot where North 28 will sit in roughly a month or two. Rental units, which will run from $900 to $1,450 per month, should be available for viewing this May.
