2152 E Somerset StUnder construction

A six-story, 145-unit apartment building is under construction at 2152 E Somerset Street, positioned along the industrial spine threading through Port Richmond and Kensington. The project occupies a 49,830-square-foot lot—more than an acre—and includes accessory parking and a shared roof deck. Somerset Street Station LLC, which acquired the site in 2024, cleared the path to build in late 2021, making this one of the area's first major multi-family sites to advance into vertical construction since the neighborhood's current development cycle began picking up speed.

The building is cleared for IRMX zoning, a by-right designation that permits this scale without requiring special approvals. What's notable under the hood is the hybrid construction approach: the basement and first floor are Type IA, while the upper five stories shift to Type IIIA, employing horizontal separations to split the structure into two distinct fire-rated volumes. The design calls for full NFPA 13 sprinklers, standpipes, a horizontal exit, and fire-retardant-treated framing for the wood-framed upper floors—a cost-conscious strategy that's become common in mid-rise suburban and edge-city projects but remains relatively rare in Philadelphia's tighter infill sites.

This 145-unit project anchors a cluster of recent activity along the Lehigh-Somerset corridor, joining more than 300 units delivered or in the pipeline within a half-mile radius. Nearby completions include the 146-unit building at 2001 E Lehigh Avenue, the 47-unit project on Janney Street, and scattered mid-size developments on Trenton Avenue, Coral Street, and Ruth Street. The wave reflects a broader bet that demand for newer rental stock extends well beyond Fishtown's established boundaries, particularly in pockets where large, underutilized parcels remain available at prices that pencil for wood-frame construction.

The Somerset Street project's footprint and lot size make it a bellwether for similar conversions along the neighborhood's former industrial edges. Plenty of adjacent parcels remain in single-story commercial or vacant use, and the viability of a 145-unit building here—despite the added complexity of dual construction types—suggests that Port Richmond's deeper blocks may finally be entering the calculus for developers willing to assemble land and navigate the area's uneven infrastructure and market perception.