1440 N Front StUnder construction

A seven-story, 114-unit residential building is under construction at 1440 N Front Street in Fishtown, cleared to build in mid-2024 on a compact 885-square-foot lot. The project will include ground-floor shell commercial space and an accessory parking garage, topped by a walk-out roof deck. The structure uses a hybrid construction approach—Type IA for the first two floors and Type IIIA for the upper five—separated horizontally to meet code requirements, with full sprinklering and fire-retardant framing elements throughout.

Archive VIII LLC acquired the site in 2022, and the building rises by right under CMX3 zoning, which permits this scale of mixed-use development along Front Street's corridor. Recent amendments have tweaked stairway construction and ground-floor wall assemblies, reflecting the kind of technical adjustments common to projects threading code compliance needles on tight urban lots.

The development slots into a substantial Fishtown building wave, joining more than 600 residential units planned or delivered within a half-mile radius. Nearby projects include a 61-unit building at 1351-59 Frankford Avenue, a 55-unit project at 1713 N Front Street, and a 40-unit building at 1716 Frankford Avenue, among others. The density reflects Fishtown's evolution from scrappy commercial strip to residential magnet, with Front Street now a focal point for taller, transit-accessible infill.

The project's ability to pack 114 units onto such a minimal footprint—roughly the size of a suburban garage—shows how CMX3 enables aggressive vertical development on parcels that once held low-slung industrial or retail uses. As similar lots along the Front and Frankford corridors come into play, expect more projects testing the zoning envelope with hybrid construction types and creative site planning to maximize unit counts without triggering discretionary review.