2016 Ridge AveDelivered

A four-story mixed-use building with 17 residential units and ground-floor commercial space has been delivered at 2016 Ridge Avenue in Brewerytown. The project, owned by the Philadelphia Housing Authority, rises on a 5,207-square-foot lot and was cleared to build in April 2023. The first floor is set up as shell commercial space, requiring separate use registration and fit-out approvals before tenants can move in, while the apartments occupy the upper three floors.

The CMX2 zoning here allows the mix-and-scale by right, a designation that lines much of Ridge Avenue's commercial corridor and has quietly enabled a steady flow of midsize residential development. With PHA as the owner of record, this marks one of the authority's less common forays into mixed-income or mixed-use construction on land it controls, though the specifics of unit mix or affordability levels aren't disclosed in the project scope.

This building lands in the middle of a concentrated multifamily wave along Ridge Avenue and the surrounding Sharswood grid. Within a half-mile radius, 274 units are either under construction or recently completed, including a 40-unit building at 2000 Ridge, a 36-unit project at 2112 Ridge, and a 24-unit development on North 21st Street. The clustering suggests developer confidence in Brewerytown's fundamentals—transit access, proximity to Fairmount Park, and land costs that still pencil for modest-density projects.

The completion of 2016 Ridge adds another data point for nearby landowners weighing their options. PHA's willingness to build here, combined with the steady pipeline of private projects in the immediate area, suggests that underused lots along this stretch of Ridge and the adjacent residential blocks are likely to see more activity. The challenge, as always, will be filling that ground-floor commercial space in a corridor still working to rebuild its retail identity.