439-45 W Berks StCleared to build

A four-story, 18-unit residential building is cleared to build at 439-45 W Berks Street in Fishtown, where Acc Bulders LLC has assembled a 5,233-square-foot site. The structure will sit on CMX2 zoning and include four affordable units, ground-floor commercial space fronting the street, and a roof deck accessed by a pilothouse. The project will be fully sprinklered and requires separate mechanical, electrical, plumbing, and fire-protection permits before construction can advance.

Acc Bulders picked up the parcel in 2021, and the by-right CMX2 envelope allows the four-story configuration without variance. The ground-floor retail—requiring its own use registration—adds a mixed-use element uncommon in some of the smaller apartment projects dotting the neighborhood. The rooftop amenity and modest scale suggest this is aimed at renters looking for newer stock in an area still transitioning from light industrial and commercial uses.

This project joins roughly 450 units planned or underway within a half-mile, including an 89-unit building at 1832 Germantown Avenue and a 33-unit development at 300 W Norris Street. Smaller infill projects—eight units at 1850 N Leithgow, nine at 1941 N Marshall—round out the pipeline, confirming that developers see demand for a range of scales along Fishtown's western edge. The density here remains uneven, with older single-story commercial and vacant lots still holding on between newer mid-rises.

For owners of similar CMX2 parcels nearby, 439-45 W Berks offers a clear template: four stories, ground-floor activation, and a mix of market-rate and affordable units all achievable by-right. As the neighborhood's residential base thickens, these underused industrial strips are likely to see more of the same, particularly where lot dimensions and zoning align as cleanly as they do here.