90 luxury apartments surrounded by green space are proposed in Far Northeast Philadelphia

A 90-unit luxury apartment complex is proposed for 9914-16 Bustleton Ave. in Far Northeast Philadelphia on a sliver of land wedged between other multifamily housing developments and shopping centers.

“The target current demographic is folks that are already living in the Northeast area, that are commuting to various locations, but are looking for more open space,” said Peter Kelsen, a zoning attorney with BlankRome who represents the developer Jack Bienenfeld.

”Young professionals starting out as police, fire, nurses who are entering the market, but either need to or live in Philly,” Kelsen said.

Almost a third of the site, near Red Lion Road, is devoted to surface parking, and the apartment units will be split among six buildings. The land formerly housed a sod farm.

Many of the trees and plant life on the site will be preserved. A stream that cuts through the property will be cleaned up as well.

“It’s a funky site in terms of how it’s configured — long and narrow and bisected by a stream — which is not in very good shape right now,” Kelsen said. “Only about 20% of the site will be occupied by structure and coverage. The rest is open.”

At a recent community meeting, the Greater Bustleton Civic League voted, 34-8 to support the developer when the project goes before the Zoning Board of Adjustment. The developer needs permission to break from current zoning that is meant to encourage shopping centers and prohibits residential development.

“It’s not some private equity group or some big real estate conglomerate,” said Jack O’Hara, president of the community association.

“The builder and manager is a company in Bustleton that has other apartment complexes, and they have a good reputation,” O’Hara said.

The project, designed by JKRP Architects, would have a unit density of 21.7 homes per acre — which the developer boasts is 33% less density than the average multifamily development in the neighborhood. (And a marked contrast to the trends in apartment development closer to the urban core.)

It will also have 36% more parking, with 135 spaces in total.

The rents will be up to $2,000 a month, O’Hara said.

“I don’t know what rents in this area go for to be honest with you,” he said. “But that was more than I thought it was going to be.”

O’Hara said that his neighborhood group does not see many apartment projects but that they tend to be reviewed more favorably than warehouse developments.

The Greater Bustleton Civic League has been in a conflict with a commercial real estate developer over a UPS warehouse facility. The civic group is being sued over its fierce opposition to the project, putting its future at risk.

This luxury development, reviewed at the group’s last meeting before the summer break, was a break from that tension. “If it’s apartments or warehouses, I think [the membership] will take the apartments,” O’Hara said.