1635 N 5th StDelivered

A six-story, 200-unit building at 1635 N 5th Street has wrapped construction in Fishtown, delivering what looks to be one of the neighborhood's larger residential projects in recent memory. The structure, which also includes shell artist studio and artisan industrial space, sits on a nearly 40,000-square-foot lot and was cleared to build in fall 2023. The developer employed a split construction strategy—Type IA for the basement and first floor, Type IIIB for the upper five stories—suggesting a podium-style design that likely accommodates parking and creative uses below residential floors topped by a roof deck.

The building went up by right in an IRMX zone, which allows mixed-use development at this density without zoning variances. L & M Turner Court LLC picked up the site in 2021, and the project's scale and timing suggest confidence in Fishtown's continued absorption of new housing. The inclusion of artist and artisan studio space—requiring separate fit-out work before occupancy—nods to the neighborhood's legacy as a creative corridor, even as the residential component dominates the program.

Within a half mile, nearly 500 new units have joined the pipeline, including an 89-unit building on Germantown Avenue and several smaller infill projects scattered along the numbered streets. The concentration reflects steady investor appetite for multifamily product in lower Fishtown, where proximity to center city and relatively soft land prices still make mid-rise development pencil. This project's lot size and construction approach may provide a template for other underused parcels in the immediate area, particularly along 5th Street's industrial stretches where similar IRMX zoning applies.

At 200 units, this building represents a meaningful addition to Fishtown's housing stock and signals that larger players are willing to commit capital to the neighborhood's northern reaches. The artist-studio component, while secondary to the residential program, maintains at least a surface-level connection to the area's artisan past—whether that translates to actual affordability or creative use remains to be seen once the fit-out is complete.