In continuation of my 5th Street ride series this post is
all about Lower North Philadelphia or, as known by many, “the area you don’t
go”
After emerging from the tunnel, bypassing much of Old City and more
importantly tons of automobile dominated infrastructure, I found myself in Callowhill.
Callowhill is an area, in short, that was built up as an industrial
district in the late 19th century and continued to thrive as such until
the mid 20th century. It is
now a collection of old industrial buildings (some vacant, some are cool loft
apt/condos), mid-century office buildings and parking lots. Lots of parking
lots. There are several plans for the
area, to redevelop some of the buildings for medium/high density loft style
housing, reconnect the area to Chinatown and there is even talk of turning the
abandoned Reading Terminal viaduct into a High
Line-esk park. Also, the area does
have some spectacular views of the city’s skyline.
The Callowhill district is not very wide and after about 5 blocks, I
crossed over Spring Garden and entered Northern Liberties. Northern Liberties is one of the oldest
neighborhoods in the city. As mentioned in a previous blog post the
neighborhood is home to the site when William Penn struck a treaty with Native Americans. Much like the Callowhill district the area
was home to several industrial complexes, mainly breweries such as Schmidt’s
and Ortlieb’s, along with a large number of residences for industrial
workers. After many of the factories downsized
and eventually shuttered the neighborhood went into disrepair and began a renaissance
in the 1980s as an artist/bohemian community. As seen in many cities across the
U.S. this low-rent, artistic community became a catalyst for new development in
the area and the neighborhood is now better known for interesting architecture,
innovative planning projects (i.e. Liberties Walk and the Piazza at Schmidt’s)
and hipsters. Even the hipsters are beginning to be priced out. The
neighborhood’s main commercial corridor is along 2nd street, but
shops/restaurants and cafes can be found on the corners of many of the numbered
streets. After all that I don’t have
many interesting shots of the neighborhood; I guess I’ll have to go back.
The edge of Northern Liberties is Girard Avenue, a very wide, commercial
corridor. In 2005, SEPTA reinstated the
trolley line that ran along Girard Avenue using historic 1947 PCC trolleys. While planners typically advocate for fixed
rail transit to help revitalize corridors, I’m not sure what the Girard trolley
has done for the neighborhoods along it in the past 5 years. It seems more like
a historical Disney ride than a functional transit line. The design of the
stops and layout of the street does nothing to promote pedestrian safety and
comfort along the 7 lane road. The stops
are not covered, and are essentially concrete steps in between moving traffic lanes.
Additionally, the trolley runs only every 15 minutes during peak times and is
not timed with either subway that it crosses, making it function more like a
bus than anything else. Sorry, that’s
enough railing against Philadelphia transit for now, like much of SEPTA…they’re
getting there.
One the other side of Girard is the beginning of Old Kensington. To be
fair there are a lot of different Kensingtons throughout Philadelphia’s Lower
North/Northeast sections: Old Kensington, West Kensington, Upper Kensington,
New Kensington….. From what I can tell
they are all fairly the same; historically industrial neighborhoods with vacant
industrial lots, very underserved retail corridors and modest rowhouses. I biked through two of the Kensingtons this
ride: Old and West.
Old Kensington is the industrial heart of the city; many of the
factories located here were well known while Philadelphia was ticketed as the
Workshop of the World. I cycled past two
relatively large industrial buildings that pretty much sum up the entire area,
the vacant Drueding Brothers Leather Co. and the recently converted Sewing
Factory Lofts.
The Drueding Bro. was part of the area’s leather and tannery history
and through what I can find closed in the 1960s, lying vacant ever since. The buildings windows are completely broken
out, the roof line looks so rusted that it is beginning to disintegrate, and some
daring hoodlum (probably hipster) has sprayed the words Tape Radio across the
middle floors of the building. While
researching this building I found this link
that contains several photos inside the building and along the roof. Pretty impressive.
On the other hand, the Sewing Factory Lofts
building is one of the courageous residential developments venturing far north of
Northern Liberties. The building
contains 52 loft style apartments ranging from 1,400 to 2,200 square feet
renting for $1,100 -$1,800. While only
slightly less expensive then comparable buildings nearer Center City, the
building has lofts that are typically twice the size. I guess if you want a
very large loft space, Kensington is the place for you.
I suppose the price drop is because this is the scene right outside the
building.
Many of the vacant lots across the neighborhood have either become
defacto wildlife refuses or “temporary” homes of the homeless. Just to the west
of this area is Ludlow and Temple’s main campus. On my way back to the city I biked down 8th
street which afforded me and amazing view of Septa’s regional rail
station.
The station is set up on the train line and the view is possible due to
the fact that there is a large vacant lot on the east. The City, Temple and other various organizations
have been trying to lure a developer here for a while. The area has been
designated as a TRID or Transit Revitalization Improvement District, a state
designation that allows municipalities and transit agencies to work together
and apply for state funds to plan and study the area. More importantly a TRID allows for the
creation of an organization that can capture additional tax revenue and pay for
capital improvement in the area, similar to a BID or business Improvement
District. The Asociacíon Puertorriqueños en Marcha (APM)
is leading the development of the lot for the past few years. However despite the TRID, and having federal
funds in place the team is still attempting to find financing for a 164
mixed-income apartment and retail development.
For more information please follow the links here, http://planphilly.com/nutter-breaks-ground-parkway-temple-projects
and http://planphilly.com/node/3631. I know that I didn’t get all that
information.
Nearby the train station I was totally caught off guard to see a row of
houses that seem to be fairly well kept sitting in the middle of a green and deliberately
planted block, so naturally I decided to explore. Biking down Darien Street I discovered this
horse and immediately thought it was some urban farm project.
However, the landscaping was too passive to be farming. Then I
discovered a sign along the NTI looking fence.
It turns out that it’s some sort of pilot project for the Philadelphia
Water Department and or the EPA. I’m a
little over researched right now form looking up the TRID development, but the
while idea seems to be a really cool.
There are rolling swales and planted lawn/trees to minimize stormwater
runoff.
That's about all I can blog about for now. Stay tuned, I'm only HALF way up 5th Street.
No comments:
Post a Comment