Blog

Jul 05, 2023

Development is transforming Philadelphia's Germantown Avenue, from Mount Airy to Wayne Junction

Along Germantown Avenue in Mount Airy, Main Street Development is working on its

Along Germantown Avenue in Mount Airy, Main Street Development is working on its second apartment complex, 25 West. So far, a third of its 67 units are leased. The complex boasts a new 18,500-square-foot Grocery Outlet, and an architectural firm is moving into the remainder of the commercial space.

The project is a few doors down from Main Street's other apartment project, Lofts at 6610. Opened in fall 2018, it has 38 units and remains fully occupied, said Glenn Falso Jr. of Main Street Development, which is based in Blue Bell. "We feel the neighborhood is grossly underserved with new and high-end apartments," he said.

Down at the other end of Germantown Avenue in Wayne Junction, Los Angeles-based custom T-shirt printer Apliiq is plotting its expansion in the neighborhood. The company supports fashion brands, private labels and artists that create designs Apliiq then prints and ships out to customers from a 12,000-square-foot space at 4560 Germantown Ave.

While construction activity appears to be happening in just about every corner of the city, Germantown Avenue in Northwest Philadelphia has become a hotbed of residential and commercial development. It is the result of a culmination of years of work by neighborhood organizations such as Mount Airy Community Development Corp., developers and others committed to improving the area. Market forces are also playing a role, fueling investment in neighborhoods that are comparatively less expensive and rife with opportunity.

The uptick in residential construction has led to more commercial activity including businesses such as Apliiq planting a stake in the area. The company, which opened in February and now has 10 employees, expects to eventually have as many as 60 people working from its Germantown Avenue location.

"We like the idea of bringing apparel back to the neighborhood," said Emily Gruber, who runs the business with her brother, Ian. "We feel lucky to have found this space. It was tricky to find a good space in an urban area."

The corridor has also added restaurants, retailers and even a bread maker who routinely has lines of customers pouring out of a building at 4530 Germantown Ave. All have found their place along the fledgling avenue and seem to have signaled to others that the neighborhood is on the upswing.

"Things have changed," said Ken Weinstein of Philly Office Retail, which has focused on Germantown and Mount Airy for the last 32 years. "What is happening now is being exacerbated by the big three: the pandemic, demand for leafy neighborhoods, and low interest rates. Everyone is still coming back to the city or moving to the suburbs. What we have been attracting over the last year or two is those who want to be near the city and a walkable commercial corridor."

An offshoot of Philly Office Retail has been Jumpstart Germantown, which focuses on revitalizing the Germantown area of Philadelphia and surrounding communities and has spent years building a critical mass of "blightless" properties, Weinstein said. Hundreds of aspirational developers that Jumpstart has trained and helped finance have purchased blighted and undervalued structures and turned about two-thirds of them into for-sale homes and the remainder into rental properties.

Along the way, Philly Office Retail has renovated dozens of vacant and deteriorated storefronts along the Germantown commercial corridor.

"It's one by one, one building at a time," Weinstein said. "Some of the problems that existed 32 years ago are still there and other problems like blight are starting to improve."

Bob Elfant company's, Elfant Wissahickon, led the area in development with the Westview, which has 28 units at 6656 Germantown Ave. in West Mount Airy, in 2016. The apartments leased up and have remained occupied, underscoring market demand and potential.

"That was the first and people followed suit," Elfant said. "There are four or five others in the works. I think people are recognizing the potential of the Germantown corridor."

As Falso works to complete 25 West, he has Main Street Development turning its attention to a 42,000-square-foot parcel where the Trolley Car Diner once stood at 7619 Germantown Ave. While it's still in the design stage, the project will be an apartment complex with 114 units and 7,000 square feet of retail. He's also busy developing townhomes and single-family houses on streets off of Germantown Avenue. Some are selling for as much as $900,000.

"If we fill this corridor in, it could be like Manayunk," Falso said while overlooking Germantown Avenue from a top-floor unit at 25 West.

Weinstein jumped to Wayne Junction from Mount Airy about five years ago, accumulating properties along Germantown Avenue and Berkley Street across from the train station. He now owns 13, including the former Arguto Oilless Bearing Co. That building's 12,000 square feet is being converted into office spaces with first-floor retail.

Tenants that have leased space in Weinstein's properties include Attic Brewing Co., which recently expanded to have an 8,000-square-foot outdoor beer garden, and Merzbachers, the bakery with a dedicated and growing following. Both grew their businesses during the pandemic and need more space.

Across the way, Weinstein is converting what is known as the Max Levy building into 32 apartments, and a building at 113 Berkley St. has been razed to make way for an apartment building with ground-floor commercial space. Work on that project is expected to begin early next year.

"It's pretty cool," Weinstein said. "Nothing is changing more quickly than Wayne Junction. This is what we have been waiting for. We are able to see wholesale positive change rather than slow, steady change."